London, where everything is possible

“I got to know Clerkenwell Design Week when I was an architect. I remember it as being imaginative, fun, inspiring and very different from a lot of exhibitions that I used to visit,” recounts Charles Lombard of Texaa. “And this is exactly the reason why we take part. Everything is atypical: exhibits are installed outside on roundabouts, pavements and in parks. Places that people pass through in a neighbourhood with a long artistic history, and a large number of architects’ practices, showrooms, etc. A setting that forces every exhibitor to face the challenge of being inventive to become an active participant in the event. To say something different about themselves, about their expertise, or at least to say it in a different way. For us at Texaa, it’s also a fun way outside our usual working environment to pursue our daily inquiry around how we can meet architects’ needs increasingly better, and how the work we do on materials and colours can enrich our proposals that contribute to the continuous improvement of quality architecture. Clerkenwell is also an opportunity to meet less formally with a different perspective on our various projects. It’s a way to challenge our product range, to fire up our imagination and to try to inspire designers as much as they inspire and surprise us.” So this is both a creative and technical challenge where products are experienced rather than just seen, which we address each time in close partnership with the designers of iwoodlove.

Acoustics

Managing acoustics is a sensitive art. It is embodied in materials including our Aeria fabric, which covers all Texaa products. These materials take shape in the form of panels, curtains or Vibrasto cladding, and combinations of these. It is an art which appeals to all the senses: touch, sight through the colours of the range, the way light plays on the pleats of our curtains and drapes, etc. and of course our hearing. The way sound is managed affects our life, and thus contributes to the architectural quality of a space. “When you walk through unfurnished space, the sound echoes, bounces about,” explains designer Guillaume Martin, the founder of iwoodlove. “It can quickly become uncomfortable. If you correct the acoustics properly, it completely changes the atmosphere. Sounds don’t echo back, a space becomes hushed, and you suddenly want to speak more quietly. If you add the softness of the fabric and the colours, the experience becomes really surprising and memorable. At Clerkenwell, you’re outside. The acoustics are strange, so in this setting how can we enable our visitors to experience this atmosphere?” How can they experience it as they move around, in a unique way, both conceptually and in the way we use materials?

A(rt)coustics

In preceding exhibitions, we designed an acoustic tunnel to walk through, then an exhibit installed on a roundabout. This one had curtains and drapes in lively colours, with different transparencies, which visitors could open and close to continuously change the contours of the space. “We had sun then rain, even just the time of day created different effects, which were sometimes surprising,” continues Charles Lombard. “And this approach contributed to one of our recent reflections around flow, modular volumes and partitioning of sub-spaces, which is an important challenge in architecture. This year we wanted to enrich this experience by bringing sound management back into the equation, and by introducing an extra constraint, that of reusing part or all of the structure, in line with all the processes we are putting in place in Texaa to reuse products.” Hence the mysterious acoustic surround hanging in the centre of the exhibit for visitors to position their heads in, alone or together, after wandering through a small maze, made of light and moving materials, with a number of entry points that contrast sheer and opaque fabrics, while displaying the new colours in our range. See you in London!

Clerkenwell Design Week 2025
2-7 Clerkenwell Green
LONDON EC1R ODE