Finding Design Happiness Thru Digital Design

Is it possible to find design happiness thru digital design? On the surface, the answer may appear to be “No, it’s too impersonal. It’s too much like paint by number. Point and click”. On the other hand, digital design’s ability to customize and it’s capacity to let you see before you buy, offers you the opportunity to attain design happiness.

FINDING DESIGN HAPPINESS WITH ARTAIC

Speaking of digital design, if you’re not familiar with Artaic, you should be. They are a Boston based company who, thru their “design and use of sophisticated design software and innovative robotic mosaic assembly systems, has brought the ancient art of mosaic into the modern age.” Translation? Artaic can design and create a custom mosaic out of pretty much anything – a photograph, sketch, geometric pattern, etc. And they can manipulate the colors of the design.

We are currently working on two projects with Artaic that illustrate opposite ends of their capabilities. The first is a custom mosaic tile mural for three walls in a steam shower. The original artwork was a small Japanese block print that had special meaning to the home owner. The final design required stretching/reworking the original artwork, enabling it to wrap around the entire steam shower and careful selection of 3/8″ mosaic tile, capturing the subtle gradations of color in the Japanese print.

The second project is much simpler. We modified Artaic’s Waterflow offering to fit a portion of a wall in a tub/shower surround in a bathroom renovation we designed for a Boston area client.

FInding Design happiness with Zoe Design and Artaic

The custom digital design capabilities of Boston based Zoe Design and Artaic were the primary reason for Sally’s and my decision to work with them when we designed our Monet inspired bathroom for DXV’s 2018 DXV Design Panel. Their digital design capabilities gave us complete control over the final outcome/output of the water lily mural and mosaic in the bathroom. Additionally,  we liked the notion that we were working in “pixels”, little dots of color, much like an Impressionist painter.  

The original Water Lily mural for the bathroom was hand painted by artists Lena and Brooke of Zoe Design.  Doug, their computer wizard, digitally photographed the mural and transferred the file to their computer. Our design did not require any color editing, but it needed to be scaled and digitally printed to fit each mural panel in the bathroom.

The Artaic mosaic lily was CAD designed and produced robotically to fit the dimensions of the shower wall.

“Why are you telling me all of this?” you ask. Because once the designs are in the computer, they are completely customizable – both in terms of color and scale! You can do pretty much anything for any room in your home.

Finding Design happiness: SAME MURAL, SMALLER SCALE

Last winter a client from Philadelphia asked us to adapt the Monet inspired bathroom to a small powder room in their home. Working long distance with the client and their contractor, we produced a full set of construction drawings and Zoe Design scaled the mural to fit the panels in the powder room. 

Et Voila!!!

Frankly, we were thrilled with the outcome. But the literal interpretation of the Monet inspired  bathroom got me thinking. I’ll bet most people who see our DXV Design Panel bathroom, whether it’s on our website, DXV’s website or in an ad, are completely unaware the mural and mosaic are completely customizable. 

YOU CAN HAVE IT YOUR WAY

Well friends, that’s about to change. Fasten your seatbelts and enjoy the ride.

Using our Monet inspired bathroom as an example, let’s say you don’t like the intensity of the color scheme we used. It’s just too over the top for you. But, you like the overall design, especially if the color scheme were less intense. Knowing the lily pad mural is in Zoe Design’s computer and the mosaic wall and floor are in Artaic’s computer, let’s explore the possibilities.

Perhaps, you might prefer one of the three paint colors we considered as we were developing our design for DXV.

Benjamin Moore #703, Catalina Blue – a soft French sea foamy greenish gray

Benjamin Moore #CSP-670, Silken Blue – a soft French blue gray

Benjamin Moore #HC-172, Revere Pewter – a soft French grisaille gray

What might the mural and lily pad mosaic have looked like based on these paint colors? 

One option might be to desaturate all the colors, making them less intense. Could the Zoe Design mural go in other rooms, perhaps? The dining room or living room? I can visualize the Artaic mosaic in a foyer or private elevator or as a repeated pattern in a swimming pool.

Another possibility might be to selectively play with a blue filter…

Or fiddle with the color of the water and lily pads. In this case, the dark water reflections and lily pads have been altered.

What if the overall effect were sketchier, letting your eye fill in the gaps.

Finally, for the grisaille lover…

Et voila! Design happiness.

The take away…

The beauty of digital design is you’re not stuck with a one size fits all solution. An entirely new design can be created based on a new paint color or your own sense of style for many different rooms is our home.

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If Sally and I can help you with any aspect of the design of your home, please don’t hesitate to contact us via the contact form on our website, here:

www.wilsonkelseydesign.com/contact

Or, if you’re not sure if you need to hire an interior designer, please give us a call. We’d be happy to chat.

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Thank you for reading our blog, Design Cognoscenti. We appreciate you!