MIXING MATERIALS
Chris Clemans, owner of Cabinet Fabrication Group (CabFab) in Syracuse, N.Y., is doing his part to shift the design paradigm. If he isn’t pairing wood and iron in antique tractor seat barstools or crafting a Curly Maple end table with embedded fossils from Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, he’s likely manufacturing residential cabinets with materials that align closer to the future than the past. His unique uses of 3form’s Varia Ecoresin translucent panels embody what he calls “art that works.”

As CabFab’s lead designer, Clemans pairs unlikely combinations of design-driving materials. For example, a Shoji-inspired room-dividing screen he created for an Architectural Digest Home Show contest features “Hydrangea Thatch” impregnated Varia panels set in a sculptural Black Walnut frame, honoring the spirit of traditional Japanese architecture. But even typical uses of Varia – countertop surfaces, backsplashes and cabinet panel inserts – keep CabFab on the forefront of residential design, with 30 or so 3form jobs in its portfolio.

“We’re a boutique supplier, a high-margin, low-volume producer,” says Clemans. “A small market share wants something more, and that’s really what I go for. I’m fortunate in that I get to use what I want to use.” A demand for one-of-a-kind kitchen spaces and a partnership with 3form since 2008 afford Clemans ample opportunity to realize his creative ambitions.

BRINGING IT HOME
Residential projects currently account for only about 10 percent of Varia Ecoresin’s use, according to Rick Shurtliff, 3form Direct Program Manager. He’s part of the company’s effort to increase Varia’s residential market penetration. “We’d like to make it affordable and accessible for anybody to give their home a new look,” Shurtliff says. “It can make a good mark on your home without an exorbitant pricetag.”

By developing special programs and forging alliances with regional shops, such as Clemans’ recruitment to receive on-site training at 3form’s Salt Lake City headquarters, 3form is making Varia easier to specify, more affordable and more accessible for residential applications. For example, in June 2008, a new relationship with home organization franchise California Closets introduced 3form to a wider range of price points. A selection of 15 pre-selected Varia panels is now a design option for California Closets door fronts. Shurtliff says the line is thriving on the U.S. coasts and in Canada but not in the Midwest or Utah, where 3form is based. A contemporary-organic aesthetic makes “Bamboo Rings Dark” and “Passion Connection” the franchise’s most popular designs. Performance features are also a selling point in the residential market; Ecoresin is 40-times more impact resistant than glass panels.

The Varia line is customizable layer-on-layer with limitless color, texture, pattern, interlayer and finish combinations. It can even incorporate high-resolution and screen-printed images as well as laser-cut patterns in a razor-thin wood veneer interlayer. The sheer extent of options can intimidate some specifi ers, so 3form’s presentation “Demystifying Resins” educates prospective users through a lunch meeting with AIA and IDCEC CEU credit.

WISE USE OF PROGRAMS
A program called Ready to Go offers a hassle-free way for architects and designers to use 3form. About 75 prepackaged, modifiable designs with accompanying drawings and specifi cations offer solutions for shelving, partitions, ceiling fi xtures, sliding doors and tables. Shurtliff says Ready to Go, historically popular for commercial work, caters to specifi ers of residential projects who are interested in using resin panels but may lack the time or budget required to customize jobs with new materials.

Another way 3form is improving accessibility is by making Varia less cost-prohibitive through its Cut to Order program. Ecoresin panels are typically shipped as unfabricated 4-by-8-foot sheets, but that can be impractical for a job requiring only a few panels. Shurtliff says the cost-effectiveness comes at a price -- Cut to Order limits the product offering to what is in stock – but is a good option for even small cabinet shops and remodel companies that want offer 3form materials but not fabricate them. In fact, he says the advantage of 3form’s own mounting hardware makes shower doors and backsplashes the most practical and easiest ways to use Varia.

Existing somewhere between Ready to Go and Cut to Order is the Reclaim program, which might have just as easily been dubbed Ready to Cut. Through Reclaim, an online inventory of remnants and panels removed from installation or damaged in production, 3form materials fi nd new life in projects of every scale. Because CNC routers and panelshop machines can cut and heatform Varia, Reclaim stock is popular with cabinet makers.

Reclaim is in keeping with 3form’s comprehensive commitment to sustainability, but Varia contributes to potential LEED points per se, which has piqued the residential green building community’s interest. GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality certifi ed with a non-toxic composition of at least 40 percent pre-consumer recycled resin, Varia is a green choice across the spectrum of its more than 70 standard colors.

“Our model so far has been successful,” Shurtliff says. “We’re trying to branch out and diversify locally. We want residential customers to see Varia, want it and then go to their local shops and say, ‘This is what I want,’ and for cabinet shops to easily order it. That’s where we want to get to, but we’re not there yet.”

Until then, the pressure is on shops like CabFab to pioneer exploration of possibility in making Varia Ecoresin a household name.

Find a vignette about CabFab featuring photos of a kitchen remodel using translucent panels in cabinet faces. Read all about it in the Surface & Panel digital edition of the spring issue.