New Products - Building Products

282 solid brass lever in satin chrome finish by Omnia Industries. 800-310-7960; omniaindustries.com. circle 643

The glass in Profile Bamboo is as luminous as it is practical, suitable for all indoor and outdoor vertical applications, and even as residential flooring subjected to normal footwear. The handcrafted glass, available in such colorways as Nightsky and Agave, is made partially of bottle glass from curbside recycling programs. The bamboo field measures 3 inches by 9 inches, with 1-inch-by-9-inch and 1½-inch-by-9-inch trims. 800-278-8453; annsacks.com. circle 720

Nostalgic for the days of sitting around a campfire? Jar brings the fire pit to the backyard with sleek, minimalist style. Designed by Christophe Pillet, it sports a concrete and stainless steel column that measures 16 inches in diameter and stands 29½ inches high. A tempered glass shield utilizes the company's patented Glassfire technology. 201-933-7787; planikausa.com. circle 754

Skylights are great additions to spaces, but sometimes the excess solar heat drives up energy use. With the Sivoia QED shade, though, it's easy to control and filter sunlight. Its frame can be mounted inside or outside the skylight, and keeps the fabric taut and parallel to the window. Both sheer and blackout shade fabrics are available in a variety of neutral colors. 610-282-7797; lutron-shades.com. circle 755

Patricia Urquiola leaves an impression with her Déchirer porcelain stoneware. Sporting a patchwork of subtle patterns, the collection is meant to resemble traces of old reliefs and striations left in concrete. The large-scale tiles are suitable for wall applications and high-traffic floors, and come in four different sizes; five muted colors are available. 212-980-1500; mutina.it. circle 750

This manufacturer is injecting color into three of its popular lines. C3 offers designers and specifiers 26 updated colors for the Pressed Glass, Chroma, and Varia Ecoresin products, affording them more flexibility in coordinating the colors and materials required for different applications within the same project. Tones range from vibrant oranges and pinks to muted tans and greens. 800-726-0126; 3-form.com. circle 751

Celebrated designer Karim Rashid puts his playful stamp on Collection Digitalia, a line of 27 digital designs on high-pressure laminate. The patterns draw on geometry, organic forms, objects, and symbols, and, of course, are rendered in eye-popping colors. The sheets are 51 inches wide by 120 inches long. 800-228-2238; abetlaminati.com. circle 752

Think mixed-use, and it's usually architecture that comes to mind. But think again with Molo Design's Softblock modules. Actually more strip than block, they're designed to offer interior spaces multiple functions and configurations, thanks to a honeycomb structure that expands and contracts to form sculptural walls and seating. The modules come in unbleached kraft paper made with 50 percent recycled fiber as well as in translucent white or opaque black polyethylene. Available sizes are 1, 2, and 3 feet high by 12 or 18 feet long. 604-696-2501; molodesign.com. circle 407

A high-pressure laminate that requires no substrate, Stratakore is hygienically superior to granite, wood, marble, and laminated surfaces thanks to its bacteria-resistant, non-porous nature. While top surfaces come in hundreds of colors and styles—from wood grains to stone patterns—edge details, including a multilayered effect, provide a slew of possibilities for health-care settings, lavatory tops, and kitchen counters, especially with under-mounted sinks. 877-277-2669; arpausa.com. circle 753

Danish architect Anders Nørgaard's Cubic stove collection encompasses wall- or floor-mount models with or without integrated firewood storage. A minimalist door handle on the black or gray steel fireboxes stays cool, making it easy to open with fingertips. All seven stoves in the collection are EPA-certified for use in LEED-rated projects. 914-764-5679; wittus.com.circle 750

Whether used as closet doors or a space divider, Quadrum hanging panels need only a ceiling track, keeping the floor clear of obstructions. Lead times for this Italian-made product are less than one month for unusual sizes or combinations of European melamine, exotic wood veneers, frosted glass, and lacquered glass in trendy colors. 305-441-9008; difasa.net.circle 754

Vibrant, jewel-toned M Screen solar shading cloth is now available to brighten up this manufacturer's roller shades. The textile features Enduris Glass Core technology, ensuring that yarns stay strong, stable, and tightly woven. Match one of the available opacities to the amount of light and heat you want to block. 800-727-8953; hunterdouglascontract.com. circle 745

Though the R-Cast line's new Ice pattern acrylic sheets measure up to 4 feet by 8 feet, their random pattern never precisely repeats itself. And although the acrylic ranges from a ½- to 1-inch thick, it is easily shaped or formed. Sheets ship in an icy clear, or in custom colors. 970-241-4700; reynoldspolymer.com.circle 751

The chameleon of building products, dichroic glass often comes with a hefty price tag. For interior and exterior projects with shallower pockets, there's now Dichrolam tempered, laminated acrylic or poly-carbonate or annealed safety glass. The film interlayer, which provides the ever shifting iridescent colors, comes in seven versions. Panels are offered in any size up to 54 inches wide by 12 feet long, with thickness ranging from ¼ inch to 1½ inches. 216-272-3948; johnblazydesigns.com. circle 426

They are not exactly the Manolo shelves in the room-sized closet that Big built for Carrie in the film Sex and the City; but at least designer Luciano Bertoncini's upright, 6-foot-1-inch Foot Box will keep shoes clean and tidy. At 23 inches wide by 8 inches deep, the slim, wall-mounted aluminum unit conceals shelves behind a door, fronted with mirrored or frosted glass. 212-685-0800; ddcnyc.com. circle 752

Some say that necessity is the mother of invention, but invention occasionally begets necessity. Cambridge Architectural got its start in 1917 manufacturing the interlocking wire beds used for the conveyor belts of newfangled assembly lines. In the 1960's, the company started to produce the indestructible, rigid, tightly woven mesh that protects the walls of elevator cabs—and somehow manages to be downright sexy, too. Other versions are pressed into service as safety barriers for exploding curtain walls or as part of ventilation systems. Peter Marino Architect even installed the material as a decorative cladding at a Louis Vuitton flagship in New York. A close-up on the manufacturing process weaves a tale of humble stainless-steel origins spun into golden applications. 866-806-2385; cambridgearchitectural.com. circle 413

Manufacturer: Annemette Beck Design Studio

Product: Silver Dust.

Standout: Transparent slats, flecked with silver, form ethereal floating panels.

After 21 years of designing bespoke textiles for Danish places of worship, Annemette Beck says she went in search of "something more Mediterranean, such as plastic, glitter, crystals, gold, silver—absolutely not Scandinavian materials. In England, France, and Italy, I visited the fashion houses and boutiques and looked at all the elegant people on the street." These distinctly secular sources yielded an un-fabric combining fishing line as the warp and a blend of silver, viscose, raffia, and PVC as the weft. She introduced a custom version of the product to the market in 2007. Now, she has released the translucent panels for production under the name Silver Dust, part of the 24-piece Collection of Hand-Woven Textiles. Clearly fitting for a window treatment, the panels are also easy to envision as dividers in a nightclub, bar, or restaurant. 45-6264-1564; annemette-beck.dk. circle 412

The manufacturer's new Transition technique safeguards privacy without sacrificing light, easing the glass's texture from crystal clear to deeply embossed, all within the same panel. Choose an obscure bottom with clear top, all-over texture with a clear middle section, or the reverse of either example. 888-505-4527; jbermanglass.com. circle 744

The candy colors and honeycomb core of the Panelite Bonded Series make for a sweet spot for light. The core—initially developed for the aerospace industry for its strength-to-weight ratio—is available with a ¼-inch polycarbonate tubular cell; a random mix tubular core of ¼-inch and 1/8-inch cells; and an aluminum hexagonal honeycomb. These bonded series panels require less material, shipping, and labor, and their ability to transmit daylight helps contribute to LEED certification. Facing comes in gloss or satin, and clear or colored, ranging from light blue to bronze. 212-947-8292; panelite.us. circle 599

Successful designers always seem to have mentors. But that only begins to explain Marybeth Shaw's two-decade journey into the design stratosphere. The designer of the Veritas Collection started as an assistant creative director with Formica Corporation, working alongside a parade of visiting design luminaries. Shaw then served for six years as chief creative director for New York–based wall coverings manufacturer Wolf-Gordon. While there, she wasted little time re-branding the company and producing three collections of experimental prints, by Interior Design Hall of Famer Laurinda Spear, celebrity industrial designer Karim Rashid, and Rem Koolhaas's pal, the multidisciplinary designer Petra Blaisse.

Drawing on her own formative experience in France as a master's student at the Ecole d'Architecture de Paris-Belleville, Shaw began to craft her own work in 2004. Her firm, Shaw Jelveh Design, is based out of both a new Manhattan studio and an old Baltimore row house crisply renovated with co-principal and architect Majid Jelveh.

Showing her range of design capabilities with patterns like Collage and Links, Shaw embraces bold geometry. With Spy, Constellation, and Temp, she filters light to let the negative spaces glow. Bamboo, Daisy, and Kiku are botanically inspired, and Laces, Magnetic, Beads, and Arctic are playful layers of film. Textures for the panels are highly tactile, and sometimes inspired by architectural glass. The surfaces of custom panels may be combined with color and graphic patterning. With Collage, layouts vary to ensure that no two panels will be precisely alike. The same is true for her Links series, which encapsulates overlapping squares or circles of wood veneer, paper, foil, and translucent colored film. Consider them a tool for your own creative journey. 212-924-5558; robin-reigi.com. circle 742