Seeing Roehm's ACRYLITE® Satinice In a New “Light”
Chicago-based designer Brian Anderson has many materials to work with in creating his contemporary sculptural lighting, yet the designer selected ACRYLITE® as his medium of choice for his most recent collection, entitled, “Permutations.” The series of lighted objects is currently being exhibited at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Architecture, Interior Architecture, and Designed Objects Graduate Exhibition and is created almost entirely from ACRYLITE® sheet donated to the artist by Roehm America.
In his work, Brian thermoforms our two dimensional sheet into mesmerizing lighted objects. “It is magical taking something flat, like ACRYLITE® sheeting, adding heat, and transforming it into a 3-dimensional form,” says Brian. “Extruded and cast ACRYLITE® takes form beautifully and it comes in a wide range of colors and shades. And the saturation achieved in a number of hues is simply remarkable. The quality of manufacture is apparent from the packaging all the way to the performance of the product itself.”
Brian’s work has been featured internationally. This April, during the Milan Furniture Fair, he showed work at Spazio Rossana Orlandi as part of the “Loaded” exhibition presented by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Brian has also been profiled in Design Bureau Magazine’s, “For Hire.” His newest work, “Permutations,” will be on display at the SAIC graduation exhibition; SAIC is being called “America’s most influential art and design school” and their exhibitions are a major attraction for design industry leaders seeking the next generation of contemporary designers.
This material is manufactured in a wide range of tones, diverse range of colors, and transparencies for use in a variety of design concepts. Easily thermoformed with consistent results, the predictability of the forming process means less trial and error, reduced waste, and prompter production time. Above all, this sheet is one of the most readily recyclable plastics on the market today.
Clear extruded acrylics can be reground and re-purposed into Roehm’s manufacturing process. Colored and cast lines, collected as scrap, are reverse-polymerized to yield the original base chemical, Methyl Methacrylate (MMA), which is then used to manufacture new acrylic products.
The lightweight property of the material, half the weight of glass, decreases fuel costs and emissions during shipping and so contributes to cost-effective and eco-friendly solutions to design challenges.
“As part of our continuing commitment to reducing our environmental impact, we are consistently looking to the future for renewable resources in our product lines and manufacturing practices.” said Grant LaFontaine, Project Business Manager at Roehm America.
As a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, Roehm America acrylic products support LEED certification in design projects. Our products are produced locally, using 20-75% pre-consumer reclaimed acrylic in our extruded acrylic products. Roehm America’s manufacturing processes produce low-VOC emitting materials for sound environmental quality. There are no heavy metals, formaldehyde and no plasticizers. Currently, Roehm is establishing advanced renewable resource-friendly process, known as AVENEER®, which requires less energy, consumes no sulfuric acid, and lowers carbon dioxide emissions. Roehm strives to achieve sustainability and improve our manufacturing practices in order to minimize our carbon footprint and adverse effects on the environment.
Location: Chicago, Illinois
Fabricator: Brian Anderson
