As Submaterial looks forward to the exciting work we have planned for 2022 and beyond, we cannot help—as the change of the calendar reflexively prompts us to —consider where we are right now, how we got here, and where we are going. The ‘then’ and the ‘now’ are integral components of the future.
Submaterial as a company has grown from its founding in 2006 in Seattle, a company of one, into a 25-strong team, occupying a 35,000 sq ft studio in the sun-drenched Southwest. Its location and environment have changed. Our already skilled craftspeople have become virtuosos of wool felt, cork, wood, and leather manufacturing. Our partnerships have matured and expanded. Yet, importantly, we continue to create thoughtful and precisely hand-crafted design from natural and sustainable materials.
David’s Studio in Seattle, 1989
David’s Studio in Albuquerque, 2021
Inspired by these two photographs that illustrate the evolution of the personal design spaces of our Founder and Creative Director David, we thought we might best tell the story of Submaterial then and now through images.
Submaterial logos: (top) 2006-2008, (bottom) 2008-2019
Current Submaterial logo: 2019- present
SUBMATERIAL WORKSPACES: (TOP) DAVID’S 200-SQ FT COTTAGE IN DENVER, 2010; (MIDDLE) RIO RANCHO STUDIO, 2014; (BOTTOM) 6020 MIDWAY PL., 2017.
CURRENT SUBMATERIAL BUILDING AT 3831 MIDWAY PL.
EARLY PROJECT WITH FILZFELT. INSTALLATION OF INDEX LINEAR IN THE SIMPLE HQ CONFERENCE ROOM, 2016 (PHOTO BY CHRISTIAN COLUMBRES).
RECENT PROJECT WITH FILZFELT. INSTALLATION OF RIBSY IN 101 WEST END AVENUE, 2021. (PHOTO BY MIKIKO KIKUYAMA)
JUST THE BASICS WHEN IT CAME TO TOOLS IN THE EARLY DAYS. (ACTUAL SCISSORS NOT PICTURED)
JUST SOME OF THE HAND TOOLS SUBMATERIAL USES CURRENTLY.
STAFF OF 2 WORKING AT THE RIO RANCHO STUDIO IN 2014.
SUBMATERIAL STAFF IN 2022.
2020 and 2021 were tremendously important (and challenging) years for Submaterial. We took the opportunity during the pandemic to consider the ways we do business both internally and externally, to reconfigure how decisions are made, to grow our team in sustainable and operationally beneficial ways, and to cement our mission and values as a brand. In 2022, we have decided to place our energies not only into creating beautiful wall coverings for our commercial customers (through our partnership with FilzFelt), but to simultaneously cultivate a community of residential interior designers who understand how our designs, mirrors, panels, and new soon-to-announced items, can and will elevate the lived environments we are looking to create together.
