I work in business devleopment at a small industrial design firm. We are attempting to build a better resource library of materials, textiles, process examples etc, and was hoping someone had some advice for us. What is the best way to build this, and continue to keep as up to date as possible on all the latest options out there for our designers? Are there any good online resources, or should I be contacting manufacturers/suppliers directly to ask for samples? I feel we are relying too much on seeing new products in stores, and need to do a better job of anticipating what materials and processess will be popular next. Thanks.
I came across a book called Material ConneXion and they have a website by the same name.
The book and the website is fairly new and i believe it contains a libray with information on many many materials. There is a physical library and i think i read somewhere that they can mail samples to you, although i’m not too sure about that.
The site and the idea looks very comprehensive.
Balmoral:
I work for Material ConneXion (Materials Specialist), and it sounds like you’d really benefit from a membership here. They start at $450 for the year and give you unlimited access to our online database and physical libraries… Are you in New York? If so, send me a message if you want to come by for a tour.
I’m from Material ConneXion… we can set up a custom library at your company (in addition to having access to our library of new materials). You can contact me at: consulting@materialconnexion.com.
I look forward to your email.
S. Glass
http://www.cmog.org/index.asp?pageId=802
Corning museum has a full time librarian on staff for glass questions. They are not volunteering their full engineering house, but I bet they can direct a person in the right direction.