IIDA Awards Joel Berman Glass Studios Top Honors in Showroom Design at NeoConŽ 2004

Vancouver, BC July 9, 2004 -- Joel Berman Glass Studios, one of the largest architectural glass art manufactures in North America, received top honors in the 2000 sq.ft. and under category of the 9th annual Showroom & Booth Design Competition at NeoConŽ 2004.

The focal point of the interior of this "striking jewel box" of a showroom located on the 11th Floor of the Merchandise Mart, is a dramatic forty-foot long three sided abstract modernist glass sculpture which acts almost as a tunnel inviting visitors to enter and experience the layered glass components in a direct way. From an artistic point of view it's very tactile, all the glass is textured and all the textures speak to each other, so you want to get down on your hands and knees and feel the glass.

The sculpture is lit, in part, by a computerized LCD unit, which can be programmed to create a variety of sensations by washing the translucent glass in dynamic colored light, appropriate in entertainment design such as nightclubs or restaurants. Opposite the glass sculpture is a wall of
rotating tall, brightly colored, curving glass pieces which contribute a variation of random reflection and visual complexity.

To design the space, Berman turned to Tom Marquardt of Chicago firm Design Collaboratives with whom he has had a long working relationship. True to the company's name, Marquardt joined in a productive collaboration with Berman and Rodrigo Segovia, a designer in Berman's Vancouver studio.

Marquardt felt that it was important to create an environment that is not only a sales tool in the conventional sense, but a more literal expression of the firm's abilities. The challenge was to show an application of the great variety, which Berman has, while maintaining a coherent design statement.

Rather than filling the space with rows of glass samples, the interior design itself is a display where potential clients can view the product as installed in various applications that include partition walls, sliding doors, flooring, canopy and sculpture. The new showroom contains more than just an inventory of the materials, which Berman uses. This space really shows what Joel can do. It is more like a jewel box, not a jewelry store.





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