There’s nothing quite like telling a story on the big screen. It’s the visual artists of the Art Directors Guild (ADG) who, in consultation primarily with the director, create and develop the overall look, visual atmosphere, and emotion that move the story. Fittingly, when the members of the ADG gather for their own awards show, the ADG’s Excellence in Production Design Awards, they want a stage design that speaks “Hollywood.”

Several years ago we did a really fun project with the Newport Aquarium in Newport, Kentucky. They were renovating the viewing theater for their giant shark-tank, Shark Ray Bay, and invited Transformit to create a fabric surround to frame the large acryllic window into the tank. I like to think our designers were channelling their inner Neptune when they framed the tank window with a dynamic "splash."

When the aquarium was designing their latest exhibit, Stingray Hideaway, they wanted an overhead shade structure that tied in thematically to the exhibit. We were delighted when the Newport Aquarium called us to work with them again and collaborate on their idea. For Stingray Hideaway we created a custom fabric sculpture of sixteen Cownose Rays swimming in a school overhead. Each ray measures six feet long by eight feet wide and one foot tall, the completed piece is 34’ long by 29’ wide by 10’ high and its installation overhead rises from 15’ to 25’ above the floor.

When HiKu Productions, producer of Variety British Columbia’s live eight-hour Show of Hearts Telethon, was developing a new set design for the telethon, they turned to Loungeworks, Transformit’s partner in Vancouver, to help realize their vision.

“This year we changed set designs after 18 years, and wanted to go with a modern design that was flexible and adaptable to the different show components we were working with,” noted Scott Hinde of HiKu Productions. “The Transformit pieces allowed us to change the look and feel quickly and effectively during our eight-hour non-stop broadcast.”

LumenARRT!

It’s not a typo, nor a misspelling. Lumen is a measure of light. ARRT stands for Artists’ Rapid Response Team.

LumenARRT! is a project (projection!) of the Portland, Maine based Artists’ Rapid Response Team in collaboration with the Union of Maine Visual Artists (UMVA) to advocate for artists and further the work of progressive non-profits in the state of Maine. LumenARRT! projects strong, clear, artistic images and messages addressing current issues at outdoor public events in Maine.

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.

BizBash Live / Photo Michael Scott

We have a lot of fun seeing and making friends in the events industry at trade shows. When we design our booth for shows, Transformit’s founder and president, Cindy Thompson, loves to bring a new approach each year that brings a bit of Transformit to the trade show floor. For event industry trade shows Cindy created an opportunity for show attendees to be an ‘angel’.

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.

Last summer, as the pharmaceutical research firm ICON plc of Dublin, Ireland was nearing completion of their newly renovated Philadelphia office, an unanticipated “condition of approval” from the Board of Health appeared on the construction punch list. The design for the lobby included a Starbuck’s coffee stand and the Board of Health required a canopy to be added over the barista stand.

After staff and patients complained of intense sunlight streaming into the West Valley Center in San Jose, the Sutter Health Palo Alto Medical Foundation contacted Transformit for an interior shade solution. The assignment was to provide shade without completely blocking the light, and to be visually appealing at the same time. Wavy rose tinted panels were the final choice of the client. 

Some fire sprinklers in the facility had to be moved in order to accommodate the installation. Transformit's crew worked alongside the sprinkler contractor to get the work done in one weekend. Both the owner and employees were very pleased with the result.