3form, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based manufacturer of architectural materials, is shaking things up with a new head of design. Meet Christian Darby, joining the 3form team from Nike, where he most recently served as global innovation design director.
Mr. Darby’s appointment is one piece of a larger transition that 3form has been diligently working toward for the past few years. The brand has always been a manufacturer known to be a leader in its bread and butter – materials. But it’s making moves to evolve into a company that considers all surfaces and spaces, offering full solutions that “can speak the language of architects and designers to better realize fully immersive spatial experiences.”
“Our clients have been asking for more complete solutions – things that are completely finished, plug-and-play, and that don’t require a lot of complicated installs,” said 3form CEO Talley Goodson, in an officeinsight interview.
“We felt like we needed to look for a new head of design to help us take our product to the next level. And we knew we needed someone who understood both industrial design and elements like color and texture as it relates to materials.”
Mr. Darby is certainly someone who fits the bill – but with some pretty intriguing extra potential.
Armed with a degree in industrial design, Mr. Darby has spent the last 25 years in the apparel industry, and his knowledge of materials is extensive (at one point he even started his own surf apparel company). After working in the apparel division at Nike in Portland for several years, he’s now applying that experience to the architectural interiors industry.
“Good design translates from one product to another, so the transition from apparel to design has been a natural one,” said Mr. Darby, in the press announcement. “The same can be said about approaching the process of innovation – it translates across industries.”
In his new role at 3form, he will oversee all design and marketing functions for the brand.
“As I was learning about the company, I became more and more intrigued with what 3form has done in the architectural space,” said Mr. Darby, in the interview. “But, the final thing that confirmed my decision to join the brand was that they do all of their manufacturing here in Salt Lake City. As a designer, to have manufacturing happening domestically is a huge benefit.”
What are Mr. Darby’s, and 3form’s, next steps? They plan to begin integrating the company’s four main platforms in materials technology, lighting and hardware into complete solutions that activate interior spaces in new ways.
“There’s a great running start here,” said Mr. Darby, in the interview. “When you combine all of those base platforms, there’s no one else who does it better than 3form.”
3form’s NeoCon 2017 showroom was full of new products that reflect the new direction.
In addition to introducing new acoustic lighting designs from its LightArt brand, 3form unveiled its new Acoustic Solutions, which combines a new 50% pre-consumer recycled PET felt with its Seeyond and Edge systems.
The company recently purchased Seeyond, a product line of a series of lightweight, modular tiles that designers can create endless configurations with, including both wall features and standalone structures.
“The thing that caught our eye about Seeyond is its parametric software technology that makes it really easy for designers to use,” said Mr. Goodson. “We developed an online configuration tool that creates a file that goes directly to our C&C machine.”
3form will launch a new product this week at its national sales conference. Tetria is a ceiling tile that will help designers and architects activate oft-overlooked ceiling space.
“3form has been having a lot of conversations with architects around what they want to do with their spaces, and a lot of those discussions at some point landed on vertical space,” said Mr. Goodson. “This new product will give architects and designers the tools to treat the overhead space in ways they couldn’t before. It’s going to be really cool.”
And as for Mr. Darby’s transition onto the 3form team, which employs 550+ people in Salt Lake City and a few other locations around the U.S., it’s been smooth sailing – from designing apparel and surfing the Pacific waves to designing architectural products and hitting the slopes outside Salt Lake.
“Talley and I both surf – I grew up in California,” said Mr. Darby. “Sometimes there are creative moments of inspiration that happen on the waves when you’re surfing, and we have that in common. And my wife is from Salt Lake, so we’re familiar with the area, and our family is starting to get all set and geared up for skiing.”
With six ski resorts in the Salt Lake City area, there’s bound to be at least a few late-to-work powder days for 3form employees to catch some inspo on.
Best of luck to 3form in its new endeavors – we’ll be watching and reporting!