Being a completely custom job, we didn’t have any experience to draw on for building it. “We had never done this before, so determining how to execute it was a good challenge,” says Panel Studio Team Leader James Gannaway. At first, as we practiced configuring sections, we hand-notched each piece, which was slow work and we worried about time. That’s when James and his team recognized room for improvement. Why not quit hand-cutting the notches and just use differing heights of felt? They ended up using four heights, a stroke of genius that expedited the process substantially.

Since this 8’ x 22’ installation was too large to ship whole, our team determined a way to construct the pattern such that it could ship in pieces and then be seamlessly assembled on site. The result of all this design and engineering was six interlocking MDF-backed panels that can be installed in one day, providing a flawless felt wall with hypnotic dimensionality.

The Saga team was designing a 3-D printed space-optimized structure consisting of two and a half floors for a crew of two. The walls we were designing for are located in the multifunctional living area of the structure. This middle floor gives each crew member their own space, with mirrored walls, storage, and desk areas.

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. Also, we worked with the Saga team to create details on one of the walls that could function as storage. We initially designed a dimensional wall covering with multicolor elements but soon realized that too many visual elements might be overwhelming in such a small space, where in theory, if not in practice, the crew members would live for a long period.

After many conversations internally and with the Saga team, the final design included two felt walls with subtle dimension created with trapezoidal felt appliqués in an alternating pattern and two felt walls with pockets of various depths. The felt used was a mixed dye lot of a warm, heathered grey 100% Merino wool felt.

Before the walls were packed up and shipped to Switzerland, we took the opportunity to install and photograph them in our studio. These photographs detail the subtle visual variety that the mixed dye lot appliqués create. We also got to test out the functionality of the pockets, which might be used by the crew members to hold tablets, books, equipment, personal items, and more.

In June of 2022, the 3-D printed habitat, called Rosie, was completed in Gallen, Switzerland, and installed at the Institut Auf dem Rosenberg, whose students worked with Saga on the structure’s design and fabrication. Over the next decade, this simulated moon habitat will be used for research and education.

The freestanding monumental fireplace was a rectangular column; our panels would wrap entirely around the sizable 10’ wide x 14’ tall x 2’ deep column, meeting a multi-angled, peaked ceiling. Not a problem. But there was one catch: the homeowners wanted it in time for their wedding, weeks away. The turnaround had to be quick. The scale of this project exceeded our previous experience, so we’d learn as we proceeded. “We’ve made panels like this before, but they were much smaller,” says Sheldon Allen, Wood Shop Team Lead.

First, we sourced the walnut. The job called for hundreds of pieces of wood, so we needed a substantial amount of quality walnut, fast! Hardwood long-grain we sourced locally. But those end-grain pieces needed to be larger than local sources could muster. So, we cast further afield. Thankfully, we found a massive walnut log in Colorado. Felled in Texas, rumor has it that Teddy Roosevelt was once photographed in front of that tree. “So, we got this huge tree,” says Sheldon. “We weren’t set up for dealing with something that size, but we borrowed a chainsaw from one of our employees and we did the mill work here.”

Because our crew wouldn’t be onsite to install the wrap it was critical that the panels not only fit together seamlessly but could be trimmed onsite by the client’s contractor for a perfect fit. We built it in long, thin, tongue-and-groove strips with mitered corner pieces. Everything arrived and was installed in time for the big event, and the results are absolutely stunning, if we do say so ourselves.

Click the here to explore the full Cape Cod house project.

OTJ Architects reached out to us during the planning stages for their work in relocating and redesigning the Public Broadcasting Station headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. The project designers “drew on the history of their own formative relationships with PBS’ programs to propose a warm and sophisticated “living room” concept that would welcome staff and visitors into the workplace much as viewers have welcomed the broadcaster’s series, characters, and personalities into their homes since 1969.”

In the original inquiry to Submaterial, the designers were first looking for a large wall panel with felt on-edge details. They sent along a semi-abstract interpretation of the PBS logo as the design, rendered in greys. Through the sampling/design iteration process, the product changed from a wall panel to a cork-backed felt wall covering (an architectural finish we have perfected through years of fabrication experience). Also, the planned design in three tones of grey switched to a brighter palette of two light greys and a rich blue with thin vertical yellow stripes placed seemingly at random. 

While the entire PBS project spanned roughly 130,000 square feet of space, the two-story felt wall that we created became the focal backdrop of the interconnecting stairway and attractively brought into the space the organization’s supporting brand colors and assets.

Leeser Architecture contacted us seeking a customized, full-scale wall covering based on our Odessa T-variant design, a sandwiched felt, tabbed in a random pattern. “It’s systematized randomness,” says Emily Howe, Director of Studio Operations. “It’s a variation of a wood panel design that we do.” Instead of wood, Leeser chose wool felt on a cork backing, excellent materials for abating noise in a shared space. We volleyed a few rounds of samples to our client before settling on the final layout and color. Then it was time to produce it.

Our team of four traveled to NY to oversee the installation and to add the final tabs. “Our product went in on the top floor, which has a community room, lounge space, and a gym,” says Cristine. “The building is shaped like a donut,” she laughs. “There’s a hole in it,” Emily agrees. Working in pairs, they finished it in four days. The views, they tell us, were amazing.

First our team masterminded a way to produce an unsystematic pattern that could be made in quantity and safely shipped. “The design is supposed to look random but had to be reproducible on a large scale,” says Cristine Posner, Production Manager. Then, they designed two versions of a 6’ long by 18” wide tile that allowed the pieces to adjoin seamlessly during installation. The final puzzle piece was shipping the whole lot intelligently. “We designed the systematic random pattern so the tiles could be nested, face to face, for shipping, without the tabs butting up against one another. That was an interesting constraint,” says Cristine. “It was six crates of relatively heavy but delicate material.”

After an initial exploration, marrying our products to their ideas, they chose two different designs: modified versions of our Odessa and Diade Panels.

For the Odessa design, Production Manager Cristine Posner explains, “they wanted a gradient of the Odessa and Odessa T-variant products.” While Odessa installation would only consist of five 40” x 40” panels, the look and feel of the pattern was very detailed and required a bit of creative arrangement. A structured, kinetic fade was in order, and it took some work to make it look right. “One of the things we went back and forth on was how they wanted the gradient to look. Basically, they asked for an Odessa in the center (100% coverage), with 25% fade on the second panel, and 50% fade on the outside panels,” says Cristine. “So, we talked to them about how they wanted that to work.” The end result was a visually dynamic pattern that imparts a sense of movement. It’s very cool.

For the Diade design, our client chose five of the six available panel designs, and then the panels were grouped in sets of three. The client saw the Diade on our website and knew it fit their motif; a simple but impeccable match. Color selection of both designs consisted of sending them a few rounds of digital mockups of different hues, both for the base and for the tabs. Once we outlined the colors and layouts, they gave us creative license to execute the final design. We aligned the panels side by side to ensure the patterns were visually weighted properly and looked even. Then, we carefully crated them, bid them a bon voyage, and off they went to New Jersey.