Design Principals: Andrew Holder, Tim Gorter
Type: Design Study
Year: 2006

The Texturologies series examines how technologies of mass customization might change the act of redecorating.  Computer controlled fabrication technologies allow designers to efficiently produce highly unique and specific design products, a process that has been termed "mass customization" in opposition to "mass standardization" by which technologies seek to find economies through repetition.

Conventional redecoration of a room uses tile and wall treatments to alter color and "style."  The sensual properties of these materials, however, are limited by technologies of mass production that regulate the degree of texture, the application of color, and shape of relief from the wall. In this sense, while the style of a room may appear to change from Tudor to French Country, the sensual qualities of a space that can be seen, touched, and heard are only subtly altered. In each texturology experiment, CNC milling technology was used to produce a fiberglass panels and porcelain tiles that could be used in place of conventional wall and floor materials to load decoration with sensual effects and more radically alter the character of the space in which they are installed.