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With the 75-years of Lucite® anniversary to celebrate and an ambitious
marketing campaign to help leverage the excitement around our
coveted brand as it reaches this important milestone, 2011 has been
an incredible year so far for the Lucite International Inc (LI) team.
From the LuciteLux® Carry Me! Handbag Design Competition, which
kicked off the programme last year, to an amazing winners event and
month-long exhibition of Lucite Past, Present and Future in New York
City there is a lot to be very pleased and proud about. Chris Robinson
and Lenore Torres share the story of customers and colleagues old and
new, the media, design community and fabrication partners coming
together to celebrate Lucite.
The invitation press release began: ‘Award-winning
designer, Alexis Bittar, celebrates Lucite’s 75th anniversary … wizard
of Lucite hosts intimate design discussion and showcases new collection
…’ And as it landed on the desks of design,
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fashion and interiors editors across the USA,
there must have been a few wry smiles and raised
eyebrows. Could Bittar, the world-renowned, Lucite
devotee jewellery designer, famous for his A-list
clients, including Lady Gaga, Michelle Obama and
Madonna really be working with a product with
all that history? The wires were soon buzzing with
interest and the stage was set for a fantastic event.
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“We’re very big fans of Lucite! We have an
upcoming project on layering, and I know
Lucite is involved in that and part of why
I’m here is to have that conversation.”
Ron Labaco
Curator at the Museum of Arts and Design, NY |
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Lenore explains: “We knew we had to get our
exhibition of the winning concepts from Carry Me!
to New York City (NYC), because that’s where the
heart of the design community is in the US. We
thought back over Lucite’s rich past and came up
with the idea of returning to Material ConneXion,
an innovative materials library that we worked
with in the late 90s as part of a previous brand
campaign.
With the help of our PR partner, Rose
Communications, we came up with the concept to
celebrate the past, present and future of designing
with Lucite®. Representing the past we showcased
vintage handbags from the private collection of
Janice Berkson (author of Carry Me! and owner
of Deco Jewels, Soho, NYC). The present was
brought to life by product displays, celebrating
the winning design concepts from the Carry Me! Competition and through the work of Alexis Bittar;
having him as our VIP guest was truly an honour.
In terms of future – we used our brand proposition
‘Just Imagine’, developed by Duo Design and
Marketing in the UK, to showcase products that
would inspire future possibilities. We also invited
our fabrication partners along to show off some of
the more creative opportunities that are possible
with our materials.”
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“It’s nice to see this interesting material, all of
the applications, and letting it be known during
NYC Design Week. Material ConneXion is a
wonderful materials library at the intersection
of architecture, interior design and fashion, so
we see lot of interesting people coming through.
We have worked with Lucite for years and it’s
another chance to showcase it in New York.”
William Smolen
Material ConneXion
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The design discussion, held in the morning, was
led by Alexis Bittar, the 2010 Council of Fashion
Designers of America Accessory Designer of the
Year. In his address to LI’s guests, Alexis said:
“I enjoy making my visions come to life through
the use of Lucite. My passion for the material
is no secret. All my boutiques feature earrings,
necklaces, bracelets, rings and pins crafted from
the versatile product.”
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Special note: Thank you to all LI partners who joined
together to make the Lucite 75 year celebrations such
a resounding success.
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