The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) awarded Transformit a 2016 Outstanding Achievement award for a giant H. polylepis.
A what?
The explanation starts with Zeb. The passion of Zeb Hogan, host of National Geographic Live’s Monster Fish television series, has inspired a traveling exhibition, Monster Fish: In Search of the Last River Giants. While most of the exhibition’s fish are sculpted in traditional materials such as plaster, clay or fiberglass, a giant freshwater stingray (Himantura polylepis) was specified as a lightweight tension fabric sculpture, because of its sheer size (8′ x 15′) and the need to suspend it overhead.
Transformit's founder and president Cindy Thompson won a 2014 public art commission from the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts to build her tension-fabric installation, Aqua Vibrant. Designed to occupy the overhead space of the Academic Commons at Lakes Region Community College, an 85-foot long room connecting two classroom buildings, the piece celebrates and takes inspiration from nearby Lake Winnipesaukee and New Hampshire’s Lakes Region. Aqua Vibrant was installed this past summer in time for the 2016-2017 school year.
With thousands of attendees, hundreds of vendors, and a veritable sea of colorful and engaging exhibitor displays, the floor of a trade show can be an overwhelming place to spend a day. Sometimes it’s nice to simply have a quiet space in the midst of the hub-bub for a short pause or relaxed conversation. For the Boston Society of Architects' ABX 2016 show at the Boston Convention Center, Transformit created just such a space for the attendees. 