Innovative and Adventurous From the Start

Roots

When Cindy Thompson entered the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1982, she intended to earn an MFA in metalsmithing and clay sculpture. But the late 70's and early 80's saw the advent of performance art, and the allure proved irresistible. 

Cindy assisted with the installation of Ann Slavit's 50 foot inflatable legs, Della (Street),  in New York, 1978. After "discovering" Spandex and teaching herself to sew, she started her own experiments in tension fabric sculpture.

Performance Art, and Pink Inc.

With her undergraduate partner, Debbie Roth, she founded a performance art troupe which was named Pink Inc by an audience member. The name stuck. Some memorable projects were titled:

Thaddeus the Lump

Rapid Extender

Cindy's thesis performance, Circles in Motion, was allowed (after some argument among the committee members) and she earned her MFA in 1986. She then moved to Maine, and let Debbie keep the name. 

Early Days

Shortly after moving to Maine in 1985, Cindy began making artistic fabric structures for festivals and corporate events, under the name “Fabric Transformations”, but soon changed the name to the more active “Transformit”. The company’s first home was a loft/ studio/ warehouse in Portland, Maine, where she lived with her dog, Marvel. Here she created many installations, including the company’s largest-ever structure, without the aid of computers or any (human) employees.

During this time, she met and collaborated with many of the early creators of tension fabric structures in the US, including Charles Duvall, Rico Eastman, Nic Goldsmith and Reid Dalland, and Bill Moss. She shared her studio in Portland with Bill Moss, for whose company she invented the stretch-fabric "zip-tunnel" construction method.

Early success in the market of corporate events led to growth, the addition of employees, and the construction of a building big enough to hold the company.

Recent

    Since then, Transformit has grown considerably in size and sophistication. Cindy has collected an array of artists, designers, craftspeople and stagehands who help to bring her artistic visions into reality. As customers have grown more sophisticated, the company has responded by adding capabilities and services. In-house product development and prototyping, private label, digital printing, project management and service programs have kept Transformit at the cutting edge of our industry.

    For its entire thirty-five year history, Transformit has been led by its founder.
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  • Gorham, ME 04038 USA
  • info@transformit.com
  • (207) 856-9911