PROBLEM STATEMENT To showcase the influence from the tight-linked relationship between the city of Vancouver and Interstyle on the industry by the technique they developed and the products they created.
ABOUT INSITUTION Interstyle is a family-owned company which found by Ernesto and Georgia Hauner in 1977. Today, Interstice is the largest and the only glass tile manufacture company in north america. Since they first introduced glass tile to the industry 25 years ago, they never stop developing original, high quality glass tile and innovative ceramic and trim, which makes them the pioneer of the business. Moreover, the company not only leads the glass tiles industry and remains craftsmanship from the beginning, but also takes measures to answer the environmental issues by using recycled material, reducing energy consume of the manufacture precess, refining air condition and more.
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INTERSTYLE WAREHOUSE
VISITOR CRITERIA MUSEUM OF VANCOUVER During the tour to MOV, Vivian and Klaus who actually designed exhibits shared with us some experiences and ideas for the design process of the exhibit called “The city before the city”. In terms of visitors, they were surprised by the disproportion of the domination of highly educated visitors. With collected information, it shows that people usually stay at the exhibit for 20 to 30 minutes. What should be taken into account is that it is necessary to make sure the understanding of the information
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IDLWEST
IDLWEST of the exhibits for visitors during this period of time. Another important aspect that should not be neglected is that the learning types of visitors are vary such as through touching and reading, so the exhibits should present information that can be touched and read at the same time. One more thing that is equally significant is the accessibility for the handicapped and seniors, which suggests the space and the presentation of information in 3D including visions, sounds and touchings should be considered.
SURVEY QUESTIONS
ANSWERS
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Are you a designer or a material specifier?
All of them are and counted as designers since they all actually ever designed for projects.
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Have you ever used glass surface for your design? what for specifically?
Half of them never used even glass for designs. They mainly used glass instead of glass surface doing designs for desks, overtops, plants containings, windows, glass art pieces and one used glass tile for commercial design.
3.
Are you aware of any local glass surface manufacturers?
Only one of them knows a closed glass surface manufacturer in Granville Island, which shows just a small amount of people in Vancouver even designers knows local glass surface producters.
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Is locally made materials mattered to you?
They love to use local materials for the concerns of timing and the project relevances. But most of them found it hard to find local manufacturers.
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How does Vancouver inspire your work?
The diversity and the evolving of the Vancouver community are the main inspirations as well as the local nature and the climate. They also mention to the local high-end design and the new and different ideations from the globe that inspire them. One even talked about it is the bad design in Vancouver that encouraged her to keep moving in order to bring better designs to Vancouver.
From what listed above and draw the conclusion that local glass surface manufacturers are not as noticeable but people are willing to use local products and the nature and the cultures of Vancouver are really insipring.
MATERIAL ANALYSIS
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DIAMOND NATURAL USE
METHOD
It is a piece of tile that made from five layers of individual pieces of recycled glass. It can be used for partitions decoratively and functionally, for table tops since it is solid and can be made for large proportion and backsplashes mainly for decoration. It does what it supposes to do.
It is made honestly. firstly, it clearly appears as a piece glass tile. secondly, it is completely made from layered glass. Thirdly, it is used as glass tile. no matter from the appearance, the material or the function / purpose, we can tell it is honest.
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DIAMOND NATURAL HEXAGON
HEXAGON
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AESTHETIC There are senses of proportion and variation in the glass. It is heavy and the shape of it also makes it looked heavy. It is smooth and semitransparent. both color options are gorgeous.
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USE
METHOD
It is a piece of tile that made from earthen glass. It is perfect for flooring because it comes with a rustic surface texture that is naturally slip resistant. So it does what it is supposed to do.
It is not honestly made, because it is made from earthen glass which has a similar look to ceramic, which suggests this tile is meant to be looked and used as ceramic tile.
AESTHETIC
TELESIS
For a single piece, the shape of it is definitely balanced and it has an interesting hexagon shape. When a couple of pieces combine together, it can create variation, repetition, alignment, contract and proximity.
This is the product of 50s. in terms of the colors and the shape, it is associative with the 50s.
ASSOCIATION
TELESIS
NEED
ASSOCIATION
NEED
This piece of glass reminds me of iceberg. Either the natural colors of green and white, or the translucency, or the various similar layers stacking together of this glass tile shares the same characteristics with iceberg.
This is the product of the present times. the natural implication in appearance and material usage and the cleanness in the glass tile match to the current trend of environmental and minimal design.
Both colors are relaxing and the smoothness of it makes people comfortable. It meditates people, which suggests it does help psychologically.
This glass tile uses the color scheme from the 50s and the shape of it is also traditional, so it remains me modern houses in the 50s.
The colors are soft, colorful and warm. It makes a place felt cozy and clean and it also makes the owner of the house seemed hospitable and thoughtful.
LOCATION
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DF GALLERY FLOORPLAN DF GALLERY SECTION
The Design Formation gallery is spacious with large, empty place for the exhibit since all the stuff there are moveable and it is a place meant for displaying and showcasing, which has more than enough space for one exhibit. Height of the ceiling is a plus for exhibit because unlike other buildings, the gallery has a higher ceiling where is painted black. In terms of the walls, all the surrounding walls are black except the one near the front door, which is a shorter and white wall with a shelf on the other side where is facing the front door, so it shouldn’t be a concern. In terms of lighting, the whole gallery is opened to the public through a row of big windows where natural lights are coming from the outside though they cannot directly go into the gallery, so the natural lights are neither strong nor bright, especially in the late afternoons and cloudy days when the gallery usually becomes a dark place without lights on. Also, there are a number of artificial lights on the ceiling, including normal lightings covered by translucent glass boxes which bring yellowish but blurred light and spot lights which have different colors and face different directions.
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PRECEDENTS
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VEP87 AT COVERINGS INTERSTYLE DISPLAY MOV DISPLAY IDLWEST EXHIBIT IDLWEST EXHIBIT
They play with the lights by tilted the info boards. The arrangement of glass tiles. The arrangement of info boards in 3D. The space arrangement of the exhibit. They play with the shadow by putting objects to block the light source.
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IDEATION
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FINAL THEME IDEA
ARRANGEMENT IDEA HEXAGON IDLWEST DISPLAY INTERSTYLE IMAGE
Interstyle was born in Vancouver. It is now the largest glass surface manufacturer in North America. During the years it grows, it becomes more environmentally-friendly and from the materials, producing process to the design of the final products are closely related to the local environment. Thus, I decide to link Interstyle to Vancouver with nature, which results in the title called “Interstyle and the Vancouver Nature” for the project.
I will use the hexagon shape from the given material to set up the basic shape of the exhibit space. This is my idea of the space arrangement. 1
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TITLE
This exhibit inspired me to use shadow instead of the light to create a scene. I want to try something similar in the project, such as letting lights go through the glass pieces to make beautiful shadow.
INTERSTYLE AND THE VANCOUVER NATURE THEME 3
This image from Interstyle gives me an idea of using contrast to make the information stand out. I can arrange the info board by using many white space around the subject.
HISTORY OF INTERSTYLE
GLASS AND VANCOUVER SUBTHEME
HISTORY OF INTERSTYLE 4
INTERSTYLE AND LOCAL ENVIRONMENT
CITY OF GLASS
GLASS AND RAINCOUVER