I, like a lot of other glass-industry people, spent much of this past week in Las Vegas for the recent GlassBuild trade show. If you’ve been reading http://www.usgnn.com/ this week you know the show was a bit smaller than last year’s, however the decorative glass presence was strong.
So what were the biggest trends? Not surprisingly, color is big on the list. Everyone, from designers to homeowners, is looking for ways to make their surroundings one-of-a-kind, and a colorful glass counter top, for example, isn’t something every homeowner in Anytown USA is going to do.
Patterns and textures are also popular. From shower doors to conference room walls, these products allow for the use of glass, but still create obscurity and privacy. Using these glass products in interior applications, such as walls and room dividers, also allows in natural light, which would not be possible with concrete and wood.
Another hot look in glass is digital printing. A number of technologies were on display this past week that showed how companies can print either directly onto the glass or interlayer materials. Digital printing really makes it possible to put ... well ... anything on glass.
Check out some of these pictures from the show that highlight just some of the innovative technologies that are available.
From top left to bottom right,
Dependable GlassWorks laminated marbles into glass to create this counter top. If you look closely at the circles on the side panel, you can see the glass is designed so the circles appear almost 3-D; like they are jumping off the glass.
How would you like to have a cast glass door like this for your shower? This was displayed by Cardinal Shower Enclosures, which does its own glass fabrication.
Interlayer Solutions Inc. offers a technology that allows users to print images onto EVA to be laminated into glass.
The newest launch from Goldray was magnetic marker board. It's just another example of how the possibilities for glass are endless.
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