Ciba Inc.
Klybeckstrasse 141, P.O. Box
Basel
4002
Switzerland
Tel.: +41 61 636 49 16
Fax.:
+41 61 636 25 59
Ciba at the European Coatings Show 2009
Reviews
By Le Vin Chin
There’s only so much you can grasp from pictures. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then having a physical object in front of you is probably worth a thousand pictures. That’s why we were so thrilled to have some spectacular installations on our stand at the latest European Coatings Show, designed by our very own design team, to show off some of the newest visual surface effects from Ciba’s research and development activities.
Thank you for stopping by to see our stand and to have a chat with us about coatings and our wide range of offers and support for surface stylings! For the benefit of those who couldn’t attend though, here’s a quick virtual tour …
Bikes and boards
Fixed-Gear Bikes
Surfboards
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We often get asked how we do our color trend research. Part of the answer involves researching trends where they emerge, which is often among urban subcultures, which incubate new visual cues to create their own “image”, “branding” and “differentiation” from the mainstream. Subcultures such as those of fixed-gear biking, surfing and skateboarding still offer enough latitude for individualization to show through in the decoration of boards and bikes and it is here that our researchers have found the clearest inspiration for the colors and effects that will eventually percolate into the mainstream a few years later. Therefore, we found it fitting that the installations created by our designers involved surfboards and bikes decorated with our trend color and effect stylings.
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 This surfboard displayed a secret shimmer only visible from a specific vantage point - made possible with Ciba® XYMARA Nordic™ Heather |
The “Effect Tunnel”
Mobile phone stylings
The “Effect Tunnel” was completely refurbished after 100% Design and now contains many of our latest color and effect materials – including many not yet commercialized that we were so excited about we had to put them on show!
The entrance of the "Effect Tunnel"
Ciba® XYMARA Nordic™ effects
"A sustained and soothing satiny shimmer for decorative industrial and architectural coatings, with revolutionary new pigment technology courtesy of Ciba!" The effects on this wall were based on new materials not yet launched, offering brand new effects.
Novel effects for inks and printing applications, including sparkle and non-metallic metallic effects not yet launched!
Effects for wood surfaces
The exit of the "Effect Tunnel"
Prominent in the “Effect Tunnel” was our preview of Color Trend Vision 2010-2011 with sixteen new trend stylings too explosive to keep under wraps.
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 A quick sampling of some of the previewed trend stylings from Color Trend Vision 2010-2011 |
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 Among the Color Trend Vision preview stylings were a few based on carbon fiber weave patterns - a key surface effect trend prediction - made possible with the launch of Ciba® XYMARA™ CarboProtect™ |
Media Coverage
We were proud and pleased to find our mood image for Ciba® XYMARA Nordic™ Heather used on the cover of the Polymers Paint Colour Journal (PPCJ)’s ECS edition.
We were also featured prominently in every edition of the event’s daily newspaper, with a major feature on the front page of Thursday's issue.
Although the ECS is not a design oriented show, I walked around to find out what the exhibitors (raw materials and equipment suppliers for the coatings, printing, adhesives and sealants industries) are doing to support the work of designers. Find out what I found out in our review of the ECS, coming soon!