3form - A Material Makes Your Design Shine

 

Recently, Ricky So, General Manager of 3form Asia has accepted the interview by one of the Chinese renowned media, Sohu.com, and provided his answers to the questions above. This is also the first time 3form directly communicated with the Chinese customers via the media platform. Let us take a look at the brilliant talk between Ricky and Sohu.

 

Interviewee: Ricky So, General Manager of 3form Asia

Date: November 24, 2011

Venue: SOHU Studio

Journalist: Liu Li Na

 

Few consumers know very well about decorative material industry, even though they are surrounded by buildingsand interior decorations that use various forms of decorative materials.Through utilizations by designers, these decorative materials play the role of beautifying oursurroundings. Recently, General Manager of 3form Asia, Ricky So, accepted the interview in our SOHU Studio. He spoke on the material properties,the collaboration with Architecture and Interior Design, as well as 3form’s development prospect in China Mainland market.

 Aesthetics is 3form's Principal Concern

[Journalist]

First of all, welcome our guest today, Mr. Ricky So, the General Manager of 3form Asia.Welcome you to SOHU Studio. Mr.Su. I know 3form mainly produces decorative materials for interiors. Some general consumers, however, may not be familiar with the brand. Would you like to begin with a brief history of 3form?

[Ricky So]

First, I’d like to thank SOHU for providing me this opportunity to introduce 3form brand to customers via SOHU studio. 3form brand was founded in Salt Lake City, Utah State of United States. It is a brand focus on the Research and Development of eco-friendly and translucent resin materials. 3form materials was commercialized in Architecture and Design industry and promoted in North America market in 2002.The feedback from the market was really good; designers liked this new resin material very much. The 3form product itself has very good translucent effect,and the resin material is eco-friendly. The designers were very satisfied with the materials as they could be more creative, and the material supplied them with even more different possibilities. Since 2002, 3form has maintained a steady and fast growth rate, and it enjoys a great brand recognition and brand favorite in the North American interior design and architecture industries. In 2007, the 3form brand was acquired by the Hunter Douglas Group from the Netherlands; with utilization of the group’s resources and distribution channels, 3form products were introduced to Europe, Middle East, South America,Asia and other key markets to satisfy the demand for 3form products in those areas. In 2009, 3form was listed the Top 5 in a brand report “Most Inspiring Company” initiated by Contract Magazine (an interior design magazine of AC Nielson Group), and together with other distinguished commercial interior giants likeKnoll, Herman Millerand Steelcase. 3form products are mainly used indoors, but they can also be used outdoors such as Music Box KTV Projectin Beijing Ritan, where the entire red exterior wall used our product Varia. Varia's striking translucence was matched by the LED lights inside, accentuating the facade of Music Box KTV among the colorful lights of the street, and capturing the breath of everyone when lighted up.

 

[Journalist] Besides the break through aesthetic performance that you mentioned just now, does the 3form material have other advantages in terms of function and environmental protection?

[Ricky So] Aesthetics is the most fundamental and most important aspect of 3form; functionality comes next. 3form materials can be used on the ceiling, wall, counter top, door, partitionand even the exterior wall; their many functions depend on the determined use by the designers. As for environmental aspect, 3form itself is an eco-friendly brand; since its foundation, sustainability has been at the core of the 3form corporate culture. Most 3form products contain relatively high level of recycled content which is ranging from 25% to 100%. By using 3form products, we can help our customers get LEED (Leadership in Energyand Environmental Design) credits (LEED is an ecology-oriented building certification program run under the auspices of the U.S. Green Building Council). 

Other than this, 3form has a Reclaim Program in the United States. If a customer needs to replace his 3form products after using those for a period of time, they can send the 3form panels back to our factory and we will donate those panels to charitable organizations such as orphanages andnursing homes. In this way, we can stop the materials going into waste stream, which will reduce the burden to the environment and the earth. For the moment, we don’t have this system in Asia, but we are working hard along this direction and we believe we will be able to set up this Reclaim Program in the coming future.

One further point, our production process is also very eco-friendly. There is not any emission of exhaust gas and effluent, so there is almost not any pollution to the environment.

 

[Journalist] In other words, does it mean that 3form can be used a lot in home living?

[Ricky So] Yes, and with very intimate inter-relationships between them. 3form materials are very versatile and they can meet the ever-changing demands of designers and users. You can find a lot good applications of 3form materials, from the ceiling, sliding doors and partitions, to the furniture facing, cabinet doors, table tops and more. One more importantpoint, as an interior decorative building material, 3form products have very low VOCs, that is to say there are not too much Volatile Organic Compounds in them, they are not harmful to the human beings.

 

‘Being Different’ is our first competitiveness

 

[Journalist] The head office of 3form is in the United States, people living there use more 3form than people in other place. As General Manager of 3form Asia, can you please tell us the scope of 3form utilization in Asia, and whether you will make changes to the products to adapt the Asian way of life?

[Ricky So] Just now I mentioned that 3form was acquired by Hunter Douglas Group in 2007. After the takeover, we expanded our business scale to markets outsideof North America. We moved into the European, Middle Eastern, South Americanmarkets and, more importantly, our customers in Asia can use our products as well. So at present, besides the original factory in SaltLake City in the United States, we also havefactoriesin the Netherlands of Europe, in Chileof SouthAmerica, and in GuangzhouofChina. Our Guangzhou factory mainly supplies the Asia and the Oceania. And it has been almostfive years since its operation in 2007. The countries and area in Asia that we cover include China Mainland, Hong Kong andMacao, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, India, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines,Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and others. We grew rapidly in China in the lastfew years; we have had some good cases likehotels, shopping malls, recreation centers, bars, high-class restaurants,high-end offices and private clubs in the big cities like Beijing, Shanghai,Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Nanjing and Tianjin.

3form products are very versatile. They are able to meet the design and utilization demands of designers and users. For this reason, we do not need to made any special changes and adjustmentswhen we brought 3form from the United States to the Asia markets as we believethey will adapt very well to conditions in this region. In fact, we have seen some very good local cases keep coming.

 

[Journalist] The competition in the market of decorativebuilding materials in China is quite fierce. How does 3form find and hold its foothold in China? Whatis 3form’score competitiveness? Does 3form have any patent? And how does 3form develop its sales channels?

[Ricky So] Our salespositioning is for theprojects whichrequire translucent materials to add aesthetics the space. This positioning is different from the traditional materials which competeon price. Some people may say that 3form products can be substituted with thetraditional materials, but these traditional materials are not able to satisfythe expectations of proprietors. Moreover, our customized products make theirdesigns unique.Our target customers pay more attention to making their designs excellent anddifferent from others.

 

[Journalist] So the targetcustomers of 3form products are people who pursue quality in life?

[Ricky So] Yes, people whodemand quality together with aesthetics. Of course they place importance onfunctionality as well, but this requirement is secondary. In terms offunctionality, traditional materials may be able to meet their requirements,such as wood or steel, which can be used to make a table. But our products are able to give them a totallydifferent effect - imagine what a translucent table would look like. Our positioning is very clear:people who pursue aesthetics and quality are our target customers.

 

[Journalist] Earlier youmentioned 3form products are eco-friendly and you have a Reclaim Program. But there is no such aprogram in China. Why?

[Ricky So] We are still at thepreparatory stage. The Reclaim Program requires excellent channel and resourcesupport, as well as publicity and education; we estimate we will reach thatlevel in two to three years’ time. We will definitely place great importance onenvironmental protection.

 

[Journalist] So what is yoursales target in the short term? What is your market share at the moment?

[Ricky So] At present wealready have access in ten over cities. At this speed, expansion into 30 to 50cities in the next five years looks possible. Extending our reach to differenttowns will depend on the development of our country, and on the overall economic situation,and we will have to see at what rate we are able to reach. Sometimes, it’s notjust about providing products and solutions; what is more important is providing the service.After we sold a product to a customer, the really important link in the wholeprocess is the after-sales service - how well we install the projectwith our products, and how we make theproject aesthetically pleasing. If a customer buys our products and the outcomeafter the installation is not done well or when they are not pleased with whatthey see, then we have to be responsible for the work. We see this as veryimportant, and in this segment of development, we will definitely providesupport in all aspects; the big picture will move in tandem with what happensinternally.

 

Localization Development of 3form products

[Journalist]Must the localization of 3form in China take place?

[Ricky So] China and the UnitedStates have different cultures. It may be that in the past 10 years, interiordesign trends in China have been greatly influenced by American designers, soyou find a very high level of acceptance for 3form products here; one look andthey fall in love with them. At the same time, as our local designers have more and more say in the interiordesigns, they will develop a design trend with more and moreChinese flavors. And this is what I believewill happen. We can’t forcefully bring in American designs wholesale. What wecan do is to bring in American designs to give everyone a feel, and then allowthe local interior designers to develop China's style of interior design orproduct designs, and hopefully they will remember our products when they do so.And we hope our products can help the Chinese interior designers realize their dreams.

 

[Journalist] Other than theUnited States and China, what are the key development regions of 3form?

[Ricky So] Besides China,Tokyo-Japan is also aleading city in design and we have always been doing some projects in Tokyo.Other than these, we have projects in other major cities in Asia. Hong Kong andSingapore are leading cities in terms of design and they are very important tous, andIndia is a country that we can’t ignore. What India likes is distinctlydifferent from what we see and like in the domestic scene; therefore, in thisrespect, what 3form provides them is the same 3form materials, but they canhave their own methods of expression and such expressions are seen in their owndesigns. However, other materials can only express in the same way.

 

[Journalist] Different places have different level of localizations, is thatwhat you mean?

[Ricky So] Absolutely, and notjust in Asia. We make similar efforts in major European cities. The US isdefinitely our present key market; the growth there is very fast, in fact ithas never stopped. If you were to ask me which city has 3form, I would, instead, find it hard to replywhich citydoesnot have 3form.

 

[Journalist] I personally feelthere is an intimate relationship between 3form products and light, design andthe feeling of translucence. How does this integrate into Chinese home living,and what are the areas it can integrate?

[Ricky So] Actually, there canbe a lot of integration. We have come across different designs that have adistinctive Chinese style, especially since our products allow images anddrawings to be encapsulated with translucency. Any design with a Chinese flavor, if it can be transferred into an image, we are able to encapsulate it into our products;in addition, plants and objects with a feeling of depth or colors such as theChinese Red— we have tens of thousands of colors to choose from, some of which are red —which can be integrated together with Chinese culture. On this subject, justgive it some time - in fact, we are not stopping at today - we hope thatChinese designers will allow us to take part in their continuous developmentand help us realize the complementary role that 3form products can play in thejourney of design development in China.

Nanjing Shun Feng Hotel project uses 3form Variacolor cloth series for its Manchu Windows

 

 

[Journalist]Thank you, Mr. Su, for being here with us at this interview.

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