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Ciba Brings Sparkle, Color and Appeal to the K Show
By Le Vin Chin
What’s new in visual effects? What are the latest technologies which offer novel solutions for “Color and Appeal”?
Whether the silver-metallic-chrome look of the early part of this decade – still continuing today – or the glossy blacks and whites of the iPod aesthetic now in the mainstream, developments in materials technology continuously funnel a whole host of exciting and innovative new visual effects into a designer’s palette. In fact, the two feed each other: designers need to know what’s technically possible, while materials developers need to know how society’s tastes are moving.
At Ciba and XYMARA.com, we try hard to bridge this gap, and this is why we devoted a huge part of our presence at the recent K Show in Düsseldorf to showcasing all the latest developments in visual effects for plastics applications: creating surfaces which sparkle, shimmer, are transparent, glow …
Nicole End, Manager of Marketing Center Consumer Goods for plastics
“We have solutions for the plastics industry. Through our ranges of products and technologies, we can actually provide the basis for an unlimited number of effects,” says Nicole End, Manager of Marketing Center Consumer Goods for plastics at Ciba. “The trick is in how you combine them!” And, indeed, under the banner of “Color and Appeal”, Nicole proceeds to demonstrate her point with a few key examples.
Color and Appeal
The stand-out products of the show, even being featured in the K Show Daily newspaper, were the new Ciba® XYMARA Nordic™ effect pigments. Depending on how they are combined with other products, the XYMARA Nordic sparkle effects can go from being bright, warm, rich, golden or steel metallic shades to being mysterious, textured, grey-black shades with complex golden or bluish shimmers. “These are visual effects that have never been seen before!” says Nicole. “The labels of our demonstration pieces – molded bottles – had to be replaced daily due to the wear-and-tear of our visitors’ need to feel the surfaces.”
Transparency Rocks, Color Adds Soul
Deep, rich, tinted grey-blacks are a very current trend, but a longer term one has been the trend for the use of clear and colored transparent plastic for household objects and furniture. Think of the chairs from Philippe Starck, Karim Rashid, or Patricia Urquiola’s coffee tables. “Ciba has a whole host of solutions for transparent applications,” says Nicole, “including clarifying agents and transparent colorants.” This was highlighted with Ciba’s “official” giveaway for the K 2007 show: the very popular and award-winning “Elvis” tape dispenser, designed by Serge Atallah and made by Koziol, in bright, transparent orange, red and blue. [Sorry, folks, they were so sought-after we have none left!] Why Elvis? “Elvis is made of acrylic and available in several transparent shades. He’s a nice way to show that plastic is a great material for objects that rock,” says Nicole. “Transparency Rocks, Color Adds Soul,” was our slogan.
Video: innovative light interacting pigments
Over to the side, there stood an ominous looking column with a small window through which one could look into the dark interior to see a play of moving, colored brushes, tracing a double-helical path illustrating the innovative use of light interacting pigments in plastics applications. “Another way to show our wide world of effects,” says Nicole. “Ciba offers a whole host of solutions for the plastics industry!”
A whole host of solutions for the plastics industry
Download the brochures from our Download page!