It is hard to believe that 2024 is over! This year was full of big wins and some challenges, and we are excited for the new year and all it has to bring. Let's take a look back at some of the highlights of 2024.
Modernism Week
We started the year strong (and sunny!) by participating in Modernism Week as an exhibitor on Atomic Avenue at the Palm Springs Modernism Show in February. Two staff members worked our colorful booth, chatting with MCM-loving attendees about our products and their inspirations.
Sips & Myths
In March, we launched a new event program called Sips & Myths. Playing on the paint and wine nights that have become popular, we hosted an evening event of making with a Submaterial twist. Attendees were give access to all of our felt colors, and they composed a 12" by 12" Myth wall art piece. After they created their colorway, they left the piece with us to glue into a metal cradle and trim to the necessary length and then they were ready for pick-up. Over the course of the year, we hosted three such events. We had a number of return attendees and it was great to see the varied personal styles of the attendees show through their final pieces.
ICFF
After months of planning, preparation, and fabrication, Submaterial exhibited at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) for the first time! David Hamlin, our founder, had exhibited in the early 2000s with a previous company (and had this charming bit in a New York Times article about that year's show). Since this was our first time at ICFF, we planned for two long booths that faced each other and showcased a wide variety of our products, including wall art, mirrors, room dividers, and wood wall coverings. Over three days, our team in NYC spoke with hundreds of designers, architects, journalists, and students while also getting a peek at the other beautiful designs being showcased.
Summer Events
The late summer is always a busy time for us. This year we had our annual studio sale in late August. This sale is a chance for us to do some cleaning, organizing, and culling excess stuff in our space. It also allows our local community to purchase overstock tiles, panels, prototypes, tools, and materials. We have been thrilled to see how folks have styled our products in their spaces.
We hosted our annual Open House at the end of September. We invited the community to check our new designs and products. David, our founder, gives a tour of our 35,000 sq. ft. facility, and we have drinks and snacks on the back patio. Plus, we refresh our lobby each year for this event!
Exciting Online Projects
In October, we took an exciting next step with our residential collection program. We became members of Material Bank, a digital platform for searching and ordering samples of free architectural, construction, and design materials. We launched on MB with a selection of our wall art, room dividers, and wood wall coverings. We have connected with hundreds of firms who have requested our samples (see sample brochure below) and let us know about the projects they have in mind for our products.
At the end of November, we also launched a new website! We spent four months working with the team at Good and Gold to concept, iterate, design, and develop a new site that is fast, user-friendly, shows off the full complement of our products and capabilities, and makes it easy to purchase something ready-to-ship or to inquire about a custom piece. We are thrilled with the result and hope our website visitors find it easy and efficient to navigate.
And finally... some of our favorite custom residential projects from the past year
