Industrial mesh lightens up

May 1, 2015  |  Fabric Structures, Markets, Projects

Industrial product design often centers on utility, simplicity and mass-production rather than flow, drape or mood. London-based industrial and product designer Catherine Stolarski combines both aesthetics in “Loop,” a pendant lamp with a curving shade made of a single folded piece of 3-D fabric…
Thinking outside the rectangle

May 1, 2015  |  Features

Tent manufacturers, rental companies and event planners are stretching their boundaries with new tent shapes and flexible materials. Consider, if you will, the Pythagoreans, who dissected a sphere as early as 600 B.C. Latecomers like Plato and Buckminster Fuller took the ball and ran with it, so to …
Rethinking cotton in nonwovens

May 1, 2015  |  Advanced Textiles, Markets

Sustainability concerns and better processes are making the use of cotton in nonwovens more attractive. By Paul Sawhney, D.Sc. The words “cotton” and “advanced textiles” have not, typically, been used in the same breath. There are some good reasons for that, including the price tag. But new …
Geosynthetic solutions

May 1, 2015  |  Geosynthetics, Markets

Combatting climate change and drought to provide drinking water from ocean water. By Pat Elliott Climate changes and drought have prompted major coastal cities in Australia, and worldwide, to construct desalination plants large enough to provide major populations with rainfall-independent sources of…