Interior Designers Can Carry a Room Full of Swatch Books in Their Pockets with New App from Variable Inc.
Company to launch mobile app that links inspiration color with exact product names and numbers in wide variety of materials to streamline color selection process
Interior designers who specify the colors of paints, floor coverings, fabrics and leather will soon have a powerful new tool that shrinks a room full of swatch books into their mobile device.
Variable Inc. is beta testing a yet unnamed mobile app for its NODE+chromaPro™ color measurement device that will allow interior designers to accurately identify a color of inspiration, then specify by manufacturer the exact match and complementary colors in paints, carpeting, tile and stone, leather, contract fabrics, upholstery, laminates and resilients.
“Interior designers waste a tremendous amount of time and money obtaining and handling physical samples of the materials they specify,” Variable CEO and founder George Yu said. “We have brought that whole color selection process into the 21st century by recording libraries of these materials and making them available to anyone who subscribes and owns a smartphone.”
Interior designers will be able to obtain the Bluetooth-enabled NODE+chromaPro device and app by subscribing to the service for $30 a month. Variable Inc., the Chattanooga, Tenn.-based company that designed and manufactures NODE+chromaPro, will offer individuals a free version of the mobile app containing paint fan decks and limited functionality. For those who already own a color sensor device, subscriptions will be available at a lower rate.
The company has so far catalogued the digital color data for more than 125,000 colors from more than 60,000 products, along with names and numbers used to specify orders. Some of the manufacturers include Garrett Leather® (leather); Interface® (carpet); Koroseal® (wall coverings); LOOMSOURCE® (upholstery); Momentum® (textiles); Shaw® (carpet, laminate, resilient, tile and stone); Sunbrella® (contract fabrics) and Textus® (upholstery). More data is being added to the libraries daily, so interested individuals should contact Variable to determine if products from particular manufacturers are catalogued.
The NODE+chromaPro and mobile app system has libraries of fandecks from paint manufacturers such as Behr® Interior & Exterior, Benjamin Moore®, C2 Paint®, Diamond Vogel®, Donald Kaufman Color®, Farrow & Ball®, Kelly Moore®, KILZ® Pro-X, Mythic Paint®, PPG®, Sherwin Williams® and Valspar®.
The NODE+chromaPro device blocks out all ambient lighting to capture color and uses an industrial detector that mimics the way humans sees color. Using the device and app, designers can identify a color of inspiration digitally, narrow down color matches or complementary colors quickly from thousands of choices, organize projects and ideas in files, and share those ideas with clients via smartphones or tablets.
“Interior designers who are participating in our beta test say they can’t wait until it is available to the public,” Variable Vice President of Marketing John Kowalski said. “They are tired of digging through hundreds of physical samples to come up with a selection, only to have the customer ask for more options – and have to start all over again. Some are lugging around loads of 5-pound swatch books in the back seats of their cars, just to save time.
“With our system, the only things you are lugging around is your smart phone and a 5-ounce instrument.”
For more information, visit http://bit.ly/MtlBeta. Those interested in beta testing (iOS only) can sign up for the current version which includes a device, the current Inspire app and a link to download the unnamed materials app beta.
About Variable Inc.
As its name suggests, Variable Inc. designs and manufactures sensor systems that measure changes in our environment and transmit the data wirelessly to smart phones and other smart devices in easily understood graphics. Based in Chattanooga, Tenn., Variable makes interchangeable sensor packages that accurately measure color, humidity, temperature, barometric pressure, magnetic fields, acceleration and other data. The brainchild of former NASA engineer George Yu, Variable has commercialized technology developed for the Department of Homeland Security to streamline workflow for businesses ranging from interior design to home construction.
Variable, 100 Cherokee Blvd. Suite 327, Chattanooga, TN 37405 United States
