New Balance and ALU Designs.
Our Aged Aluminums look like weathered steel and are easier to fabricate.
Our ALU designs, #352 Alu Light, #353 Alu Medium and #354 Alu Dark are popular aged aluminum designs that emulate the look of weathered or blackened steel. To make, mill aluminum sheets are dipped in a darkening solution and then brushed by hand grinder to create a gentle, even sublime, linear variation. Besides a great aesthetic, these sheets of thin aluminum are lighter and easier to fabricate than steel, which can make the installation lighter as well as easier and less expensive to create. Aluminum is a soft metal and, especially when it’s thin, can be cut and fabricated with traditional woodworking equipment, with minor modifcations.
Read about how Chemetal made custom ALU panels for workstations in the New Balance headquarters in Boston. It shows how Chemetal can tweak a standard product to meet designer and furniture specifications.
The idea for Chemetal’s ALU designs sprang forth from our Factory designs, #349 Factory and #350 Factory Dark, earlier aged metal designs, still in production, that echoed the look and patterning of old factory doors. Produced using similar techniques, Factory is a great material for spaces highlighting a reclaimed look, or in modern design projects that seek an industrial accent.
