Tricycle Ink // Tricycle Inc

Shaw Hospitality Group develops award-winning Global Reason using Tryk®

2011-06-30T17:09:00.028-04:00

Sampling that's faster, less expensive and less wasteful helps Shaw steal the show at HD.

Pam Rainey has ink on her fingers.
When the design manager set out to create the newest collection from Shaw Hospitality Group, she wanted to explore old-world, artisan, analog techniques of patternmaking. And she wanted to explore a lot of them.

Beginning with hours of printing using traditional woodblock methods, Rainey and her team also looked at vintage batik patterns, American Navajo rugs, and influences from around the world. The result was a cultural potpourri of designs, layered and richly textured, that make up the Global Reason collection.

Global Reason is adventurous, exotic, and above all, beautiful; a global tapestry of style that brings elegance to hospitality projects. Judges from the International Interior Design Association agreed, awarding the collection Hospitality Design Show’s Award of Excellence in the carpet category this year.

But to get from block printing to award-winning carpet was no easy feat, requiring the freedom to explore round after round of concepts, iterations and tweaks. The costs and time could have been prohibitively high, if not for Tryk sustainable samples.

“With budgets being tight these days, we try to save on sample costs,” said Rainey. “On a collection like Global Reason I will typically create twenty-one to twenty four patterns, which will be narrowed down to sixteen during product development.”

"Rainey used Tryk throughout the design process – in fact, during the entire development of the award-winning collection, Rainey’s team tufted only three physical samples, to confirm yarn colors. Everything else was Tryk."

“Instead of having to run samples of these we use full-scale Tryk Swatches and Tryk room scenes during product development. The room scenes also help us check for pattern issues. In a collection like this, where the pattern repeats are twenty-four or forty-eight inches, there can be a lot of issues with the repeat – issues that don’t show up in 27 inch-wide samples.”

Rainey used Tryk throughout the design process – in fact, during the entire development of the award-winning collection, Rainey’s team tufted only three physical samples, to confirm yarn colors. Everything else was Tryk.

The collection was designed for a multi-level cut loop machine, which produces one of the most expensive samples in the industry. Rainey was able to explore options in freedom, without concern for unnecessary costs because the cost of Tryk printed simulations was drastically lower than physical samples. And because she did not have to wait for samples to be run, she was also able to develop her ideas much more quickly.

“Tryk simulations also helped when I was showing ideas to manufacturing, sales and marketing – they are an easy way to flip through a lot of different samples,” she added.

And, of course, the use of Tryk also served Shaw’s well-known commitment to environmental responsibility. Global Reason, manufactured with Eco Solution Q nylon, is designed as a Cradle-to-Cradle product, certified by McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry. The carpet is completely recyclable, containing 45% pre-consumer recycled content. Recycled content is based on allocated nylon fiber from Shaw's total nylon fiber production and determined as a percent of total Eco Solution Q output. Actual recycled content in this product will likely vary. They are also Green Label Plus Certified and contribute to the LEED point rating system for recycled content, low-emitting materials and innovation in design. So it only makes sense that their development was undertaken with minimizing waste in the design process.

“This is one of the happy side benefits of Tryk,” said Rainey. “Not only can we run Tryk simulations without using fiber or contributing to landfill, but we can run extras for labeling, sales tools, visual references for graphic artists which set up the marketing materials, or visual references for the manufacturing floor.”

A project that began with blockprint patterns of ink on paper, used ink on paper samples to develop the patterns all of the way up to the actual production runs. A carpet collection that invites designers to wander the world – soaking in the rhythms and flavors of a globally diverse marketplace – saved time, sampling costs, and reduced unnecessary waste all along its journey to market.

Fixing your PET is the responsible choice

2011-04-20T16:17:00.007-04:00

Throughout the 1980s, the Cola Wars provided plenty of entertainment, kept marketing companies profitable and divided families, playgrounds and workplaces between “team Pepsi” and “team Coke.” I remember refusing to “dine in” at fast food restaurants that didn’t carry my favorite soft drink brand. Although both sides achieved a relative détente by the nineties the new century opened a new front in the simmering conflict. The outcome, however, could be far more positive than tooth decay and rising obesity rates.

In 2009 Coca-Cola debuted PlantBottle, a PET plastic bottle made from 30% plant-based material (sugar cane). Last month, Pepsi announced a pilot program using a 100% bioplastic PET bottle, made from—according to this press release—switch grass, pine bark and corn husks. Though described as identical to the look, feel and performance of traditional petroleum-based PET, the bottles may not appear in local grocery stores for a while since the pilot program doesn’t begin until 2012.

In a season of “green fatigue” where every manufacturer or service provider is stridently promoting sometimes questionable environmental credibility it’s encouraging to find simple truths being recognized. The truth is that changing our ideas concerning the ingredients of our “stuff” can have far-reaching, positive impact on our planet.

PS: Here's a tangental, but somewhat Pepsi-related development:

We watched with disappointment and some head-shaking amusement, the failure of a biodegradable SunChips bag in the U.S. market. Now SunChips, whose parent company is PepsiCo, has unveiled a new—quieter—compostable bag for its snacks. We always believed in you, SunChips!

Give It Up

2011-04-11T14:34:00.005-04:00

Give up your carpet samples. Those patterns that didn't make the cut, the colors that are so 2010, the has-beens and runners up. Tricycle's annual Ample Sample design contest is the perfect excuse to unleash a little spring cleaning on your library of carpet samples.

More than 700,000 carpet samples will ship this year, helping architects and designers narrow down the perfect choices for their projects. But what happens when the project is over?

Far too many carpet samples still make the short trip from the resource library to the landfill. Ample Sample gives designers the chance to take what was destined for the trash and upcycle them into other purposeful goods.. or just something cool.

Winning concepts will be showcased during NEOCON 2011 and featured on the Ample Sample site and Facebook page.

Visit here to view past entries and get contest details.

GeoHay gets nod from Shaw

2011-01-13T11:52:00.003-05:00

Last summer I wrote about GeoHay, a barrier filtration product made from recycled carpet fibers. Originally designed for erosion control at construction sites, GeoHay was repurposed along Walton County, Florida beaches to protect ecologically sensitive areas from oil released in the BP disaster.

This week Shaw Industries announced its investment in GeoHay, opening a new channel for using the post-consumer carpet Shaw collects. Shaw has ongoing recycling and waste-to-energy programs for the more than 100 million pounds of carpet it reports to reclaim per year through its national collection network. Organizations like Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) have applauded the move.

Eight years ago, when both CARE and Tricycle were founded, carpet waste in landfills was approaching five billion pounds yearly. That number, according to CARE, has decreased to 3.5 billion pounds--a smaller but still significant amount. It's encouraging to see solutions coming from outside the carpet industry, and the industry supporting those solutions. More can be done and new, more-creative solutions are needed. Part of finding solutions is increasing awareness of the problem. Ample Sample is a yearly design challenge from Tricycle asking people to creatively rethink carpet waste. We'll post details about this year's competition soon.

New Year, New Tryk Tools

2011-01-05T09:36:00.013-05:00

Fresh ideas for 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008...

For years Tricycle has been providing the right tools at the right time to designers and manufacturers. High quality images of custom and running line carpet styles in a variety of formats--delivered fast--make selection less about "waiting" and more about "choosing." Now, as virtual design and construction processes continue to expand throughout the A&D community, Tryk® is the right tool for new ways of getting things done, better.

AutoCAD programs like Revit and SketchUp allow designers to create virtual, 3-dimensional environments and the flexibility to place images of actual products (like carpet) under consideration into the rendering. When a single room or an entire building can be visualized as a finished space, product selection becomes easier. Simple, right?

The challenge for designers becomes finding product images to add to their computer-modeled spaces. Designers (and interns) tell us of hours spent searching online through manufacturer websites and product review pages to find pictures of the right styles in the right colors they can copy. Or, if a sample can be found in the firm's resource library, a designer can scan (and re-scan) architect folders and product brochures. After further time spent manipulating the images with photo editing tools in preparation for adding them to renderings the results are often less than ideal. Partial repeats and low-quality product images make presentations less effective for communicating a designer's intent.

Tryk ® Now is a full-repeat, digital sample made specifically for use in rendering programs. No searching, scanning or anything else that keeps you from doing what you do best, designing. And Tryk samples integrate seamlessly with Tricycle's full suite of tools, like our iPad carpet application, Tryk Studio and Configure, our modular design program.

Digital solutions are the "best" of a sustainable design process where using less is "good" and increasing speed of response is "better." We constantly measure the work we do against our identity as a Sustainable Design Company. Many of our innovations are directed by conversations with designers--people who use our products and are passionate about the same things we are. If you have an idea or comment, let us know. Kudos and criticisms are welcome too.

This year, Tricycle brings designers one more way to dematerialize their process. We're excited about the next eleven months and wish you a great 2011.

Tryk makes designers happy

2010-12-23T10:18:00.006-05:00

"Max, you are the BEST." - Kim, October 2010.

"Still working on it but your drawings helped so much." - Hallie, October 2010.

"You all did perfect. Thanks so much for your help!" - Christie, November 2010.

"Perfect. Thanks so much for the quick response. My meeting went great." - Lorraine, November 2010.

"[Tryks] were much better than the ones I've gotten from [another simulation product] in the past. They were larger, more defined, and in the random installation that was not available in the regular [other simulation product] options for these patterns." - Jerry, December 2010.

"Many thanks for your efforts! Very nice visualization. I have added the images to our presentation to show at the meeting tonight." - Judy, December 2010.

Tryk samples are available in flexible sizes and formats to meet various design needs. But despite the many choices, it's not uncommon for us to receive special requests from designers and sales reps. From customized room scenes to floor plans, to six-foot, high-resolution prints and more, every special request is unique but all share a need for speed and accuracy. For each Tryk ordered, our Tricycle production team is hard at work exceeding expectations and helping move projects (and carpet sales) forward.

It's hard to give our production staff enough praise for the work they do but happy Tryk users sure try. Here's a small sampling of recent kudos and some pictures of production in a few, lighter holiday moments.

YES to Tryk!

2010-12-17T16:59:00.011-05:00

We love designers and we love sustainable sampling. And we really (really, really) love designers who like Tryk sustainable samples.

Keisha has worked in the design industry as an owner and a freelance designer and is currently an architecture and design representative with Spartan Surfaces. You can enjoy her observations on design, travel and Washington D.C. winters here on Twitter.

She is also a power user of Tryk sampling and we've appreciated her kudos and her suggestions on how Tryk Studio can be an even better tool for her creative process. Thanks for letting us get to know you a little better Keisha, and have a wonderful holiday!

Like Tryk?
YES! The ability to see if you created a terrible carpet without wasting yarn makes me happy.

Flip-flops or snowshoes?
Flip-flops for sure, when it snowed last year I headed to Panama.

Your favorite space?
Personal Space... and the Secession House in Vienna, Austria. I'm still considering getting the gold leaf dome as a tattoo on my shoulder.

Guilty holiday pleasure?
Hot Chocolate, Hot Cider, Hot Tea... add alcohol! Oh, and sneaking a spoonful of raw cookie dough.

What's on your desk?

Holiday Treats, continued

2010-12-17T11:14:00.013-05:00

Tricycle's new iPad app for carpet sales is something we're understandably excited to launch. But we're not alone. Judging by reactions from the industry, it's the right tool for how more sales reps are choosing to work.

With the heavy lifting (also known as designing, programming and testing) mostly complete, our development/interactive team had some brief time to enjoy before turning attention to new and other, ongoing projects. Brushing up rusty foos-ball skills and lunch at someplace other than the desk were some of the rewards after long hours. There's time to enjoy holiday treats too. Triker Joey, of our development/interactive team, lit up (literally) when we asked him to answer a few questions:

New and cool for Tryk?
J: Touch screens! Recently we released an iPad web app. Being able to interact with designs and clients with the newest technology is awesome.

Best thing about the holidays?
J: Super-Secret Special Eggnog, I may already have said too much.

What's your design challenge?
J: Taking a completely fresh, new idea and making it feel natural for anyone to use. Luckily I'm surrounded by design geniuses.

Strange holiday traditions?
J: There's a plastic Christmas goose. It's hideous. You have to place the goose on a friend or family member's house without that person's knowledge. I still wonder how one year it got to be 60 feet up a pine tree.

Proud of?
I'm proud that my wife and I have a baby due at the end of December. Also Tricycle; we have a goal and we haven't strayed from that goal, I'm proud of that.

Update:
Joey and his wife celebrated the arrival of their baby girl just in time for Christmas Eve! Congratulations guys, we can't wait to meet the newest member of the family.

Holiday nostalgia

2010-12-16T11:42:00.005-05:00

Watch the film "A Charlie Brown Christmas" for free until December 31, on Hulu. I've missed it for several years when it played on TV. *Bonus: here's an interesting USA TODAY story from a few years ago about the making of the movie. Enjoy.

Tryk for iPad, sales in hand

2010-12-14T22:41:00.009-05:00

Introducing the industry's first iPad app for carpet sales teams. Working with hospitality innovator Clayton Miller, Tricycle enables sales teams to show interactive demos like never before-- at the speed of light.

When visiting with customers, sales teams can:

leverage the iPad's touch interface, landscape and portrait views, and large LCD screen
access saved projects
update notes on saved items
order sustainable digital sample Tryks
display high resolution images:

room scenes in 1024x1024 pixels
full repeat product simulations as large as 1024x768 pixels

Tapping the power of Tryk Studio, Tricycle's suite of 2D and 3D design tools used across the industry to explore patterns and colorways options, see them in a room setting, order sustainable paper samples and download swatches for 3D rendering programs.

Learn about more amazing tools from Tricycle at Tryk.us.

Holiday snacks

2010-12-10T10:40:00.006-05:00

For holiday fun we officially recommend recycled wrapping paper and organically-grown, gluten-free, locally-sourced treats. But we can't help acknowledging that there's something about wearing fuzzy mittens while staring at a festive light display that awakens simpler tastes. On this blog and Tricycle's Facebook page we'll be taking off our grown-up, corporate shoes and remembering the feel of shag carpet between our toes. Thanks to generous elves we'll also likely be writing all further posts this month while on a sugar high.
r
Royce Epstein is a juror every year for the Best of NeoCon competition in Chicago but that's not why we thought it was a good idea to get to know her. As an educator, designer, author and astute industry observer Royce draws on an extensive background in product selection to share insights on her blog about materials, finishes and interior design. We think she's pretty cool and she took a few minutes from her work as Resource Specialist at Kling Stubbins in Philadelphia to answer a few questions for this holiday treat.

Like Tryk?
R: Of course! Tryk is an idea whose time has come and they will conquer the world one simulation at a time.

Why Design?
R: Design is about making the world better, and it connects all people from around the globe. It takes all of us to design the future.

Guilty holiday pleasure?
R: Chocolate, but really that's year round. I will not, however, eat chocolate-covered fruitcake!

What inspires you?
R: Rock and Roll, Art, Street Style, and Pop Culture.
r
What's on your desk?

Zoom this room

2010-12-06T14:01:00.003-05:00

VP of Product Design, Valerie Ottaviano of Bently Prince Street talks about Zoom Room in this short video. Tricycle and BPS partnered to develop Zoom Room, a visualization tool allowing users to step into a room scene of BPS standard and custom products. Valerie talks about custom room installation options from BPS and concludes with "so no matter what your rendering needs are, we can fulfill them." We couldn't have said it better ourselves.

Zoom Room is featured at BPS showrooms in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York.

Thank you

2010-11-24T14:17:00.003-05:00

Thank you...
Designers, for embracing Tryk, and for telling us about it.
Students, for sharing our vision.
Teachers, bloggers and Tweeters, for talking about us.
Clients, for entrusting us with your products.
Trikers, for "taking it personally" every day.
Friends, for supporting, advising and encouraging.
Family, for patience and sacrifice.
Design industry, for recognizing and awarding Tricycle.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

So what's the difference?

2010-11-12T10:56:00.004-05:00

Hmm,
SunChips bags (in Canada) are compostable... Tryk prints are recyclable.
SunChips bags use no oil (petrochemicals) in their production... ditto Tryk sustainable samples.
SunChips bags come packed with tasty snacks... Tryk lets designers work faster and more sustainably-- SWEET!

Although SunChips in the U.S. caved to complaints about the noisy bag, Tryk will always the best, most reliable alternative to physical samples, we promise.

So with all the similarities, what's the difference between Tryk and the compostable, Canadian SunChips bag? This video might help clear things up...

The sound of progress

2010-11-10T16:10:00.007-05:00

The saga of the noisy SunChips bag continues.

Those who keep track of salty, snack-food trivia may recall the brouhaha over Frito-Lay's introduction of The World's First 100% Compostable Plastic Chip Bag for its SunChips snacks. Despite a green, feel-good campaign, American consumers complained that the new bag, made out of plant-based PLA plastic, was too noisy resulting in a return to the original [ne': non-compostable] plastic bags a year later. Attempting to market green practices (SunChips also claims its chips are made using power from wind energy) came face-to-face with a reported sales decline and Frito-Lay crumpled like a... well, you know.

People who care about things like non-biodegradable plastic bag waste clogging up landfills and waterways found their voices drowned out by chip-munching complainers and likely, the brittle crinkling of the bags themselves.

Now our anecdotally more laid-back neighbors to the north are telling complainers to stick it in their ear, literally. SunChips Canada has decided to hold the line on the compostable packaging, going as far as offering noisy-bag haters a free set of earplugs through the SunChips Canada Facebook page.

They've also launched a public awareness campain beginning with the release of this "public service announcement" video. Kudos to SunChips Canada for not crumbling under pressure.

One for the birds

2010-09-10T15:18:00.010-04:00

Buildings have an impact on their environment, but taking into account a more literal impact and designing solutions for it has made us fans of Arnold Glas.
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Hundreds of millions of birds die annually, by some estimates, from hitting glass windows. There are many methods for making glass less hazardous to birds but most typically involve reducing or breaking up the reflection so birds recognize windows as a barrier.

Two bird strikes yesterday on the building where Tricycle calls home had tragic results for the birds. Today another one collided with an upper floor window, but after an hour of stunned immobility-- and several trips outside to check on it-- the bird was able to fly away.

That got us thinking about a product we first heard about on Treehugger. A German company, Arnold Glas, recently won an international design award for Ornilux, a bird-friendly glass based on principles copied from spider webs. Utilizing the fact that birds see light differently than humans, the glass reveals a criss-crossed design to oncoming birds that isn't visible to people.

We like the animal-friendly thinking from Ornilux and we love the bio-mimicry aspect of the design.

Trikers get muddy for charity

2010-09-01T13:08:00.004-04:00

We love the Earth and we love Habitat for Humanity. A team of current and alumni Trikers competed recently in a 5K obstacle course where we found ourselves covered in earth while raising money for Habitat. Pictures are on the Tricycle Facebook page.

Does anyone know a local, environmentally friendly laundry service?

Green car diary

2010-08-16T18:51:00.013-04:00

It’s a bit cliché, but there are few possessions with which I identify more closely than my car. An unscientific poll of the Tricycle parking lot confirms this feeling is fairly widespread. Early on at work I learned never to criticize anything made by Audi within a certain Tryker’s earshot.

In the decade since hybrid (gas/electric) automobiles made their mainstream American debut we’ve learned a lot about what American drivers expect out of our cars and what changes we’re willing to make to be more environmentally friendly. The government pitched in to help people overcome hybrid-reluctance with tax breaks and HOV lane access. Celebrities made green cars cool and manufacturers did their part to ease the transition with better styling and a drive feel closer to conventional vehicles. Still, though sales of hybrid and alternative-fuel vehicles have increased every year since 2004, they still only make up two and a-half percent of the U.S. market.

One of the criticisms has been the lack of real choices but in the next year, automakers are poised to launch several new entries in the green-automobile line-up. Toyota’s venerable Prius will get plug-in capability while it debuts an all-electric vehicle at about the same time as Nissan’s Leaf and the long-awaited Chevy Volt arrive at local dealerships.

Driving an electric car on a daily basis will mean some adjustments, some that probably haven’t been considered. A senior editor at Autoweek magazine, Mark Vaughn, set out to spend three months with a 2010 Mitsubishi i-MiEV, a zero-emission, all-electric car. He’s about half-way through his long-term test drive and has had some interesting experiences. Read Mark's musings about what the future electric charging infrastructure might look like and his successful (and unsuccessful) trip planning around the car’s limited driving range.

Watch my pen biodegrade

2010-07-27T14:41:00.003-04:00

Well, most of it anyway.

Bloom Box in our Hometown

2010-07-19T14:27:00.006-04:00

Chattanooga has a Bloom Box! The Chattanooga area power utility company, EPB, recently installed a 100kW energy server on the top floor of its parking garage. The device, developed by California-based Bloom Energy, already has ties to this area going back to 2006 when a partnership between Bloom Energy, the UTC SimCenter, EPB and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) conducted the first field trial of the technology.

At the time, the 5 kW test device produced enough electricity to heat and cool a large house. Today, the box installed at the EPB will provide power to about 30,000 square feet of the building. The Bloom Box is a large energy cell powered by natural gas but reconfigurable to be powered by other alternative energy sources. According to Bloom Energy founder Dr. K.R. Sridhar, electricity is produced without combustion and with little to no emissions.

Dr. Sridhar spoke at the unveiling and described a future where Bloom Boxes could provide point-of-use energy generation virtually anywhere. He credited insights gained through research conducted by TVA and UTC for helping make the technology commercially available.

City and state leaders were on-hand and expressed hope that Bloom Energy would consider placing a manufacturing center in the Chattanooga area.

Recycled Carpet on the Shore

2010-06-24T10:33:00.008-04:00

A unique geographic feature will be protected by a product that otherwise would be destined for a landfill. Officials in Walton County, Florida, in an effort to prevent oil from the continuing Deepwater Horizon disaster from reaching their beaches, have turned to a recycled carpet product normally used in construction projects. Called GeoHay, it is a highly absorbent barrier made from 100% recycled carpet fibers. Used on construction sites to control erosion, GeoHay is described by the manufacturer as more efficient than typical hay bales and silt fences that degrade and are single-use products. GeoHay can be cleaned and reused over and over in construction situations.

The Walton County Sheriff’s office hopes GeoHay will act as a filter for oil-laden seawater and plans to deploy the barriers around the ecologically sensitive Coastal Dune Lakes. Other areas in Walton County will be protected from oil by conventional booms, silt fences and hay bales. Only five areas in the world are known to have coastal dune lakes.

The petroleum-based recycled fibers are absorbent, durable and non-biodegradable; qualities that make GeoHay particularly suitable to help hold back the potentially devastating effects of the massive oil spill.

Searching for help

2010-01-19T15:00:00.009-05:00

We’ve all been stunned by recent images from Haiti. Official numbers aren’t yet available but by current estimates the earthquake that struck last week may have instantly ended 100,000 lives with thousands more at dire risk from injury, disease and hunger.

Beyond hoping for the best, many of us have helped in small but meaningful ways, sending water and medical supplies or making direct donations to relief efforts. Chris Csikszentmihalyi, director of the M.I.T. Center for Future Civic Media recognized the need for people to connect with loved ones in Haiti and applauded news organizations for creating sites to assist people in finding each other. But he also explained in an email to the media that “this excellent idea has been undermined by its success: within 24 hours, it became clear that there were too many places where people were putting information; each site became a silo.”

Social media is a powerful tool for connecting people but only if both people are using the same channel. A volunteer initiative by Google engineers answered Csikszentmihalyi’s call. In 36 hours Google’s missing people finder was created and deployed. The Google widget is embeddable in a blog or website and includes database information from CNN, the New York Times and other news organizations as well as the U. S. State Department. The interface is easy to use, simply click on one of two situational links: “I’m looking for someone”, or “I have information about someone”, and it works in three languages: English, French and Creole. Google even provides an interface to make it easier for developers to upload/download information with the database.

Google’s crisis response page also gathers many resources into one place, providing, among other things, a tool enabling direct donations to UNICEF and CARE for Haitian relief as well as links to many other organizations accepting donations of money and supplies, instructions on how to use text messaging to make monetary donations, resource updates, local media websites and updates through the US State Department. In addition Google Earth provides imagery that anecdotally has been valuable in mapping areas where landmarks have been obliterated and for organizing on-the-ground rescue efforts.

Searching and realizing immediate results is commonplace, unremarkable. Using something familiar in an unexpected context, those same tools and processes are now saving lives and reconnecting frightened families.

Tryk Vids- Designers love Tryk!

2009-10-07T08:55:00.002-04:00

In part one of our three part series, we sat down with interior designer Sara Webb of Artech Design Group in Chattanooga, TN and chatted about how she uses Tryk Sustainable Samples in her design process.

Check it out and let us know how Tryk helps in your design process!

Tryk Vids Sarah Webb Artech Design Group from Tricycle, Inc. on Vimeo.

Tryk Mod. See More with Less Waste.

2009-09-17T17:01:00.003-04:00

Tryk Mod is a life-size modular print that shows every detail without the waste. Used for the first round of sampling choices, digitally tufted Tryks are perfect for design brainstorming, client presentations and archiving.

Tryk Mod is available from J&J & Tandus. Or ask for it, from your other favorite carpet manufacturers.

IceStone® Chooses Tryk for Sampling

2009-09-11T10:08:00.003-04:00

A new Tryk hard surface sampling vehicle has been designed and produced for IceStone® 100% recycled glass and cement surfaces. The IceStone swatch deck is a durable and beneficial resource for designers and will be available through its distributors. Tryk utilizes PLA, a compostable plant-based substrate that consumes less energy in production when compared to petroleum-based materials, to provide an environmentally-conscious alternative to traditional sampling.

The Tryk toolkit of sustainable samples and online design tools enables hard surfaces manufacturers such as IceStone to introduce new product to the market and service existing and new customers faster, while reducing the use of natural resources and eliminating the waste of traditional sampling. The swatch deck utilizing Tryk will also be a more portable and space-saving option for both distributors and design studios.

Tryk tools for hard surface products such as stone, wood, ceramic, glass and porcelain tiles evolved naturally from Tricycle’s presence in the soft surface flooring industry. Hard surface products of this nature are generally a financial and environmental burden for companies that receive sample requests from designers and consumers. These sustainable samples are less expensive and much lighter than physical samples; thereby, allowing a larger repeat size to be shown and reducing transportation costs while diverting unnecessary sample waste from landfills. The quick 24 – 48 hour turnaround for a Tryk also saves time and money for manufacturers and designers, the latter who can order a Tryk at no-cost.

Don't end it, mend it.

2009-09-02T13:56:00.004-04:00

Platform 21 recently sponsored the "Remarkable Repair Contest" on its blog. The Amsterdam design shop asked people to consider how objects rendered imperfect (from wear or damage) could be reimagined and creatively put back to the same use or repurposed for another function. The goal was an excercise in reconsidering ideas of product lifecycle.

The effort ties into Platform 21's Repair Manifesto which asserts, among other things, that repairing is a creative challenge.

The contest winner, Siba Sahabi, used embroidery and ink to repair and decorate a plastic bag damaged in the wheel of her bicycle.

We couldn't help but notice the parallel to our Ample Sample contest which asks designers to imagine creative, useful products from discarded carpet samples.

Here are the rest of the entries for the Remarkable Repairs contest, enjoy and thanks to Tricycle alum Michael Hendrix for the heads up!

Design More With Less Waste

2009-08-18T11:17:00.002-04:00

We recently relaunched our Tryk® product site as a portal to our Tryk-powered online design tools as well as other manufacturer sites that utilize our technologies. Now there is a single location where the A+D community can access sustainable design tools with only one registration required.

Check out the video from the homepage below (and share it!) for a look into the Tryk toolkit.

Primer from Chris Rushing on Vimeo.

Catching Up

2009-06-29T16:56:00.000-04:00

For several months now, we've been developing, designing, and staying very busy. We're launching new products and partnerships.

At NeoCon 2009, we introduced Tryk for hard surfaces. These products can now be simulated and presented as sustainable samples that are less expensive and much lighter than physical samples. And through the use of Tryk-powered online design tools, the specification cycle for designers and architects is a more efficient process with substantially-decreased lead times.

We've also formed a best of breed partnership with Eflection, Inc. to allow interior designers and architects to immediately visualize product and layout specifications for a project through a web-based suite of tools. TrykPlan, a new format for floor plan prints, can be ordered with the click of a button.

A Shoe-In, Ample Sample 2009 Winner Annouced

2009-06-03T09:36:00.005-04:00

“Cut, Clip and Hang.” These instructions and a clever idea for storing shoes made Wuthichai Leelavoravong our winner in the 2009 Ample Sample Design competition. Now in its third year, Ample Sample challenges designers to rethink waste—as creative fuel rather than a by-product of the design process.

Wuthichai’s design will be featured in Tricycle’s booth this month at NeoCon 2009, North America’s largest contract and commercial interiors trade show. If you won’t be in Chicago for the show you can view all the designs on the Ample Sample website. Finalists in the competition included a pendant light fixture from Heather Wright and Christina Jih, a mailbox from Sean Miller and an inviting-looking eco-hammock from Jake Tompkins.

Unfortunately there was no judging category for it, but Alix Bulleit and Ashley Helton of the University of Texas at Austin had us considering an award for Most Fun submission. Their use of carpet samples for an assortment of lawn games (Tufted Twister anyone?) resulted in a photo shoot that looked like the best fun since some visionary combined beer and ping pong balls.

Thanks to everyone who accepted the challenge to turn carpet sample waste into useful objects. Creative thinking has the ability to move us closer to solutions in unexpected ways. Perhaps Ample Sample will inspire even more ideas for redefining what we consider waste.

tx:style goes to NeoCon

2009-05-29T17:32:00.002-04:00

Think you’ve got an eye for design? Here’s a chance to raise your virtual voice and help choose a new commercial carpet product from Mannington.

Mannington Commercial’s Tx:style Design Challenge is in the final weeks of voting. This unique contest which began in February invited designers who were relatively new in the industry to submit carpet designs out of which one will be chosen for launch of a full production line of commercial carpet. Capitalizing on the real-time feedback of social media and an interactive voting website, nearly 250,000 votes narrowed 440 design entries to six finalists.

The finalists visited Mannington and worked there with Mannington’s design team to refine their patterns and to create associated colorways. The completed designs along with the initial concepts and comments from the designers about the inspiration that led to their designs are featured on the tx:style website. Visit tx:style to join the discussion by leaving comments about the designs and vote for your favorite. Voting ends on June 16, the first day of NeoCon, with the winner to be announced during NeoCon. In addition to having their design launched as a full carpet collection, the winner will receive $7500.

Tricycle design provided development support after the initial Mannington concept and created promotional collateral and advertising. Good luck to all the designers and congratulations to Mannington for a great inaugural effort.

Update: The winner has been announced. Here's a link to the Interior Design magazine article.

Mining Value

2009-04-30T17:59:00.002-04:00

“Imagine your ideal magazine.”

That’s the opening statement for a magazine called Mine. Published by Time, Inc, the premier issue arrived earlier this month. I’m not sure if it represents “a groundbreaking shift in the way magazines are made” but it certainly presents an interesting concept. Last month I visited timeinc.com/mine and selected five out of eight available magazine titles and answered a few seeming random questions like “Do you like to sing in the car?”

Based on my input, Time chose content from the five titles I selected and printed it in a magazine along with personalized ads from lone sponsor Lexus. Somehow my answers suggested to Lexus that I like personalized luggage and tooling around Chattanooga looking for spa resorts and their ads were tailored accordingly. While there were a few missteps with the launch, the idea of user-specific content, or mass personalization, is just the latest acknowledgement of how technology can enable customized responses to clients.

Tricycle clients will be attending the HD show in Las Vegas and later, NeoCon in Chicago. Tryk studio tools and sampling products will be part of the message of how they are incorporating environmentally friendly processes and increasing responsiveness to their own customers. But is the point really to reduce sampling costs for our clients and provide them with environmental talking points? A product truly personalized to me requires knowledge about me; the challenges I face and an understanding of the context in which I will experience the product. Specific information about me is combined with general information and maybe an insight or two. The result, if I’m lucky, is something I might barely notice because it lines up with what I’m already doing. Rather than forcing a radical change in behavior (me accommodating the product) it reinforces existing behavior (the product accommodating me) and presents rewards that move beyond my own experience (reduced use of resources, less waste).

Design is about timing—the trends of the moment and lasting style—the designer’s schedule and the client’s expectation of “Now.” New Tryk formats and changes to our Tryk Studio websites reflect what we learn from ongoing conversations with designers and salespeople. Faster response and more tailored products shorten the bridge between inspiration and execution. Benefits to sample budgets and less contribution to the waste stream are rewarding by-products of a system that has value during the design process as well as after.

Have we found the perfect mix of Tryk formats and services? Almost certainly not; the target is in constant motion. But by combining specific information about the people who use our products with what we understand about the environment in which they work, and an insight or two we’re confident we’re getting closer. A customized response is only half the picture; a response that adds value and reflects values completes the picture in a meaningful way.

While I’m not sure how I feel knowing the “2010 Lexus RX now comes with more Sujeel Taj” the growing tide of personalized content will, without a context of value, become just more background noise. Now to find that local spa resort.

2009-04-06T16:22:00.002-04:00

Eco Expo happens tomorrow (April 7) at the downtown Chattanooga Trade and Convention Center. Tricycle will be one of many sponsors presenting information about how to live, work and play green in Southeastern Tennessee. I'm looking forward to the Fuel Efficient Auto and Boat Show which will be part of the Expo.

Last fall, Habitat for Humanity in Chattanooga built its first home to be LEEDs certified. A documentary about the house and the remarkable story of its owners will premiere tomorrow night at the end of the Expo. While ticket cost for the documentary will benefit Habitat for Humanity, admission for the Eco Expo is free to the public. If that's not enough to bring you out for an eco-tastic event, Tricycle's own Jonathan Bragdon will be speaking on The Myth of the "Green" Product at 1:30 p.m. at the Trade Center.

Ample Sample 2009 Has Launched

2009-03-27T10:44:00.002-04:00

Ample Sample is again challenging designers to rethink and repurpose carpet samples after their usefulness to a design project, to make a design product. The best ideas will be showcased at NeoCon 2009 and featured on the Ample Sample website, complete with blueprints and instructions for their designs.

Criteria for the winning design, instructions for entries, and previous year’s winners and finalists are available here. An interactive gallery of 2009 entrants allows for comments and rating of designs. Enter before May 8.

Compostmodern 09

2009-03-11T09:09:00.005-04:00

For the last few years, AIGA San Francisco and the AIGA Center for Sustainability have hosted Compostmodern. This conference explores the range of design thinking necessary to create a socially and ecologically responsible society. It's a great event in the design industry because it encourages collaboration between many divisions of design including product development, interiors, architecture and graphic design. The conference promotes not only effective design solutions but also how these solutions result in a smaller footprint and better quality of life.

If you missed the conference a couple of weeks ago you can follow a synopsis here, or join Tricycle in attending the webcast in Chattanooga on March 17. In collaboration with AIGA Chattanooga and Green|Spaces, we will enjoy St. Patrick's Day afternoon watching a selection of speakers from the event while discussing how the local design community can embrace sustainable design in our work.

Compostmodern 09 Webcast
March 17th 2009
Green|Spaces
1:00-5:30pm

contact mark.cooley@tricycleinc.com for more information

G.E. We Bring Good Things To Life!

2009-03-05T11:22:00.006-05:00

General Electric is promoting its new Smart Grid system with a little Wind Turbine Flash game. It's really cool - all you need is a printout, a webcam, and the newest version of Flash and poof - the magic of the web hits you square in the face.

Really cool promotion for even cooler green energy movement.

Check it out here:

G.E. Smart Grid

Chattanooga Music Is Killer!!!

2009-03-04T15:58:00.029-05:00

The local Chattanooga music scene has always been pretty amazing - and now is no exception. With styles ranging from experimental/folk, power pop, punk, metal, roots - you can find it all - and almost all of them rule with a hardness. Check out these links to some of Chattanooga's most killer bands, buy their albums and go see their shows... STAT! If you dont see your Favorite on here then let us know whats up and leave a comment!
xoxo - Nick
Coral Castles - Power Pop with hook drencht swagger
Forest Magic - Tripped out indie/psyche/folk
The Hidden Spots -the rawest, truest, most thoughtful punk know to man
The New Binkley Bros - Old Timey Shred-fest ... believe it
Night Of The Wolf - Metal the way Metal Should Be - perfect
Giant Tiger - Dirty Garage/Punk that should take a bath.

Ruby Falls acheives green certification

2009-02-16T16:20:00.004-05:00

Ruby Falls opened to tourists in 1930. The underground passageways, more than a thousand feet beneath the mountain, lead visitors past spectacular, whimsically-named rock formations. The highlight, of course, is a vaulted chamber containing a 145-foot waterfall deep in the heart of the mountain. Ruby Falls and the Tennessee River are just a few of the gems for which Chattanooga has long been recognized as a place of great natural beauty. Recently, America's deepest commercial cave and largest underground waterfall open for public view added another distinction, the first U.S. attraction to achieve Green Globe certification.

Green Globe is a British company that provides third-party green certification to tourist facilities under both the Green Globe and Green Certifications brands. Ruby Falls will receive dual certification for meeting their sustainability standards.

From our office we can see-- halfway up Lookout Mountain-- the Ruby Falls building that, eighty years ago, was built with limestone excavated from the cave. If you visit Chattanooga be sure to stop by this historic attraction as they navigate a green course into the next eighty years.

Christmas Fun

2008-12-22T14:55:00.004-05:00

Sustainable design can be fun. Every year the holidays provide a great reason/excuse to explore the lighter side of creativity. Here's Tricycle's 2008 Christmas Card. Watch the movie, find out what happened "behind the scenes" and download cool wallpaper for your ho-hum desktop.

Have a Merry Christmas and a sustainable New Year!

Products are Brown, Platforms are Green

2008-11-13T23:26:00.001-05:00

When Steve Jobs of Apple debuted the MacBook Air, iTunes movie rentals and software updates for the iPhone and iPod Touch this year, Sascha Segan of PC Magazine praised Apple's focus on launching software that requires no new hardware, and the green possibilities of this approach. In the article, he wrote a short sentence that we've come to love: "Products are brown, platforms are green."

This is a great statement of one of Tricycle's core philosophies: that by focusing on the creative DNA of a product, rather than any single manifestation of the product itself, we are able to reduce waste and increase profits all along the product's lifecycle.

At what point does a carpet become a carpet? When it is conceived in a designer's imagination? Created in CAD? Sampled? Tufted? Sold and used?

By looking at the question "What IS a particular brand, pattern and colorway, at its core" - we have opened new doors for using the same textile in new ways. As bits and bytes that help product designers explore creative options. As a digital model that reduces wasted time and yarn for tufting machines. As a realistic image that can be installed into a room virtually - and then marketed and sold - before it is ever physically manufactured. As a paper sample that helps an interior designer narrow down choices.

Old process = make a physical product, and make as few representations as possible to save money.
New process = Make one core model platform, then provide multiple representations to increase revenues without waste.

There are countless examples. Here's a long lovely video created earlier this year by the Cambridge Nanoscience Center and Nokia Research Center that takes the same approach to nanotech materials and electronics, showing how they view the material of which electronics are made as a platform rather than a product. Launched alongside MOMA's “Design and The Elastic Mind” exhibition, the Morph concept device is a bridge between highly advanced technologies and their potential benefits.

Because - like Tricycle - they care less about the material itself than they care about the possibilities its opens up for the end user.

Tandus: LEED Silver Certified Design Center opens in Atlanta

2008-11-12T15:17:00.005-05:00

We love talking about ourselves and the benefits of Tryk sampling. We also love to recognize achievements by our clients and friends in the interiors industry.

Tandus’ newly opened showroom and design center in Atlanta’s Westside has achieved LEEDs Silver certification. The building, constructed in 1904 by the Atlanta Railway Company for use as a trolley barn received a major renovation while keeping most of the original structure intact.

The interior combines a flexible product display area with comfortable, productive work spaces that can be easily configured for industry events or training.

According to Tandus, the LEED Green Building System Silver Certification was awarded based on the design center’s energy use, lighting, water and materials use as well as other sustainable strategies. Some of those strategies include access to public transportation, using locally manufactured materials, diverting 75 percent of construction waste from landfill and using Tandus carpet products with recycled content and low VOC.

Tandus was also recognized last month by The Georgia Chapter of the Air and Waste Management Association with its 2008 Company Environmental Award for its efforts in waste reduction.

This month Tandus will reveal a new design and updated content for its innovative Blink studio. New Tryk product formats, like the Tryk Split and Tryk Mod, combined with improved online features make it an even more powerful tool for speeding the design process and eliminating unnecessary waste.

Check back for a link to the new Blink.

...here it is, a link to Blink, Tandus' online Tryk Studio.

A Good Think: Upending Assumptions

2008-11-03T08:41:00.000-05:00

What's better? The Think - a 95% recyclable electric car built in Norway and coming soon to America - or a Hummer running a modified jet engine?

Before you get out your list of pros vs. cons about Prius vs. performance, consider one more factor. What if the Hummer is a hybrid electric/biodiesel, gets more than 60 miles per gallon and does zero to 60 in five second flat?

The answer of course is "Yes, please."

An article in the New York Times earlier this month started with a Think and went on to talk at length about how green innovation is being driven by private venture funding and entrepreneurial capitalism. More on this article to come in a future post. Because the piece reminded me of a Fast Company article from this time last year, which featured a Detroit mechanic/ professional car hacker named Johnathan Goodwin who not only tricks out the cars of celebrities to get 100 mpg, but has also created a $5,000 bolt-on kit which transforms any diesel vehicle to burn 50% less fuel and produce 80% fewer emissions.

Just how widespread this sort of innovation becomes depends in part on resistance from the automotive market. Which, of course, depends in part on upcoming days at the polls and how well promises are kept once candidates become incumbents. Democracy: one more reminder of the value of challenging assumptions.

Digital Tools and Design Voodoo: The Visual, the Virtual and the Meaningful

2008-10-22T11:53:00.013-04:00

Last month we were invited to speak at Breather, a conference encouraging interdisciplinary design discourse within the creative community. Had a great time in the sessions and between sessions as well, with other speakers including folks from Milliken, SCAD Savannah and Imaginary Forces which creates film titles, commercials, virtual destinations and more.

Only a few years ago, design imagination was limited by the practicalities of physical production. But today's technologies can help create elbow room for creativity, by serving as tools that expand rather than limit possibility.

Architects, interior designers and product designers are moving away from old processes that build prototypes and demos (to save money) toward improved processes that create platforms around core models (for increased and replicable revenue). And digital tools are one step ahead, opening up new doors into the marketplace.

Using examples and case studies from design, technology and manufacturing companies, we showed that the glory of these advances lies not in the technology itself, but in opening up meaningful experiences for designers, end users and the way we do business. The new design imagination breaks old assumptions and utilizes constantly developing tools to embrace - and advance - change for the better.

Hendrix Honored by AIGA

2008-10-09T09:47:00.005-04:00

Michael Hendrix, founder of Tricycle and former chief brand officer and creative director, was honored at last month's AIGA Design Legends Gala. Prior to his move to Boston to become a senior designer at IDEO, he was named an AIGA Design Fellow by our local chapter. He joins other designers that have been recognized as making a significant contribution to design in both their regional design community and their local chapter. Check out his profile on the AIGA site here. Congrats Michael!

Close the Gap and Vote

2008-10-03T09:19:00.003-04:00

Cameron Sinclair of Architecture for Humanity is featured in GAP Inc.'s new "Vote" initiative. The online PSA features videos of celebrities and other well-known public figures that express what they are voting for. A complement to the videos is the classic white GAP t-shirt that leaves a space open for the wearer to write what they are voting for. The shirts will available in-store and online during the month of October.

GAP has also teamed with Facebook on the initiative to provide pieces of flair (always makes me think of Office Space) to place on your profile. Singer/songwriter Matt White is touring the country in support of the initiative with discounts on GAP purchases and a chance to get a free "Vote for Love" t-shirt.

green|spaces moves in

2008-08-27T14:53:00.006-04:00

Chattanooga's green building resource center has recently been completed, and it's newly renovated space is definitely something to brag about. Take a look at a few interior shots- captured by our own Nick DuPey- and an awesome piece of furniture built by his girlfriend Ali.

From salvaging an existing building to reusing materials for reconstruction and furnishings, the space is a testament to the overall, three year green|spaces initiative. If you're on or around Main. St., be sure to stop by and say hello to Anj McClain, the resource center's director, and take a look around.

Or hop on down there to 63 E. Main St. tonight for Green Drinks at 6 pm.

The Carpet Brothers Using Tryk?

2008-08-04T23:12:00.003-04:00

I swear this is a Tryk® Swatch in this SNL short. Be sure to watch all the episodes with multiple (probable) Tryk sightings in episode 6! Start here with episode #1 from YouTube…

Caption Contest

2008-07-24T16:45:00.004-04:00

This Spring we spent a day on a Tryk product photo shoot. Mark brought along his Lomo and captured these moments. They have a voyeuristic/espionage mood… not exactly what we were looking for in our brand story, but definitely cool enough to share. Have any great ideas for captions?

SustainAble by Aaris Sherin

2008-07-24T15:19:00.007-04:00

Aaris Sherin, assistant professor of graphic design at St. John's University, has included an excellent 16-page case study about Tricycle in her new book, SustainAble, a handbook of materials and applications for graphic designers and their clients. Not only is the content great, but the design utilizes make-readies for the cover using what otherwise would have been trash. This means there are quite a few different possible covers, and lucky for us, the publicity photo features a sheet from one of our spreads. What They Think has a two-part interview (1 & 2) with Aaris about writing and designing the book. Get yourself a copy at Amazon.

What You See Is What You Get

2008-07-23T10:20:00.007-04:00

For several years we've resisted compiling a view book of our communication design work because we felt it would create brand confusion. After launching Tryk® last year the lines between our products and services were clearly delineated and it opened the door to showcase this body of work under the Tricycle® brand. We decided the best way to organize our projects was to group by client, exhibiting milestones from those relationships instead of simply categorizing them by medium.

We seek clients that come to us with broad questions rather than specific requests. "How do I improve the perception of my product line?" is a better request than "I need a new logo." The former indicates awareness and collaboration, the latter indicates DANGER. Sometimes savvy clients know exactly what they need but in my experience it is rare — most tend to be inwardly focused rather than outwardly focused. It's not narcissism, it's simply the reality of being in the trenches day after day. Design professionals help their clients sort this out... to see the big picture, to connect the dots, to maximize ROI. Cliche phrases, I know, but they're true.

The projects selected for our book are vignettes in the Big Picture. They are captured moments that summarize objectives. We intentionally kept descriptions to a minimum, simply introducing the challenge and then showing a collection of projects achieving it.

Download a PDF of "What You See Is What You Get" by clicking here.

Turning back the climate clock

2008-07-02T11:39:00.003-04:00

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has an educational site about global climate change. It presents key indicators as well as evidence, causes and effects of our changing climate. The information is gathered from more than a dozen Earth science spacecraft and instruments in orbit studying Earth's systems. Some of the data has been tracked for decades while other information has only just begun to be studied.

The information is sobering, while we understand human activity has accelerated the natural progression of Earth's climate, there remains no clear answer on exactly what the result will be or how much of the consequences can be averted. Encouraging signs can be found, like reduced levels of ozone depletion thanks, in part, to accords reached in the 1987 Montreal Protocol.

One interesting feature of the website is the Climate Time Machine. It visually illustrates the changes in our climate as evidenced by yearly changes in things like polar ice, sea levels and average global temperature.

Ample Sample Winners Announced

2008-06-30T16:25:00.002-04:00

Ample Sample 2008 has now officially come to a close. The Judge's Choice, which was announced and displayed at NeoCon World's Trade Fair in Chicago on June 11, is the Rocking Horse Stool by Vala Abolghasemy of Potomoc, MD. Voting for People's Choice also took place at NeoCon and is awarded to two designs- GreenScreen by Evan Gant of Boston, MA and Carpet Sqr'd Chair by Rahman Polk of Azara Design Lab.

The other finalists included Semiha Kan of Istanbul, Turkey, Jonathan Knodell of GHA Design Studios, Tanja Meyle of MEYLENSTEIN, Amy Tasch of Hammel, Green and Abrahamson, Inc., Helder Santos of Hell Studio, and Lyall Design of Norfolk, VA.

Blueprints and/or instructions for the 2008 winners and finalists' designs are now available for free download to forward-thinking design firms around the world.

NeoCon 2008 Tricycle Design Recap

2008-06-25T12:32:00.004-04:00

NeoCon was exciting again for us this year because we had a new team leading two environmental design projects for the show.

This was Mark Cooley's first NeoCon and he was assigned what is historically considered a jewel project in the design department — the Tricycle booth. This year we focused on our new Tryk® line, specifically its context, values and benefits. The design is minimal compared to year's past but is, by far, the clearest product statement we've ever made.

He designed the space in Sketch Up and I've included a few of the renderings along with photos of the actual space. It's amazing how similar it is. Thumbs up for simulation!

Lisa Blevins, our new Design Director, and designer Nick Du Pey took our first permanent showroom assignment for Mannington Commercial. It had "good bones" because our friends at Grant Design Collaborative redesigned the space in 2007.

We took initial inspiration from Mannington's new product launches. They reminded us of the birth of Art Deco and the Bauhaus, movements from a period when patterns were reduced to simple geometric forms and materials were chosen for their function, expressing their beauty unadorned. Particular inspirations came from Eileen Gray, Charlotte Perriand, Marcel Breuer and Josef Albers. We liked the brand story that emerged such as practicality, simple beauty, form/function, historical design awareness and gender equality.

From this point we focused on a spatial grid pattern borrowed from the product size and manufacturing ratios and then designed the space and product showcases with them. For example, 1:1, 2:1, 2:4, etc. We applied them to the floor plan, wall displays, custom furniture and graphics.

The most satisfying aspect of this design for me is the ability to showcase and merchandise the products in an artistic and clear format. Mannington's space was "decorated" with their products, making it particularly easy for the sales force to naturally introduce them into conversations.

The contrast of the two spaces is indicative of the nature of the products. Tryk is still an emerging, process oriented tool. It generally requires discussion (and lots of words) for someone to comprehend it. Mannington Commercial's products are in an established category where the beauty of the materials speak for themselves. It speaks well of our designers that they can adapt across aesthetic styles to propose and implement appropriate communication strategies for varied product types. I'm particularly proud of the them this year and I want the world to know it.

Design At Work

2008-06-25T10:04:00.002-04:00

On a recent stroll down Frazier Avenue you may have noticed our old reception desk in AVA's window. Tricycle's REVERB and Ample Sample projects have been on display in an AIGA Chattanooga exhibition during June. The exhibit is a collection of work promoting design thinking for business within our talented local community. This Friday night is the closing reception from 5:30 to 8:00; if you have a few moments after work, please stop by to see the exhibit designed by our own Nick Du Pey.

Ample Sample Finalists Announced

2008-06-06T15:18:00.003-04:00

Ten finalists have been selected for the 2008 Ample Sample Design Contest. Shown here is Eco-Vase by Lyall Design of Norfolk, VA. View the rest of the finalists here. A winning design from amongst the top ten will be announced June 11 at NeoCon. If you're at the show, be sure to visit the finalists gallery on the 8th floor of the Mart.

Visit Tricycle at NeoCon 2008

2008-06-02T14:17:00.003-04:00

Visit us at our seventh consecutive NeoCon June 9-11 in Chicago, booth 4114 on the 8th floor of the Merchandise Mart. Each year we create a custom environment to communicate the values and benefits of our products. This year's design promotes the practical side of our new Tryk line. It's a minimalist design featuring handcut typography, giant black and white photos and lots of square feet of our favorite color — orange. We'll post shots of the space after the show so come back soon. In the meantime, please enjoy the video of bygone NeoCons serenaded by Mission of Burma. There are 3-4 slides of each exhibit design from 2002-2007.

CARE Cares. Tell them what you think about carpet recycling.

2008-05-14T20:47:00.002-04:00

In 2002 the carpet industry agreed to reduce carpet landfill waste and made a plan to git-r-done by creating the Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE). In 2006 the industry diverted 261 million tons of carpet and though it's an overwhelming number, it's still about 250% less than their initial goal. Their recent Independent Assessment by Zero Waste Alliance states:

Overwhelmingly, the number one key barrier to increasing diversion rates is the lack of diverse end markets. The other primary barriers are lack of sufficient education and outreach, and the economics and infrastructure of collection.

They also note that "for every 1,000 tons of carpet collected for recycling, about two jobs are created locally." As elementary as it sounds, there's really not a good way of retrieving carpet yet. Even though landfills charge demo teams to throw scrap or used carpet away it has not created a vibrant cottage industry like paper or aluminum. That's unfortunate since carpet recycling is rated by the EPA as only second to aluminum recycling in net avoided greenhouse gases (GHG).

The assessment contains more interesting information and CARE wants your comment on the report and their progress. Visit their site to download the PDF and then comment here.

Whales and Dolphins and Legends in Chattanooga

2008-05-07T16:07:00.004-04:00

In March, I traveled to New Orleans for Interiors08, the national ASID conference on design. Attendees celebrated some of the best ideas in design, learned from each other and discussed some of the newest trends in the industry. One event of particular note was the keynote speaker, Jean-Michel Cousteau, who opened the conference.

Not simply because it was sponsored by Tricycle, the keynote was memorable for the beautiful film imagery and the impassioned argument presented by Cousteau for protecting our oceans and waterways and his optimism that much of the damage can yet be undone. An explorer, environmentalist, educator and film producer for the last four decades, Jean-Michel’s presentation was a moving and thought-provoking examination of how small decisions in each person’s home and workplace carry far-reaching effects for our world’s environment.

While making the case for sustaining our ocean habitats, Jean-Michel explained how well intentioned regulation isn’t enough. As fish populations dwindle, “out of desperation, people are harvesting… capturing everything they can find, sustainability isn’t part of the conversation. Education can only happen when one is fed.” The message and the visuals resonated through the duration of the conference.

We were treated to segments of a new IMAX film titled Dolphins and Whales 3D which has already opened in some IMAX theaters and will see wider release through fall. On May 22, Jean-Michel will be in Chattanooga, Tennessee for the opening showing of this movie. After the movie, I’ll be fed, and certainly educated, at a lecture given by Jean-Michel followed by a reception. It will be a unique opportunity to meet someone who has dedicated his life to the idea that change begins with individuals.

Paddling planet proponents participate publicly

2008-04-24T10:52:00.008-04:00

Sustainability really floats our boat; and to prove it, last weekend we put together a team of Tricycle employees, their significant others and fans of sustainable design. The event was the Chattanooga Dragon Boat Festival, benefiting the TC Thompson Children's Hospital here in Chattanooga.

Fearlessly defying a weather forecast calling for showers, we competed with 44 other teams on what turned out to be a stunningly beautiful Saturday. Each 21 person team paddled a 40 foot long canoe in timed races, all vying for a chance to compete in the final, championship race.

Music and cultural events rounded out the day, but the fierce competition was never far from mind. Though we dreamed of dragon boating glory, at the end of the races our average time placed us just slightly ahead of the middle of the field. We're already working on our strategy for next year.

Here's a gallery of pictures from the festival, and a link to the local news channel's interview of Tricycle's own panicky, paddling pirate.

Oh Mother (Earth)!

2008-04-23T08:53:00.004-04:00

The pollen count is HIGH and the lyrics of a Police song came to mind:

Oh, Oh mother
Oh mother dear please listen
And don't devour me.
Oh mother dear please listen
Don't devour me.
Oh women please have mercy
Let this poor boy be.
Oh mother dear please listen
And don't devour me.
Oh mother......
- Mother, The Police, Synchronicity

Last week I shot some photos of pollen floating in puddles after a storm. Reminded me a bit of an Eames film.

Happy Earth Day!

2008-04-22T12:45:00.006-04:00

Mr. Barriger, my 10th grade chemistry teacher, introduced me to Earth Day in 1988. It was an eco-freako concept where I came from, but so was our ecology club. It was a fun group that monitored the water quality of the Doe River, from testing to clean-up. Once we even stopped construction on a new highway to prevent the dumping of acidic soil near the river because it was adversely affecting the pH level. No wonder everyone thought we were troublesome! I'd like to believe that now the community sees it differently — that we were able to preserve the wildlife habitat for native fish and keep a beautiful water source accessible.

Today we're celebrating Earth Day in Chattanooga by joining other companies on Main Street to educate our community about local and corporate ways to live a greener life. I don't know whether it's geography, or the passing of time, but Earth Day is being embraced wholly in our city. Sujeel, aka Dr. Tryk, has set up a small table, complete with mints, so if you're downtown, please stop by. And don't miss Green Drinks later tonight at 6.

Levi van Veluw Portraits

2008-04-15T17:21:00.004-04:00

Now THIS is Ample Sample! Check out the portfolio of Levi van Veluw. He has created some beautiful portraits and we must point out the creative use of carpet....

Your car smells like fish

2008-04-15T17:19:00.001-04:00

Last time the world faced an oil crisis (the 70's), the U.S. Department of Energy launched a program to analyze the potential algae had as a renewable fuel… it still does. Please, someone find an alternative to corn and soy quickly.

Human Footprint / Interior Designer's Footprint

2008-04-15T16:45:00.002-04:00

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Emily Eckardt"
Date: April 14, 2008 11:05:39 AM EDT
To: "Michael Hendrix"
Subject: Human Footprint/Interior Designer's Footprint

Watched this last night and was so intrigued by it. Click on the “Human Footprint” text and you’ll see a calculator that calculates how many eggs, newspapers, loafs of bread…etc..you’ll consume in a lifetime. Seemed a little like déjà vu.

I.E. Water used in a lifetime of showers per NatGeo “The U.S. avg equals 25 gallons of water per shower, over 700,000 in a lifetime.” ///+ Water used in a lifetime of samples: If the average interior designer orders 250 samples a year and works for 40 years, that’s an additional 22,500 gallons of water in a lifetime.

Just think it’s interesting to see specials on tv that apply to our mission as well…

Emily
T R I C Y C L E

No Longer Junkyard Bound

2008-04-01T16:23:00.002-04:00

A unique example of repurposing materials. This wikiHow article caught my eye this morning. Many junked cars are "parted out" to people that are working to restore a car to its original (or at least drivable) state and your local junkyard is a great place to start.

Despite my many complaints about it, I have an extra car at home that would be perfect for this project, though I hope we can get rid of it in its entirety before we need to get creative.

We Have Ample Sample… Again

2008-03-20T08:42:00.002-04:00

We've organized the second annual Ample Sample contest to promote re-use and upcycling of carpet samples. You may recall we had an "incident" at NeoCon 2007 when we were setting up the winner's exhibit. Housekeeping accidentally threw away the box containing the Judge's Choice design by RSA thinking it was just scrap carpet from a booth. After a few hours of manic panic, the design was retrieved from the trash bin, pizza grease removed and chair assembled! You can see this winning design and the other 9 finalists on the newly relaunched Ample Sample. This year we've also added student and Tryk categories. Enter your ideas on the Ample Sample web site by May 10.

Our Ears are Open

2008-03-11T16:52:00.005-04:00

We've received great feedback recently from Tryk users. To hear that we are contributing to your sustainability efforts and that you share the same passion as we do is awesome. Keep 'em coming as we are always open to suggestions, gripes, or praise.

Tryk Tapped by Wired

2008-02-28T17:16:00.004-05:00

Wired spotted us at a clean technology forum in San Francisco this week. WIRED: dematerialization. TIRED: jokes about virtual shag… And while we're on topic, check out our new Tryk site.

Tricycle, A Stop On Your Green Vacation

2008-02-24T20:15:00.004-05:00

Plenty and the CBS Early Show have dubbed Chattanooga one of the world's best "Green Vacation" spots along with the Galapagos Islands. Give us a call if you decide to visit on holiday. Maybe we can do lunch?

Car, Carbon and Care Free

2008-02-15T13:06:00.004-05:00

During January's tour of the Middle East President Bush took time to view a model of Masdar, the first carbon neutral city on Earth. The development, located in Abu Dhabi, is being planned by British architecture heavyweights, Foster + Partners. As Bush was wrapping up his visit he called Masdar "an opportunity to see what works and what won't work, and an opportunity to share their technology with others."

Well yeah… it's a giant experiment to sustain 45,000 people by employing the latest advances in solar power, desalination, public transportation and city planning. But with an estimated completion date of 2018 I don't think we'll reap the benefits of discovering "what works" in a timely manner.

Maybe more insightful was another of the President's comments: "Amazing, isn't it? This country has gotten its wealth from the ground and is now reinvesting in alternative forms of energy, sometimes joint venturing with U.S. institutions, like MIT." Bingo. It's called preserving your economy and it's a great business idea to go ahead and develop the next energy source at the headwaters of the "Oil Amazon". However, it would be an even better idea for us to do it ourselves. Of course no President could say that to their Royal Host… but I feel the need to bring up a certain speech at Greenbuild again.

Thanks DM for the tip.

Trash Talk Follow-Up

2008-02-07T22:33:00.000-05:00

Last month I posted a link to an Economist article reporting on an imminent global food shortage due to farmland being converted to grow plants for biofuel production. Today Science published a paper that corroborates this theory and provides a convincing model that shows greenhouse gas release will actually be greater if this pursuit continues. It seems the problem lies in clear-cutting and farming new land in order to keep up with demand. But let's not dispair. New advances in Waste-To-Energy (WTE) science are making it easier not only to mine methane from landfills, but actually to create ethanol from the trash. Farming and landfill mining are both attempts to create new fuel from current systems. However, the former wastes food — making us no better off — while the latter turns waste to food.

In September I posted about Frog Design staff carrying their trash with them for a week. CNet has a new photo essay on several folks that have been living with their trash for years! EcoWoman's photo to the right shows her reduction in plastic waste from 2006 to 2007 — very motivating when you literally live with it. It's happened to us on a minor scale in Chattanooga since our Mayor cut the budget of the recycling program. My back deck is covered in bags and boxes!

Tour de Tricycle

2008-02-05T15:52:00.000-05:00

Our Interactive Director, Aaron "The Hoff" Hoffman, put together this video for a company meeting. We thought it was cool enough to share. So, if you've ever wondered what the inside of our office looks like, here's a YouTubulous view. Enjoy!

LEED goes to 11…

2008-02-04T09:20:00.001-05:00

A very entertaining rant from the discussion blogs at Archinect.

The (R)evolution of carpet (part 4 of 4).

2008-01-31T09:28:00.000-05:00

This final part of an essay on the rise of the Georgia carpet industry originated as part of an email reply to a former colleague. This friend asked about the relevance of Tricycle to the larger message of sustainability. The gains of the carpet manufacturers didn't happen in a vacuum, they benefitted from and contributed to the broader technology, business and social environment. Understanding context allows a person, a company or a society to hold a mirror to itself and see its place in a big world. This understanding can provide a platform for a longer view.

PART 4

Like the carpet revolution, the computer/ internet revolution waited for the right technology, and then never waited again. In ten years it changed its industry so thoroughly that Big Blue is now a consulting company and no one under thirty even remembers when they built computers. Punch cards and tape reels are either antique store curiosities or the punch line to a nerd’s party joke. Collaboration and flexibility were the key advantages that allowed all manner of people to work together in creative ways. Computer users working together quickly adopted new technology and then changed that technology when it didn’t do what they wanted it to do. Because there were no established models for “The Right Way to Go About This”, they were unafraid to try new ways of production, distribution and of completely re-imagining the concept of the supplier and the customer. In fact, the very idea of "product" changed as processes dematerialized and data replaced physical objects.

It’s surprising that the Northern Mills, like IBM later, couldn't see this coming. There were examples of this going all the way back to the dinosaurs-- who, even though they were the top of the food chain, lost out to smaller, more adaptable animals. History is full of famous examples of light, fast and flexible armies defeating larger ones. But somehow, the revolution always seems to come as a surprise to the establishment.

There’s a new revolution, and though it won’t look like what’s come before, the catalysts will be the same: flexibility and collaboration. And it’s still a matter of scale. Each revolution happens faster and affects a larger group. The carpet revolution was a specific industry, while the computer and internet revolution crossed boundaries of business and industry. The next revolution will be a collaboration of business and society. We’re already seeing the signs; voices are telling us the World is Flat, teenagers in the Netherlands post video opinions for consumption three minutes later in Oklahoma City. A part-time political junkie writes a blog that ends the campaign of a presidential candidate. A housewife in Knoxville orders a computer from a call center in India and parts are shipped from Singapore to be assembled in Nashville and three days after she hangs up the phone a package service is at her front door with her custom-built computer. And a billion-dollar carpet company announces the adoption, at all levels of its organization, practices that benefit the environment. The revolution is going to be a world where responsibility and profitability are no longer at odds. Society will stop being the customer and business will stop being the supplier. When both sides collaborate and benefit that’s a partnership and like the carpet industry before it, the relationship leads to even greater innovation.

Tricycle is part of what’s coming. Tryk is a product that generates revenue, but it’s only a tool, and like any tool its value lies in the concept of what it can enable. Someone buys a hammer because they imagine a house, not because they just want a hammer. Tricycle creates and distributes the tools for collaboration and flexibility. By freeing carpet manufacturers and designers from physical samples you create flexibility, now a designer can work anywhere there’s a computer, without a case full of samples. And collaboration can only happen when both participants are speaking the same language. Tryks become that language by replacing words with pictures. And when landfills aren’t groaning under the weight of more carpet and when natural resources go untapped because demand isn’t there then society and business share the benefits of partnership.

It’s a small part of the revolution to be sure and this company’s contribution could be forgotten when that last piece of technology falls into place and the revolution stops waiting, starts picking up speed and moves the world. But how much would it be worth to claim even a small part as your own contribution?

The (R)evolution of carpet (part 3 of 4)

2008-01-30T11:11:00.000-05:00

This is the third of a four-part essay on the rise of the Georgia carpet industry.

PART 3

When a car is small, it’s maneuverable. It can fit places a big car can’t, it can turn on a dime and its costs (from manufacturing to maintenance) are generally lower. If the fledgling carpet mills in Dalton were anything they were small. The very success of the Great Northern Mills meant that they couldn’t easily change their production methods. They were locked into their investments. It was an issue of scale, and suddenly bigger wasn’t better. Once key technology was in place it took less than fifteen years for the carpet standard to shift to tufted over woven and for Dalton to eat the Great Northern Mills’ lunch. How did it happen?

The smaller companies in the south weren’t afraid to try new business models. When one business plan would prove ineffective the mill would close and simply reopen in a few weeks with a new plan. There was very little capital and many businesses were run in what were essentially shacks. Despite shoestring budgets, salesmen went out and convinced skeptical buyers that they were buying carpet from huge firms. Visiting buyers would be shown Dalton’s few large mills from a distance and told that there was where their carpet was being produced. Decades later, small, internet-based companies would present themselves the same way, on an equal footing and sometimes indiscernible (by web presence) from larger corporations.

Making the tufts of carpet stay firmly in place is now accomplished through a process called heat setting. Back then the huge lengths of carpet were washed in very hot water so the cotton face threads would shrink and bind the tufts. Though there were many mills all in competition with each other, there were only a few independent businesses capable of washing the carpet. So the various manufacturers were compelled to share the same limited resources and, as any college student knows, hanging out waiting on the spin cycle to finish is a great opportunity to strike up conversation. This environment fostered a natural collaboration. When one manufacturer made a significant innovation, it inevitably benefited everyone.

But the greatest benefit of the new industry’s flexibility and quickness was represented in the materials used in the production of carpet. Beginning with cotton thread, manufacturers searched relentlessly for alternative raw materials that could be shipped and assembled cheaper, produced faster and could represent advantages over wool which was still the standard. While luxurious and long-lasting, wool was expensive, heavy and difficult to clean. It also comes from sheep. A manufacturer could build a woolen mill wherever he chose, but knew the farther away from the sheep he was, the more expensive the shipping costs of the raw materials. Synthetic materials like rayon and nylon were cheaper and resisted staining, and production facilities could be built anywhere. Companies like Dupont had produced synthetic material in huge quantities for the war effort, but in peacetime had difficulty finding a market. The arrangement for tufted carpet benefited both industries and instead of a traditional supplier-customer relationship, the resulting partnership led to greater innovation.

It was the same for backing materials. From using cotton duck which was the low quality filler in jackets and quilts to jute imported from India as the backing material, manufacturers experimented with every possible combination of materials. When civil unrest threatened the Indian jute supply the manufacturers quickly turned to domestically produced synthetic materials like latex and foam. Like a small car, they could match the shifts in the market turn for turn in a way that the larger companies couldn’t hope to achieve. It was a new world and a smaller platform, proved better at adapting. (to be continued...)

The (R)evolution of carpet (Part 2 of 4)

2008-01-29T13:29:00.000-05:00

This is the second of a four-part essay on the rise of the tufted carpet industry in North Georgia. While it's easy, in hindsight, to consider that growth destined, or inevitable; it came about despite numerous obstacles. Though technology can provide the means for growth, growth itself, through creative problem solving, drive and passion can only come from committed people.

PART 2

The American textile industry traces its roots to the very founding of this great nation. Weavers and looms and techniques came over from Europe. Mills were built and business went on in America much as it had in the old countries. There were a few changes, for example, as the American textile producers grew; they stopped purchasing raw materials from European middle markets and established their own direct supply chains. And patterns and techniques inevitably developed that were distinctly American. Alternative raw materials were tried with very limited effect. The public bought wool because that was what dominated the market and the mills made woolen products because that was what the public bought. The advances of the industrial revolution occurred roughly parallel on both sides of the Atlantic; so the big, established industries kept doing things the same way they always had and everything was fine—if a little bit boring.

Remember our socially awkward Catherine Evans? Well she eventually married, but apparently didn’t develop many other interests. She kept making bedspreads and began selling them to local general stores. Interest locally was good because of the low cost but there was also demand from outside the community, partially due to a small national trend at the time toward folk art and goods. When demand became too great she taught others how to make the bedspreads and soon many households were laboriously turning out bedspreads. In fact the cottage industry came to be many households’ primary income and cars speeding down the road at night (heading to Dalton at least) were more likely to be rushing more yarn and cotton to busy home businesses than carrying bootleg whiskey.

Could this have been one of the first modern examples of a collaborative business effort using an open-source platform? Let’s go back to our comparison, the internet revolution started quietly. Everyone knows now the internet had been around for years before two key events happened at just the right time. The introduction of the Windows operating system was the first event, followed by the first web browser program. One was a commercial business product; the other was written and disseminated at no cost but both represented the arrival of technology that could deliver product on demand to a wide audience in real time. McDonough and Braungart call this a “technology key” and the Georgia Carpet Industry was waiting for one to unlock its own revolution.

What was happening in North Georgia certainly caught the notice of the carpet mills in the north but the potential competitiveness was easily dismissed. The small Georgia mills weren’t following any established production models, they were using the wrong materials (cotton yarn instead of wool) and they were tufting instead of weaving. The northern mills even allowed representatives from the south to come in and tour their facilities and to take ideas back to incorporate at home. Growth was steady but slow, the carpet industry’s technology key was just about to arrive. That happened thanks to two men working separately who produced the first modern carpet tufting machines. These men, one named Carter and the other Cobble developed machines that allowed mass output faster, requiring less labor and less cost. But even before Carter and Cobble arrived with their innovations, resourceful people were purchasing used or broken Singer sewing machines and modifying them to take larger needles to punch though the heavy material and to handle the bigger scale. Like the internet pioneers would later do, the carpet innovators were quick to adopt new technology. And when the technology couldn’t meet their demands they adapted that technology to keep up with their needs. And like the Big Computer Companies would later do, the Great Northern Mills saw the revolution coming, even provided assistance, and never recognized it for what it was until too late. (to be continued…)

The (R)Evolution of carpet (Part 1 of 4)

2008-01-28T16:35:00.000-05:00

When I first arrived in Chattanooga and at Tricycle I understood that I had a great deal to learn. While I was familiar with “green issues” the contexts of carpet manufacturing and sustainable design were new to me. Fortunately for my learning curve, there was no lack of resources from which to draw. In the Tricycle library I found a copy of Thomas Deaton’s book: Bedspreads to Broadloom: the Story of the Tufted Carpet Industry. This history of the Georgia carpet empires and their unlikely beginnings proved to be first enlightening, then a valuable reference in understanding the subtext of the fierce competitiveness and neighborly resource sharing happening, often simultaneously, in the manufacturer’s rows of North Georgia.

I also noticed how the story of the growth of tufted carpet seemed familiar in the way that seeming obstacles (like geography and resources) became agents of innovation instead of barriers. I knew I’d heard this story before and I wrote this essay to help myself better understand what I was learning.

I've split the essay into four parts and will post them over the next few days.

PART 1

Carpet is big business in Dalton and the surrounding communities. Manufacturing facilities all located within one hundred miles of Dalton produce 70 per-cent of the world’s tufted carpet and bring in over $11 billion in revenue. In contrast to its unremarkable beginnings, the story of that growth is completely, wholly amazing. In fact one of the truly surprising things is how closely that story follows the story of another, later revolution that rose from humble beginnings to shake and then dominate the very industry that had dismissed its potential—the computer and internet revolution.

The carpet industry had remained virtually unchanged for one hundred years. Weaving was the method and wool was the medium. There was so much investment, and sales were so lucrative that there was little motivation for change. The established industries resisted rather than encouraged innovation. Think of the existing carpet industry at that time as IBM—Big Blue. For decades IBM was the largest computer company in the world. The company that famously stated the future of computers is in hardware and that no one would want a computer in their home. Like the computer giant would later do, the carpet mills couldn’t imagine the world would change simply because it hadn’t yet.

In 1895, a fifteen year-old girl named Catherine Evans made a bedspread. This event would have gone entirely unnoticed because quite frankly it was precisely the kind of event people tend not to notice. But something happened, two things that were uniquely, remarkably boring. The first is how Catherine made her bedspread. She purchased the muslin squares and the cotton yarn and began to sew it all together. She used part of the yarn to make large looping stitches to emphasize the pattern. Then using household scissors, she cut the top of the loop creating two tufts of thread from the single loop. She unraveled the twists of yarn and spread out the tufts to create a textured pattern on the face of the bedspread. This technique was called “tufting”.

The second thing was where this happened, in North Georgia just outside of Dalton. At a time when the city of Atlanta, which would go on to become one of the nation’s most important urban centers, was still a backwater, Dalton had even less to recommend it. There was little infrastructure, few manufactured goods were produced locally so products were shipped in. And while Dalton was the home of two textile mills, the only real industry was the foundries over the state line in Chattanooga, Tennessee (see, boring, but stay with me).

There’s nothing efficient about making a bedspread in this manner. The investment of money for material and thread, the extensive time required, not to mention backache and cramped fingers meant that while the tools and materials were commonly available not many people produced these goods by hand. Even in the south, most people purchased woven textiles produced in northern mills from imported raw materials. But Catherine, after making the first spread, actually did do something remarkable—in a way. Ignoring the difficulties and slow pace, she began working on another bedspread, and another after that. So thanks to a teenager with a stunted social life, the Georgia Tufted Carpet Industry was conceived. And though the event happened with little notice there was a bit of fanfare. The second bedspread was a wedding present for a sister in law and though by all accounts the wedding was a modest affair it’s worth mentioning here because everything else up to this point had been so perfectly boring. Outside the local community the wedding passed without notice as did the gift of a hand-made, tufted bedspread. And although the great Northern Woolen Mills didn’t know it, they were on borrowed time from that point on. (to be continued…)

Earth-tones are back

2008-01-24T14:06:00.000-05:00

In the search for new trends, designers often turn to the past for inspiration. In searching for new materials to use in “green buildings”, builders, renovators and home owners are looking to the past as well. Products incorporating natural materials can be found in furniture, wall coverings and flooring. Now it’s possible to incorporate what may have been the original floor covering, dirt.
Now certainly there are parts of the world where earthen floors aren’t a design option as much as the only option and granted, the floor treatments offered by companies like From These Hands, LLC have little in common with a bare earth floor. Still, there’s no question that the materials used are natural and sustainable. The mud is compacted with straw and other fibers and finished with a drying agent such as linseed oil. Any waste from the project can be reused in another earthen project. And if properly sealed, the floor can last as long as other conventional floors, according to From These Hands owner Sukita Crimmel.

And while the installation process is time and labor intensive, at $7 a square foot—especially compared to other green flooring materials—the cost for an earthen floor is, well… dirt cheap.

I'm cancelling eco-consciousness due to exhaustion

2008-01-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

An amazing, refreshing spoken word poem from Dawn Maxey:

Global War

LauraMae Bryan. She was the most popular girl in Mrs. Magnani’s 4th grade class—the coolest thing since Maytag refrigerators. She’d say things like, “Oh I’m sorry, you mean you don’t have the new etch a sketch? I do!” I couldn’t wait to grow up and get away.

But then/ just the other day,

I began to notice people at Whole Foods with entire shopping carts full of ‘organic’ and ‘go green’ items. These people are the same ones that say things like “did I bump into you? I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect this ENVIRONMENTALLY SAFE dishwashing soap to be so heavy.”

I want to pour environmentally safe salt in their eyes.

I don’t know who these people are
but they’re growing out of control.
pressuring well meaning citizens into buying
more, more, more,
all to pollute less, less, .. less?

being green is the new cool
and even Kermit can’t keep up
suddenly I feel pressured to buy solar powered nose hair trimmers and
I don’t even have that problem.

In fact, I imagine a day when things get so bad you’ll live in a glass house so that everyone can see you wake up in the morning, get out of your organic soy bean bed and pack your “this is not a plastic bag”, bag. You’ll open a box of Tony the tiger’s non hydrogenated hypoallergenic free trade grain flakes, and drive your not-tested-on-animals bicycle to work. Then you’ll help Nike ‘save’ the rainforest by branding large red swooshes on all the lemurs or maybe organize a photo shoot for Abercrombie’s new cotton free cotton underwear.

But really now. Hipsters have taken this way. too. far.

Especially with the Prius.
See, it’s gone from a Pri-us to a Pri-ME.
because
it’s all about how cool I can be
In fact, I’ll buy seven
so I can drive a different one each day
it’s all about ME
pri-us to a
pre-me to a
pre-me-um.
a premium.

another excess “thing” in our lives that piles up and nobody ever looks at again.

Green is chic now, but when the stock market of trends crashes

no one will want to be caught dead with biodegradable polos, environmentally safe dirt, or toilet paper made from corn husks.
the earth will be just as trashed as Lindsay Lohan in a Bacardi factory
and people will care
even less

So how do you fix the problem?
Make being green
sustainable
show people that it’s not hip or trendy or fun to be green
it’s an obligation

turn ME into SENSIBILITY

it’s logic we should have learned by the fourth grade

having three hybrids does not equal less pollution
George Clooney is not the world’s expert on recycling
buying organic blueberries from Chile uses up a lot of pricy gas

there is no such thing as free range carrot sticks
don’t give in to the power of trends.

but hey, hip can live up to its hype
live earth was groundbreaking
the truth was inconvenient
and by all means,
captain planet was a really cool guy

but when you combine campaigns and corporations
with a heavy dose of
good brains and obligations
the change will last so long
the energizer bunny will cry himself to sleep

Green is not hip, or trendy, or fun.

It’s an obligation.

Not Your Average Scratching Post

2008-01-07T11:06:00.000-05:00

Hopefully your cats didn’t spend the Christmas season batting at glass ornaments, climbing the tree, and getting hair all over the tree skirt. Unfortunately, mine did all of that. And it made me realize that it’s time to purchase a new scratching post or cat tower or anything else to keep them entertained and busy the two hours out of the day that they aren’t sleeping. As much as I love my cats, I’m not putting one of those carpet covered, four foot high trees in my living room.

I knew instantly what we needed when I was sent an email about the moderncritter bent plywood cat scratcher. It’s a simple 5/8” thick molded plywood piece covered in natural walnut veneer with a clear matte lacquer finish. And the coolest thing is that the scratching surface is just two FLOR carpet tiles.

Eco-friendly carpet mixed with stylish, modern design; what more could you ask for? The cats will love it and your guests won’t laugh at your décor. If you are especially crafty, you could tackle a similar project (without bending plywood) by using old carpet samples or remnants you have lying around.

Or if you are a designer with said carpet samples lying around, make your own while reducing waste to the landfill or causing trip hazards in your resource library. We are launching our second annual Ample Sample contest in February 2008, so we would love for you put those carpet samples or Tryk™ prints to good use as well. You can view last year’s winners here for inspiration, and details for 2008 entries will be posted soon. The winners will be promoted at NeoCon and in Floor Focus magazine. Maybe you could be the next person selling $315 cat scratchers…

A Holiday Treat

2007-12-20T00:01:00.000-05:00

This year we branched out to make a merry movie for the holidays. We hope it inspires you to turn trash to treasure and Tryks to trees. Click here for the movie.

This week in politics…

2007-12-19T17:12:00.000-05:00

What follows Kyoto? A Bali Roadmap.
New Energy Act Passes
The White House rejects California's Emissions Waiver.
Ethanol exacerbates world grain shortage.
Why it isn't so simple.
Politicians can 't change the world, but designers can.

iRony?

2007-12-17T20:23:00.000-05:00

What, you don’t want more Radiohead news on a sustainability blog? I promise to just use them as a starting point. And to reward your patience, at the end of this post I’ll offer a few last-minute gift ideas… Last month the band’s former label, EMI, announced they will release Radiohead's entire back catalog on USB Flash Drive for $165. Following their lead, Universal is releasing a series of singles in the UK this month via Flash Drive as well. One spokesman said, “This is aimed at the younger, 12 to 24 year olds, who no longer believe that the CD is as cool as it used to be”.

But of course it’s about more than being cool, isn’t it? It’s really about faster, cheaper, better — the technology curse. Is Blu-Ray vs. HD-DVD any different than VHS vs. BETA or CD vs. USB? The record labels are testing waters and searching for the next big thing. In the same article quoted earlier, Eric Daugan from Warner Music says, “The CD is an old technology that has not evolved. Fortunately people still want to own a physical product, so with the extra storage, the idea is to offer a better consumer experience”. It reminded me of something I wrote last year for a paper promotion: "Tricycle is part of a larger trend that is finding new vehicles for experiences…. We live in a time in which we can have familiar interactions through new mediums. In Tricycle's case, we can substitute paper for carpet, and rather than sacrificing relevance, we actually enhance the experience…."

At least I hope we do. As optimistic as I am about digital technology, I’m struck by how nostalgic and earth-bound we seem to be. In my recent hunt for Christmas gifts I’ve run across a number of items that try to warm digital delivery with facades of sentimentality and irony. This trade for an upgraded experience must result in a net loss. How else can I explain my waxing on about how cool records and cassettes were? How many tapes did I lose in my car stereo because the deck was hungry? Do I really miss static crackle? I attribute my longing to irrational, but valid, emotion. I believe dematerialization’s success or failure is determined by met — or unmet — expectations. How do our expectations differ if we’re buying music on a disc rather than a key chain? What gives value to each? You can bet we’re asking the same questions about our products. What makes sampling faster, cheaper, better?

But enough about us. You’re an ironic hipster looking for a last minute gift — and you just read through all of this speculation to find one. Here ya go, reduced, reused and recycled:

Mix Tape USB Drive
$12.99

Floppy Disk CD-R
$14

Cassette Wallet
$43

MIXA USB Casette
Designed to your spec
$43

Cassette MP3 Player
It's the whole shebang! Tape, turntable, MP3…
$22

iPod Nano Cassette Case
$45 CAN

Reduce. Reuse. Radiohead.

2007-12-15T17:04:00.000-05:00

Last year Caleb blogged about Beck's mass-customized CD art for The Information. Radiohead's new television ad for In Rainbows reveals the CD packaging is similar, though you'll have to provide your own jewel case. It's an engaging follow-up to their pay-what-you-want download launched in October. Much ado has been made about this scheme and the media seemed to corner them as mavericks forcing a new music distribution paradigm — despite the band's denial that they're making any such statement. I"ll avoid a similar pitfall by making statements on their behalf regarding the ecological mission of a reduced material CD package. My personal statement: I really like it. In Rainbows is available January 1.

Multiple Choice Wrap Up

2007-12-07T10:33:00.001-05:00

A follow up Q&A blog with me has been posted by Sarah Scaturro, Textile Conservator for the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum. You can read my previous post on this exhibit here. And if you have time The Multiple Choice site has a very interesting essay on the origin of the sample book. View the complete evening below.

MAINX24: A Celebration of Creativity on Main Street, Chattanooga

2007-12-06T14:52:00.000-05:00

After a successful revitalization of our downtown riverfront attention has returned to revival of the Southside. This Saturday Create Here has organized a day-long celebration of creativity in the rapidly developing Main Street district. MAINX24 will feature a parade, residence tours, art exhibits and holiday parties. Here's the complete schedule of events and a map of the area.

Smokin' Idea of the Week

2007-12-03T17:27:00.000-05:00

I admit, I don't know much about baking soda. I understand that some people actually bake with it, but the last two weeks it's only been good for keeping my leftover stuffing from smelling like my deviled eggs.

A company called Skyonic has developed a method to extract baking soda from the CO2 emitted as waste from industrial smokestacks. The baking soda will be food grade and suitable for home or industrial use.

This great example of innovative thinking is just the way to mark the beginning of the U.N. climate conference in Bali, Indonesia. Creative solutions to growing environmental challenges aren't too much to hope for as the nations of the world come together this week.

A Breath of Fresh Air

2007-12-03T17:20:00.000-05:00

You've been blogged with my sole opinions since Caleb and Anj's honorable departures for civic pursuits earlier this year. So I'm pleased to announce Sujeel "Dr. Tryk" Taj and Jordan O'Malley are now joining me as "official" posters on the Ink (They get to wear special name badges and get premium office fridge space).

A sign for the season

2007-11-27T08:35:00.001-05:00

I shot this sign in Miami and now the image seems particularly appropriate for post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas table-grazing events, gift exchanges and yard decor. Feel free to use it for your holiday greetings! All it needs is some artificial snow or mysterious flair.

Thank You

2007-11-21T15:13:00.000-05:00

Thank you Trikers for bringing vision to life.
Thank you clients for taking a risk.
Thank you designers for trying Tryk.
Thank you editors for sharing our story.
Thank you friends for giving selflessly.
Thank you families for your patience and support.
Happy Thanksgiving to all…

Green is Universal: Guest Blogger, Jordan O'Malley

2007-11-19T16:58:00.000-05:00

I was first introduced to the “Green is Universal” initiative while watching a Sunday Night Football game with my husband. Looking back, I couldn’t tell you the final score of the game but I’ll never forget SNF’s contribution to going green. At the end of “Football Night in America”, the studio went dark and was to remain that way through the end of the game. I could hear my husband mutter something along the lines of “I wonder how much electricity they use in the stadium” and “I’m sure all of the lights aren’t really off in the studio”. Then he went back to vocalizing his strong dislike for the Dallas Cowboys. The rest of the show went on as usual but with witty banter about going green and Bob, Cris and Keith looking a bit uncomfortable behind lit pillar candles.

I have to admit that I was skeptical about the actual impact turning off a few studio lights would have. The amount of electricity that NBC Universal uses every year in production of their programming would be a staggering figure. For the “Green is Universal” week of programming, NBC also flew Matt Lauer, Ann Curry and Al Roker to Greenland, Antarctica and Ecuador, respectively, to report on climate change and its effects. I won’t bore you with the carbon footprint of those trips, because the purpose was to raise awareness and educate. NBC has announced that they will offset the carbon footprint in mileage and fuel, which is over 500,000 miles. Beyond their week of green programming, NBC is taking other steps to reduce their impact on the environment through their commitment to green their operations worldwide, including LEED certification for new construction and “eco audits” to identify areas for environmental improvements.

Personally, the best outcome from NBC’s efforts is that of awareness. NBC isn’t going to convince me to buy a hybrid or live a carbon neutral life. As a concerned, yet non-superhero consumer, I’m making small changes on a daily basis. My husband convinced me to start recycling, but I had never considered not buying something because of the ridiculous amount of packaging it was in until recently. Who needs 12 individually-wrapped rolls of paper towels enclosed in another large piece of plastic? My current project is replacing my cleaning products with vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda. (Not together…I don’t want a lemon scented volcano.) And I use reusable shopping bags when I can remember to bring them into the store…

My hope is that NBC was able to reach others with a message that our small changes can add up to make a much larger impact and that viewers weren’t blinded by their own cynicism regarding NBC’s efforts. I know that the “Green is Universal” blog alone has provided me with invaluable information that my husband is already tired of hearing.

Jordan O'Malley is Marketing Coordinator at Tricycle.

Bill Clinton at Greenbuild

2007-11-08T00:55:00.001-05:00

How do you "one up" Al Gore? Today's introductory plenary from former President Bill Clinton at Greenbuild in Chicago was both inspiring and sobering. His candid demeanor and challenging comments were an embodiment of the social attribute of sustainable design. Additionally he emphasized the economic opportunity in our present environmental challenges and encouraged attendees to create green building models that can be replicated in emerging economies. Regardless of your politics, his message was sound: the green collar economy is key to sustaining and replenishing our future.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T15:50:00.000-04:00

We began today with a little costume parade at Tricycle HQ. Pictured here is Heidi "The Trucker" Beckham, account executive and winner of our highly competitive contest. Each contestant had to make a 15 second presentation in character. I'm not really sure what she said… something about CBs, drivin' and trucks I think? Visit our photo gallery for more costume shots. Trick or Treat?!

Company Car?

2007-10-30T08:24:00.000-04:00

Finally, an ecological aware vehicle that's not looking backward. Venture One is developing a 3-wheel hybrid vehicle based upon the Dutch Carver. We don't actually have company cars yet, but when we do I'm voting for three wheels. Visit c|net for a full story and photo gallery.

Multiple Choice-Marketing Design panel at Cooper-Hewitt

2007-10-29T08:34:00.000-04:00

I don't normally post events on our blog but I'm just too excited about this one… On November 15th the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, is opening a new exhibit called, "Multiple Choice, From Sample to Products". We've been asked to participate in the opening panel discussion along with Maharam and Design Within Reach. Julie Lasky from I.D. magazine will moderate. From the Cooper-Hewitt web site, the exhibit will…

examine sample books and other sampling formats as tools for marketing or recording designs and techniques in a wide variety of media. In use since the eighteenth century, sampling formats provide detailed views into the design tastes of their respective eras. Drawn from the Museum's collection, exhibition objects will include sample books of wallcoverings; woven and printed textiles; ribbons, lace and embroidery; sample plates; and drawings and prints showing design alternatives.

Our panel will pick up the discussion about how technology affects product marketing techniques, and I'll be sharing specifically about the Tryk™ program.

Bead for Life: Guest Blogger, Katie Mitchell

2007-10-29T08:33:00.000-04:00

Over the past few weeks I'd noticed some of my friends wearing colorful beaded necklaces from Bead for Life. I was quick to snatch up one for myself before they were gone. As I read the small card attached to the necklace, I became interested in what I was supporting with my fifteen dollars.

The card begins by explaining that

"Bead for Life provides impoverished Ugandan women an opportunity to earn a living by making this beautiful jewelry out of colorful recycled paper. Each bead is unique and handmade. The beaders are women living with HIV/AIDS as well as refugees displaced by a devastating civil war in northern Uganda.”

It ends by thanking the buyer for ‘”joining the Beadcircle; people connecting around the world to ‘eradicate poverty one bead at a time.” I was humbled to think that this one necklace was going to help many and also curious about Bead for Life. As I began looking over the website, one of the links I have discovered teaches about population increase and how we can help impoverished countries by giving the people living there opportunities for work. It blows my mind that a simple purchase like this necklace is something that I generally would buy without giving a second thought — and yet my fifteen dollars will help pay for medicine or food for a large group of people.

These are pictures from a friends’ trip to India this summer. The first is a young girl digging through the trash, looking for food. The second is a street jam packed with people, wires and houses. For me these two pictures represent a world that I am completely unfamiliar with but as I have learned from my experience with Bead for Life, I have opportunities to help.

Katie Mitchell is Traffic Manager for Tricycle, Inc. Thanks, Katie!

Green Peeps Props

2007-10-26T10:51:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Gordon at Graphic Design USA for profiling me as one of their Green People. Subscribe to the new GD USA Green Design e-newsletter here.

What's Next?

2007-10-19T10:20:00.000-04:00

I’ve recently returned with my design team from Next, the biennial AIGA national conference, held this year in Denver. It was an inspirational event and rather than a dry report from the main stage, I’ll give you my general survey of a worthwhile weekend which may include moments of lucidity amongst the rambling. (BTW, UnBeige has an excellent summary of keynote presentations and the Next site will soon showcase video so you can view all the goodness for yourself.)

First…what’s NEXT? Here’s what I took away from three days of sessions:

we cannot effectively practice design in a silo,
we must consider a network of impact and consequence,
we cannot isolate ourselves from cultural and political forces,
problems cannot be diagnosed without considering the context,
we cannot ignore human history or that of adapted species.

It’s hard to believe that we used to do so — and that we still do.

Alex Steffan from WorldChanging drove these points home. Recycling cans will not stop global warming. Neither will driving a Prius. His organization estimates U.S. Citizens need five Earths to keep up with the resource consumption necessary for our lifestyle. The radical changes we need are systemic. We must begin asking how to dematerialize the way do things instead of simply focusing on changing our stuff. How do we build a neighborhood? How do we get to work? How do we get our food? How does it get to our homes? The local food movement is bolstered by health concerns, but it’s also political. Can we sustain our neighborhood without negative environmental impact? Can we give our money to those in our community to strengthen local economies?

Janine Benyus’s theory of biomimicry is a radical, but natural, means of approaching Alex’s challenge. In her words, it’s time to join the rest of the species on earth and stop living like we’re aliens. We must ask ourselves what has worked for millennia and how can we apply it to new forms of manufacturing and new products? A well-documented example is research at the University of Akron that discovered how geckos attach to surfaces and the implications for new forms of adhesives. Visit the Biomimicry Institute web site to read about more exciting applications.

Since understanding design in the context of systems rather than singular solutions yields effective results it’s no big leap of faith to see how this same approach adds value. In an incidental hallway conversation with Mohawk Paper’s Laura Shore we discussed a simple question… how do we convey the value of design to those we serve? I am convinced it is wrapped up in understanding the system. Brochures or ads do not exist in a vacuum. They are hurled into a sea of market forces, each with the capacity to render the message impotent before it reaches a destination. Understanding the business, economics, and competitive landscape begins to reveal a path to success. Neil Powell’s’ presentation on the Rheingold Beer campaign illustrated this beautifully. He also drove home the point that traditional definitions of advertising do not necessarily provide the best communication and business results. A cross-discipline approach to design (not dissimilar from the team at Kid Robot who presented as well) represents a system of thought applied to multiple mediums. This is our approach at Tricycle as well and probably explains our unfettered optimism in the face of every challenge.

Throughout the myriad discussions and presentations another singular topic emerged: life/work balance (another system? Yes). I believe it’s no coincidence that women are leading the way in this thinking — career opportunities have radically shifted in the last 50 years. Ellen Lupton, Marian Bantjes, Maira Kalman and Ann Willoughby all shared provocative thoughts about this journey from the main stage and the dining table. What makes our careers worthwhile and fulfilling? How does work and home dovetail? How do we work toward improving life, personally and globally? Is this not sustainability? Ellen has summed this up eloquently on the AIGA VOICE site.

That’s what’s in the stew. A jumble of thoughts I can’t separate from my own experience. So I bring it home. I know Tryks won’t save the world. In fact, on their own they have a minor impact on a global problem. Their significance lies in what they represent. They are the physical artifacts of a dematerialized system. The way we use to develop, manufacture and merchandise products is, today, a radical departure from physicality that dominated our lives 30 years ago — we were NEXT then. This weekend excited me about the next 30 years. And in the spirit of Tricycle, I confess I’m optimistic.

Green Leap Forward

2007-10-17T17:26:00.001-04:00

Check out the full page article about Tryk™ in the October issue of Metropolis.

Busy Times

2007-10-08T16:03:00.000-04:00

Our delinquent posts are for good cause: HD Boutique, Green+Design, FloorTek, DUX, GreenBuild. This week AIGA Next to refuel. We'll return with something yummy for you. In the meantime, check this recently launched site out and tell us what you think.

Tricycling Is Good for the Environment

2007-09-24T13:21:00.001-04:00

A "news of the weird" story about the No Impact Man with a serendipitous headline courtesy of ABC News. Read it here.