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Geoluxe Countertop Material by Geoluxe |
Home > Winners > Design #58531 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
PP: The use of stone as a surfacing and building material is ancient. It reflects the inherent need of humans to bring nature into the home. The kitchen countertop is one place where we can use a large stone slab not only to display its beauty but above all for its functionality. We have seen the races to develop the materials that have the look of natural marbles with better performance. However, there is no material with the real refined look of natural marbles because everyone tried to develop the new product from the existing technology. The results of these races are the quartz with disconnected veins and the large surface. Geoluxe saw the same problem but tackled it from different angles and is convinced that one needs to look back at the Nature and learns how the prestigious effects of marble are made naturally. Thus our exclusive technology was developed with the aim to emulate the same process to create metamorphic arrangement of the so-called Rebirth of Stone reinvented in a better version. Geoluxe’s product philosophy is to recreate the exotic marbles most appreciated by Stone-lovers around the world. To better understand the overall picture, it’s best to explore the evolution of the countertop materials over time. The first generation of materials for top surface is natural marbles and granite. These materials derive their beauty directly from the Nature, however, they are porous, prone to staining and scratch, also require high care and maintenance. Quartz is the second generation of stone surfacing which binds granite composite with resin. While this material overcomes most of the shortcomings of natural stone, it loses its resilience to heat & UV. The third generation, large format porcelain, eliminates the use of resin in order to reintroduce heat & UV resistance; its drawbacks though are that it is printed on a thin often pixelated surface which does not look natural. Geoluxe is a new category defining product, unveiling to the world the fourth generation of stone surfacing. This generation closes the gap between the look we wanted from the beginning and the performance we’ve been searching for all along. Whether it is for cooking or entertaining, Geoluxe delivers with more elegance and less maintenance every time. Geoluxe scouts the world for rare marbles, and then reproduces them flawlessly. Geoluxe boasts a depth and richness that can only be achieved by a real through-body material. Additionally, customers have the potential for as many edge profiles as are possible with natural marbles. And, our unmatched level of gloss is a result of our polished surface, so it won’t ever lose its original shine.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
PP: The main focus is to develop a good marble and stone inspired material that can overcome the Nature’s imperfection and provide satisfaction in use to customers. The source of our Design creativity is from artistic and rare marbles and stones coupled by the unique GeoMimicry Technology which enables the elimination of the unsolved drawbacks of the natural marbles. Geoluxe, Pyrolithic stone offers the same aesthetics with high performance.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
PP: In addition to the endorsement of the renowned Design Award, we plan to promote the product by providing the necessary knowledge and understanding of product and its proper use , together with sufficient technical services along the value chain in order to share the pleasure of using Geoluxe and extend the coverage worldwide.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
PP: It took us over a decade for the development of Geoluxe since it is not just product characteristic but requires sets of deliberation on technology, knowledge and skills and experiences with business intuition, all in good combination and aligned with R&D activities. In principle all efforts have been made on the continual basis to: - Understand the current market situation and customers’ unmet need - Understand the scope of our task - Set up the challenging target and define product unique characteristics - Develop the methodology for the successful scenario - Implement the plan - Check the effects - Introduce selective designs in focused areas and gather feedback for further improvements of our products and the Technology itself (now we are at this stage) At Geoluxe, we are committed to providing the uncompromising quality product to satisfy customers through the use of our Innovative Surface Material.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
PP: We’ve got the inspiration from the igneous process in which marble is created and from the elegant aesthetic of natural marbles from around the world.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
PP: Geoluxe by SCG Group is the fruitful outcome of the hardworking effort of dozens of SCG multi-disciplinary team members, working in collaboration with industry’s professionals to refine the final design as available in the market nowadays. It took us a decade to achieve such challenging target and turn it into a commercial reality. The patent of this innovative Technology has been registered in over 20 countries in which include USA, Europe, and Asia with the overall investments over 40 million US Dollars to manufacture and distribute the exclusive collections of Geoluxe, Pyrolithic stone, in USA, Canada, Australia and South East Asia. Production plant is located in Thailand with an annual output of about 200,000 million square meters.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
PP: The real challenge was in overcoming the stone’s imperfection by developing the right technology that enables us to obtain the similar High Definition Veining effects as created by the Nature.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
PP: The design is wholly the contribution by our own designers.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
PP: At first stage we, together with partnering distributors, focus on homeowners who are looking for marble-like material with high performance and good for use both indoor and outdoor such as kitchen top for cooking and entertaining, bathroom counter or workbench. In the meantime a lot of attentions are geared towards the influencers in the supply chain such as Architects and Designers, Distributors, Fabricators, Opinion leaders like journalists and Institutes.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
PP: Geoluxe, also known as Pyrolithic stone, is a breakthrough new surface material which combines the beauty of natural marble with exceptional technical performance. Using our patented GeoMimicry technology and a proprietary blend of 100% minerals we are able to create Pyrolithic stone with realistic marble-like veins running homogeneously through the entire surface body. We studied long-term geological processes, such as the natural formation of lava in volcanoes, in order to mimic them in the short-term. Working over a decade in our labs to perfect our manufacturing process we succeeded in condensing millions of years of metamorphosis to produce Geoluxe. Thanks to both our innovative process and product, we won two top awards at the 2017 Kitchen & Bath Industry Show – Kitchen Gold and the coveted Best In Show, along with we are also the Winner of Kitchen & Bath Business Product Innovators 2017. Geoluxe is inspired by the universal design of nature, on top of which we have taken care to engineer certain superior advantages. Geoluxe outperforms marble and granite with its resistance to staining, scratching and chemicals. Virtually nonporous and easy to clean, it is the most hygienic, low maintenance choice with a luxury blueprint. Impact resistance also makes it ideal for heavy duty countertop usage, and its weatherproof properties make applications equally suited for either indoors or outdoors. There are no limits to where or how you can use Geoluxe.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
PP: We derived the word “Geo” from Geology while Luxe is a French word for luxury; therefore, Geoluxe is a compound word to represent the Nature’s luxury. The concept behind Pyrolithic stone is threefold: Pyro, meaning fire, denotes its formation by extreme heat; Litho, relating to rock and stone refers to its pure mineralogy; and Stone, defines it as the latest generation in its category.
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
PP: Exclusive machine and production process, designed by our patented GeoMimicry Technology.
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
PP: Aesthetic, the closest resemble of natural marble with homogeneous realistic and through-body veins throughout the entire slab thickness, depth, no change of colors unlike any other surfaces, the unprecedented level of glossiness and shine is derived from the real polished surface finish. Functional, resistance to heat and frost, impact resistance, no change of color, low maintenance, low porosity, pro-hygienic.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
PP: Industry’s professionals in the sector e.g. USA, Italy for feedback and guidelines of products and supplies for the manufacturing process. Most of the research and development efforts are the contributions from our internal staffs, cross-functional and multi-disciplinary team.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
PP: We challenged in the surface industry to develop an innovative material with the real look and feel of natural marble and unparalleled performance. The technology plays a very important role in this particular design because without the special process and machine specifically designed by our Research and Development Office, all other alternative technologies can’t achieve the same aesthetically effect like ours since they are all superficial imprinted graphic while Geoluxe enjoys the non-pixelated veins running through the whole thickness of the slab similarly to the FULL HD effect. We liquefy raw minerals and use our exclusive technology to create marble-like veined designs. While no two slabs are exactly alike, we are able to control quality and consistency as specified in standards. Compared to quartz, which uses polymer resin binding agents, Geoluxe technology allows it to bind to itself without the need for any additives. The result is a healthier, purer product which is not only better for you but for the environment too by being completely biodegradable.
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
PP: Influenced by the market survey of the kitchen countertop usage.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
PP: The challenges are in all the stages of Research and Development. There is no technology available in the market that can respond to what we were looking for in term of aesthetic effect of the product so we must develop all solutions on our own to realize both the product and technological aspects.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
PP: From our perspectives, the Architects and designers are the key opinion leaders that could influence homeowners and project developers. Being recognized by a well-known International Design Award is beneficial to capture their attention thanks to the endorsement by a trustworthy third party.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
PP: Value creation through innovative product and process development to serve the unmet needs of final users.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
PP: None
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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