Custom Projects

We love doing custom work and having the chance to stretch and grow our design and fabrication skills through these projects. We also appreciate the opportunities to collaborate with designers and clients. In the past, clients have pushed the limits of our product designs to suit a specific application for their projects, while others have come to us with designs in hand and looked to Submaterial to help fully realize them. Each custom decor project presents unique opportunities to look at our work through another lens. How can our work meet the goals of our clients? What techniques shall we use? How can the materials and tools at our disposal be utilized to create something spectacular?

Our current toolbox includes precise cutting of wool felt, leather, cork, and wood using hand tools, dies and specialized machinery, large and small glue assemblies, woodworking, and joinery, sewing, metal fabrication, and leatherworking.

We’d love the chance to work with you on your next custom interior project.

Gray wall covering at left with plus and minus pattern. The lobby to the right has a wall with a similar pattern in black and white

Children’s Hospital, Seattle

Closeup of circular gray felt on edge design details a Submaterial custom wall covering

Westin Hotel, New Orleans

A living room with a freestanding fireplace covered to the ceiling with different sized walnut wood pieces

Saga Space Architects, Switzerland

In early 2022, Submaterial was approached by Saga Space Architects about creating an interior wall finish for their 2nd analog moon habitat. We said, “Sure!” Collaborating on a quick design schedule, we considered what would a person living in a tiny dwelling on the moon might want the walls to look like. The result was a subtly dimensional wall finish and vertical wall storage. 

A living room with a freestanding fireplace covered to the ceiling with different sized walnut wood pieces

Fireplace Wrap, Cape Cod

Closeup of circular gray felt on edge design details a Submaterial custom wall covering

NYU, New York City

Full size wall next to a staircase at PBS headquarters. The felt wall is covered in a custom design of rectangle and half circle shapes in blue and gray with yellow accents

PBS Headquarters, Arlington

OTJ Architects reached out to us during the planning stages for their work in the relocation of the Public Broadcasting Station headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The project grew from a planned felt panel to an 18′ by 18′ wall covering and changed colors along the way, but the result was a beautiful two-story custom felt wall representing a semi-abstract interpretation of the PBS logo.

Gray wall covering at left with plus and minus pattern. The lobby to the right has a wall with a similar pattern in black and white

325 Kent, Brooklyn

Closeup of circular gray felt on edge design details a Submaterial custom wall covering

Bank of America, Jersey City