Have you ever wondered how to say “unique weave” in Danish? Neither have I. But most of us in the industry have long known how to say it without knowing we knew. Named for the Danish textile mill that produced its first products, Unika Vaev has built an excellent reputation as an innovative contract/commercial grade textile company. Now, over the last three or four years, it has also earned a reputation as a leading manufacturer of acoustic solutions for architectural interiors.
From its beginnings in the mid-70s as the textile division of ICF, Unika Vaev has been a key part of the success of the ICF Group, offering a wide range of upholstery and wallcovering textiles. That position in the wallcovering business along with its close contact and collaboration with the furniture companies of the group, Nienkamper and ICF, led the company to recognize the rapidly advancing trend in workplace planning from full height panel systems toward more open plan desking & benching configurations, which then led it to anticipate the growing need for acoustic solutions that would arise as a result. “We realized this market was going to explode,” said C. Wick Wolfe, vice president ICF Group, in charge of Unika Vaev.
We often talk about the importance of collaboration in developing innovative products. In this story, the role of collaboration offers plenty to talk about. Prior to the 2008 Launch of its LIFE Textiles® Collection of sustainable wools, Unika Vaev began collaborating with Instyle Contract Textiles of Australia. The parties agreed that acoustic treatments for walls would become a major market opportunity and they began co-developing products that could deliver measurable results in the acoustics of workspaces.
Said Mr. Wolfe, “We agreed there was a big opportunity, and that to take advantage of it, we would need to ‘go to school’ on acoustics and develop products that could truly make a difference.”
In gathering intelligence and resources from the ICF Group of companies as well as its Australian partner, Unika Vaev began releasing ideas and products that uniquely combined its refined aesthetic eye with a new understanding of what is required to provide outstanding acoustic performance.
“From the beginning, we realized that the knowledge needed to make an impact on the acoustic performance of a space was in the heads of the acoustic engineers and consultants out there practicing alongside architects and interior designers,” said Mr. Wolfe. “So, we started attending the conferences and trade shows of that specialty, talking to those people and showing them what we were working on and thinking. They welcomed our approach right off the bat because they saw that we had a well-developed aesthetic sense that would help make their scientific solutions more interesting (ed. read, “palatable”) to the architects, designers and end user clients they were working with.”
As a result of this collaboration among several companies eager to innovate and open to listening to one another as well as their audience, Unika Vaev has developed a comprehensive line-up of products comprising wall treatments, ceiling tiles, free-hanging screens, room dividers and even tackable acoustic panels for retrofitting desking and benching systems.
A hallmark of many of the products is the high degree to which they can be customized to solve the particular acoustic problem at hand while delivering the aesthetic vision of the interior designer.
To its credit, Unika Vaev has realized that the acoustic issues of a space are very complex and that acoustic products themselves are only part of the picture when it comes to delivering effective solutions. Responding to that realization, it put in place a design engineering department capable of working with architects, interior designers, acoustic engineers and acoustics consultants to create custom solutions based on the needs of the particular project.
According to Mr. Wolfe, “Our willingness and ability to provide custom solutions has really spurred our growth. There are many unique aspects to each project, and it simply isn’t enough to go to market with a catalog of products. We felt from very early on that in order to be successful we would need to invest in both product and support. Now, with the products and design engineering staff we have in place, and the inventory we have on hand, it feels like we’re ready to tackle any project, no matter how large or small.”
The evolution of the product line reflects continual learning as the products have progressed from simple wall mountable soft surfaces to complex engineered materials and arrangements. The ongoing co-development with the Australian company, Instyle, has brought an international purview and experience base to the process.
For example, a product of the two companies working together is the Ecoustic® range of panels and screens. The panels consist of a compressed 100% polyester material with a 100% polyester felt face. The panels can deliver up to a 0.95 NRC rating yet the felt face has a nice hand and accepts color beautifully.
Most Ecoustic® panels are manufactured from 50% post consumer recycled material and all are fully recyclable. The panels come in 4’ by 8’ sheets available in thicknesses from roughly a quarter of an inch to 2 inches (50mm). They can be installed directly on a wall or built into complex sound diffusers and traps. The material can also be easily cut on the jobsite without exposing installers to the VOCs or glass particles that can be hazards encountered with fiberglass and some acoustic materials. The ease with which it can be cut and manipulated allows Ecoustic® based products to be customized through the design engineering process at Unika Vaev or even on the jobsite, by the installer.
Because the Ecoustic® material has outstanding design and acoustic performance combined with a positive sustainability story, Unika Vaev has made it the basis of many application specific products. A visit to its website reveals at least 10 products using various thicknesses and arrangements of the Ecoustic® material.
The collaboration with acoustic engineers has not only helped inform the evolution of the product line, but has taken the company into some areas where the typical contract textile company would not find itself. For example, it has outfitted several recording sound studios, and you can see the Ecoustic® Array product in the Jimmy Fallon studio for the TV show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. “
Spotting a trend and figuring out a way to exploit it for the benefit of one’s company is a skill that fuels growth. With the obvious trend toward more open workspaces growing apace, it’s good to see a company willing to invest in products that contribute to making those spaces more comfortable and effective for the people working in them. And it’s good to see those investments pay off! We applaud the efforts of Unika Vaev and its partner Instyle, and wish them continued growth and success.