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Chemetal was the Hospitality Spatial Awards sponsor for The Frame Awards on February 20 at De Kromhouthal in Amsterdam, part of the 2 day Frame Lab put on by Frame Magazine. The event celebrated the future of spatial design with designers, celebrants and contest entries from all over the world.
A leader in metal designs and laminates for interior spaces, Chemetal regularly sees its massive collection of metal designs and laminates specified into hospitality projects. “Hotels are where interior design market sectors collide” says Chemetal Creative Director and President Geoff Schaefer. “A lobby is a coffee shop, workplace, restaurant, and a branded environment. Designers are now challenged with design spaces in flux. Hospitality, furniture, corporate, experiential, signage, branding and even residential intersect in hotel spaces everywhere.”
Philippe Starck with his lifetime achievement award.
The event featured a Lifetime Award Presentation to Philippe Starck, famed hotel, interiors and product designer (among other design feats). Starck goofed his way up the runway to the stage, made a dreamy, inspirational speech about how toys bored him when he was a child, and drifted away in a slipstream of fans and interviewers. He probably boarded his spaceship, designed a hotel, restaurant and vaporizer on his travels back to France, and was tucked into bed by midnight.
For everyone else, the night went late. The 5 course vegan meal, presented between awards categories was by all accounts (from veggies at least) excellent.
Besides Schaefer, who took the stage briefly, talked about what Chemetal does, and answered a few friendly questions from emcee and Frame Founder and Director Robert Thiemann, two other Chemetal staffers attended. “It was great to meetup with European designers and learn about their work, “said Paul Pickunka, Chemetal Vice President of Sales. “What a fantastic event for the Chemetal brand in front of so many global designers” echoed Leo Forrest, Chemetal National Sales Director, “and those smaller metric system sized Heinekens go down fast.”
Chemetal was lucky to share a table with several Frame Awards jury winners. Alex Fehre, from Studio Alexander Fehre, was awarded the Spatial Awards: Work, Large Office of the Year, Jury Vote for Bosch Automotive Steering. The Stuttgart based designer told the story of how he secured the job when he was a one man shop (with an intern) staffed up to 10, and worked tirelessly on this winning project.
Additionally, Dan Flower, Director of Design at HKS London accepted the Societal Award, Social Award, Jury Vote for Kachumbala Maternity Ward in eastern Uganda. The challenge of this project was to create a regional maternity ward for expectant mothers to reduce infant mortality in an impoverished area without regular electricity or drinking water.
“We’ve long advertised Chemetal in Frame,” says Schaefer, “we’re always excited when the magazine comes into the office, and we were honored to take part in such a well organized worldwide design event as Frame Awards.”
It’s a place Chemetal is right at home. That’s because designers all over the world have long been specifying metal designs and laminates from Chemetal in all of these commercial settings.
