As designers, we find inspiration in many places.  But what if “inspiration” could somehow be boxed and accessed in one place to help us resolve specific design challenges?  As we all know, finding the right material is crucial for transforming a potential space from boring to spectacular.

Enter George Beylerian and his incredibly helpful and competent team at Material ConneXion, a subscription-based materials library.  With the help of their colleagues in 5 cities around the world, they sample, cull and ultimately catalogue the very best of innovative materials from around the globe as they appear in the market.  Then with the enthusiasm of explorers looking for the lost city of El Dorado, they guide all types of designers, architects and entrepreneurs to come up with the next “big” thing … just ask the cutting-edge design teams at Chilewich, Puma and BMW!

A material applicable to interiors is Luccon (shown above), a fiber reinforced cement product from Austria that incorporates glass fibers to impart translucency.  The pre-cast cement panels are as solid as concrete but unlike its dull relative, Luccon unlocks the possibility for a sleek and sexy product by making it almost see-through.