The story of an innovation

Like with previous innovations, Texaa developed these curtains in response to requests from designers. This kind of committed dialogue and the necessary iterations to find the right solution, have always enabled Texaa to add major innovations to its range, which have sometimes brought change to the whole market (see timeline below). Texaa’s guiding principle is to innovate and thereby give architects the greatest design freedom possible.

More and more architects want to specify curtains to enable users to partition off smaller areas inside large ones. These curtains also need to contribute comfort, especially with regard to ambient noise. Texaa has focussed on this for ten years.

Texaa made its first acoustic curtain in 2011 for the Coulisses expo celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Frac Aquitaine Contemporary Art Foundation. In those days, it was just a sound-absorbing curtain, not a soundproofing one. It was invented in response to a request by the artist and architect Olivier Vadrot, who had been asked to design a system for displaying art works. He wanted to organise smaller areas around the works to create a sense of privacy. To achieve this, Texaa developed a product as only it knows how, by positioning sound-absorbing material behind its always elegant, knitted fabric that is sound-transparent and run-resistant. 

At that time, the curtains served as partitions that also had acoustic properties, serving to reduce sound reverberation inside the volume. The solution from this piece of applied research could have  been one off, but in fact it resulted in a new product that became part of the Texaa range, because it provided an answer for designers’ real needs. Over recent years, these curtains have been modified to improve their performance. They consist of two lengths of sound-absorbing felt wadding with an Aeria cover. This sound-absorbing version of the product remains of course part of the Texaa range.

Today, the new soundproofing acoustic curtain made of six thicknesses of microporous film, extends Texaa’s product range to include a solution that reduces the passage of sound from one side to the other. Like its cousin, it increases comfort inside a volume by reducing sound reverberation, but it also reduces the transmission of sound to neighbouring areas. A series of tests carried out by Texaa’s internal R&D team, backed up by discussions with visitors at the exhibition previews in Paris and Berlin, and final measurements performed in a certified laboratory, has led to what appears to be an optimal compromise: a ready-to-hang curtain that can be drawn almost as easily as a net curtain, which offers a sound reduction index of 10 dB. This is what acousticians generally refer to as “halving the noise experienced”, which is of course a significant improvement in comfort. 

Join us in January, when we will announce the technical specifications along with all safety and environmental characteristics.

Texaa’s product range was built through a succession of innovations

1979
Using a run-resistant fabric, originally designed to make shoes and bags, which also happened to be sound-transparent, Texaa creates a range of flexible cladding that offers new acoustic solutions for architects. 

1983
First European patent for vertical slat blinds, designed to tackle sound reverberation in spaces with glazed surfaces.

1986
Texaa pioneers the technique of controlling sound reverberation with isolated objects by placing its sound-absorbing panels in the volume. The method has since become a mainstay in architecture.

1995
Floating clusters of acoustic panels are used.

1998
A range of light accessories easy to install is launched, consisting of Cones, Cubes and Totems.

2012
Following an innovation for the Coulisses exhibition at the Frac Aquitaine Contemporary Art Foundation, single- and double-sided sound-absorbing acoustic curtains are included in the Texaa range.

2015
Based on research carried out by the acoustic engineering branch of Peutz Group, Texaa develops a larger stitch pattern for a project by Renzo Piano in Turin. This is eventually used to create a new open-mesh ceiling system, Strato.

2018
The legacy Vibrasto acoustic cladding’s makeup and installation system is completely revised to improve its environmental footprint.

2019
The new version of Texaa’s slat blinds is protected with an international patent. It eliminates 96% of all light; furthermore 90% of its sound-absorbing material is recycled and manufactured in France. 

2021
New progress in the use of biosourced materials with products covered with a knitted linen version of the Aeria fabric, and the new Kora screens, partly made of local timber.