At the 2019 Industrial Fabrics Association International Expo, the IFAI announced the winners of their annual International Achievement Awards. Five projects that Transformit designed, fabricated, and/or contributed to were recipients of an IAA. Each of these installations represent a collaboration of art and design with multiple partners.

Special thanks and congratulations to our co-winners and collaborators:  Conservation International, Cool Shadow (of Loisos + Ubbelohde), Maine Craft Gallery, Quiring General, Scattergood Design, SmithGroup, Thinc Design, Vision3, and Studio HHH, who's original sculpture 'Serpentine', created for Illuminus Boston and featuring eight Transformit 'Pixies', won Best in Category for Fabric Environments as well as receiving top honors with an Award of Excellence in the Fabric Art sub-category.

2019 Industrial Fabrics Association International / International Achievement Awards

Serpentine
Best in Category — Fabric Environments
Award of Excellence — Fabric Environments / Fabric Art

In the years since the Patten Free Library in Bath, Maine was last renovated, which was in 1998, the Library’s staff recognized that the addition of dedicated spaces for teens would provide a tremendous benefit to the community. To provide this space, the Library collaborated with Scattergood Design of Portland, architects of the 1998 expansion and renovation, to create a distinctive Teen Area within the existing building. Recently completed, the centerpiece of the Library’s new Teen Area is a two-story “pilot-house” study carrel with floor-to-ceiling interior windows, a range of seating, study and maker spaces, and a view from a birds-nest perch of the Kennebec River, home of the historic shipyard downriver at Bath Ironworks.

Suspended overhead in the carrel is an array of 5’ x 8’ Transformit Sentry FireFlys.

Using daylight simulation to design artful and effective interior shade.Transformit’s artful tension-fabric sculptures are ideally suited to diffusing direct sunlight and providing interior shade. With this in mind, the architects at SmithGroup commissioned Transformit to create an installation in the atrium lobby of a new medical building for the Valley Children’s Medical Group (VCMG) in Modesto, California. Artistically, the client wanted something that evoked a flock of birds in flight. Practically, the sculptural installation needed to provide interior shade for the lobby, particularly over the reception area.

Studio HHH created their own visual story and original sculpture with eight ready-made Transformit Pixies, as part of ILLUMINUS, Boston's contemporary arts festival featuring original works by artists who work in the medium of light and sound. 

Maine Craft Portland’s holiday windows by Cynthia Thompson

In support of the nonprofit Maine Craft Association, Cindy created (pro bono) a three-window installation entitled First Light: Solstice for Maine Craft Portland, the organization's gallery in Portland.

A custom built fabric structure luminaire designed by Planeta Design Group with Transformit for the Montaje Apartments, Somerville, Massachusetts was named a finalist by CODAworx for the 2018 CODAawards. The lighting fixture features aluminum extrusion frames, stretch mesh, and stretch fabric printed with images from the site's era as an assembly plant for Ford Motor Company.

Transformit has been a member of the Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI), a member-driven trade association representing the global industrial fabrics industry, for over 25 years. The IFAI's International Achievement Awards (IAA) are an annual competition with a goal to promote awareness of the specialty fabrics used in thousands of products and applications. For more than 70 years, the awards have recognized innovation, technical skill and design excellence. Entries are judged by industry experts, editors, architects, educators and design professionals who were selected for their knowledge in particular field of study or product area.