Dear ###USER_name###,
Welcome to the fourth Material Explorer newsletter. This issue is mostly focussed on the latest additions to the Material Explorer search engine. Materia's material scouts have worked very hard this summer to double the number of materials inserted in Material Explorer. This issue also includes details of the latest dates and locations for our Material Skills exhibition and some information on biomimicry, or is it animimicry?
For inspiration, information and amusement, read on …
Els Zijlstra
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Latest additions
The Material Explorer has been updated with new materials. We will be publishing new additions every week. You can see them here. Below a small selection of the latest additions:
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 Cristalan | |  IMS | |  Metal Meshes | |  Acilux | |  Suwide Capricio |
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 Proud Plastics | |  Technodeco | |  Foamglas | |  Cristalite | |  Trosifol |
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 Perclax | |  SmartSlab | |  Glass Beads | |  Polynova | |  Seemee |
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 Expanded Meshes | |  Terrament | |  Tubus Honeycomb | |  Liscio | |  Daylight Panels |
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Materia WebShop
Every now and then a new material is added to the exhibition Material Skills. Of course, these new materials can not be added to the accompanying book Material Skills, because that has already been printed. That's why we have incorporated these extra pages as a downloadable PDF-document on the Material Skills website. The downloads are free and no registration is required.
The many requests for our latest book ‘Material Skills, evolution of materials’ have led us to open our own Materia WebShop, where you can order online and pay by credit card. All orders are processed automatically and shipped by our distributor. If you have not yet ordered your own copy of "Material Skills, evolution of materials", go to our WebShop and order now!
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In the spotlight!
Every month we select a material for its interesting sensory or technical properties, or simply because we like it. This month's material is SmartSlab, produced by SmartSlab Ltd. SmartSlab is a digital video display for walls, floors, billboards and buildings. The patented SmartSlab technology combines aerospace composite materials with design inspired from nature. The honeycomb structure creates a strong and slim tile enabling it to be used directly as a building component for interior or exterior walls, ceilings or floors. Inspired by the naturally efficient optics of the fly's eye, the display uses hexagonal pixels (hexels) to effect a perceived image of 18% finer resolution than a regular square pixel. The hexels consist of red, blue and ..... Read on >>
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 SmartSlab in action | |  The inspiration for SmartSlab |
Click here to see the full material details.
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Check this out!
Always on the lookout for new materials and new uses of materials we sometimes find projects we wouldn´t like to deny you...
We've all heard of biomimicry or biomechanics, from the Greek word "bios" - pronounced "vios" - which means life, and the word mechanics. Biomechanics can be described as the application of methods and systems found in nature to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology. This technology transfer is desirable because evolutionary pressure typically forces natural systems to become highly optimized and efficient. A classical example is the development of dirt- and water-repellent paint (coating) from the observation that the surface of the lotus flower plant is practically unsticky for anything (lotus effect). This causes drops to travel down a leave under the influence of the slightest incline. The drops collect dirt from the surface of the lotus leaf while they're moving, resulting in a clean surface of the leave and maximum sunlight.
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 Close-up of Lotus leave + waterdrop | |  Lotus Effect on coated wood |
Another example is Gecko-tape. Designed by scientists at Manchester University, this tape is an extraordinary, re-attachable dry adhesive that's based on the ability of geckos to cling to walls and ceilings. The gecko's secret is millions of microscopic hairs on the pads of its feet. Each hair, or seta, provides a miniscule adhesive force called a Van der Waals force, which operates over very small distances but bonds to just about anything. The combined adhesion of millions of these setae provides a sticking force many times greater than the gecko needs to hang from a ceiling even by one foot.
Gecko tape mimics the tiny hairs on the gecko's feet, with billions of tiny plastic fibres, each less than a micrometer in diameter. These flexible fibres are attached to a soft, pliable backing. Expect the gecko-tape in your local hardware store in around three to five years.
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 Gecko on a leaf | |  Close-up of Gecko's foot |
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 Gecko Tape under microscope | |  Gecko Tape and Spiderman |
Biomimicry is one thing, but we would also like to show you some examples of what we tend to call animimicry, using characteristics of animals in architecture or design. This can be done in an abstract way, or a bit more literally, as shown below:
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 BullDog Cafe | |  Duck House |
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 The Elephant | |  Mother Goose Cafe |
More information:
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Locations Material Skills exhibition
To see the latest innovative and inspiring materials in the flesh, visit our international travelling Material Skills exhibition. The current programme is given below. The programme is constantly being updated, so check our website regularly to see when Material Skills is coming to a location near you.
BIS-fair Designweek Kortrijk Batimat 2005
Gent, Belgium Kortrijk, Belgium Paris, France
8 - 16 October 2005 October 2005 7 - 12 November 2005
Frankfurt, Germany Stockholm, Sweden
10 - 11 November 24 - 27 January 2006
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A final word...
As you know, Materia is constantly on the lookout for materials with special sensorial or technical properties, or used in a special way. If you have suggestions or tips for new materials or materials uses, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@materia.nl. We will happily credit you by publishing your name on our website.
We hope to hear from you soon!
