08.01.16 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS Momentum Group Acquires Sina Pearson Textiles The Momentum Group has long enjoyed a stellar reputation for its operational excellence and dedication to sustainability. In recent years it has been steadily upping its game in the design end of the contract textile space through collaboration with extremely talented designers. Today the Momentum Group announces it has acquired Sina Pearson Textiles and will operate it as its fourth brand alongside Momentum Textiles, Loomsource and Textus. FULL STORY ON PAGE 3 Better Signage, Better Cities Good signage is critical to doing good business. Signage can positively or negatively affect a city s appeal, consumer and visitor behaviors, and overall local branding and ambience. Joshua Zinder, founding principal of Princeton, NJ-based architectural and design firm JZA+D, shares his insights about signage challenges and the solutions architects and designers can use to create effective signage designs. FULL STORY ON PAGE 9 CITED: OUR LIVES ARE DEFINED BY OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN THE ONES WE MISS. BENJAMIN BUTTON, IN THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON Concurrents Environmental Psychology: Green is Good for the Planet And The health of our planet is clearly important but there are reasons other than the earth s wellbeing to build and work green. Allen, MacNaughton, Satish, Santanam, Vallarino and Spengler (results published in Environmental Health Perspectives), studied people who worked in a green environment and found that their higher order cognitive function was enhanced there. FULL STORY ON PAGE 16
08.01.16 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 3 OF 32 Momentum Group Acquires Sina Pearson Textiles By Bob Beck Momentum Group continues to build Momentum as today it announces its acquisition of Sina Pearson Textiles, which it will operate as its fourth brand along with Momentum Textiles, Loom- Source, and Textus. The Momentum Group has long enjoyed a stellar reputation for its operational excellence and dedication to sustainability. In recent years it has been steadily upping its game in the design end of the contract textile space through collaboration with extremely talented designers Sheila Hicks, Hazel Siegel and Carl Magnusson and Emanuela Frattini Magnusson to name a few. Emanuela Magnusson says, Working with the design team at Momentum is a joy. They are wonderful to work with extremely respectful of our design intent and interested in our process and in bringing their knowledge to bear in areas of sustainability and manufacturing. Thus it seems the acquisition of Sina Pearson Textiles fits extraordinarily well with the strategic direction of the Momentum Group. And selling her company at this stage in her career seems a well-earned reward for Sina Pearson s years of hard work and dedication. Plus, the new relationship bodes well for Ms. Pearson to continue to exercise her talent in bringing inspired and inspiring designs to the market. Of that, Roger Arciniega, President/ CEO of the Momentum Group said, With Momentum Group, Sina Pearson will continue to design many more extraordinary fabrics. Now unencumbered by the daily task of running a business, she will be able to focus 100% of her efforts on designing beautiful products for our customers. Very briefly, the backstory of Sina Pearson s professional life is one of continuous success. In the 1980s as President and Design Director of Unika Vaev she propelled it into the forefront of contract textile. And along the way she earned herself a sterling reputation as one of the industry s foremost textile designers. She believed that the contract textile industry needed an organization to advocate for standards of performance and to disseminate information about contract textiles to interior designers and others at a more objective, industry-wide level rather than relying on the individual to do so at a more self-interest level. So in 1985 she co-founded the Association for Contract Textiles, ACT. And up to the present time she continues to travel the country speaking on behalf of ACT and teaching CEU courses about textile standards and sustainability. Ms. Pearson struck out on her own, forming Sina Pearson Textiles in 1990. And through her talent for design, technical knowledge of textiles and weaving and strong business acumen she has built Sina Pearson Textiles into an award winning and highly regarded presence in the industry. Her work is generally acclaimed for her exceptional color sense and for rich texture. And Sina Pearson. Photo by Linda Jaquez. Sina Pearson in her warehouse, now unencumbered by the day to day pressure of running a company. Photography courtesy Sina Pearson.
08.01.16 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 4 OF 32 Examples of Ms. Pearson s use of color and texture an overview of her numerous patterns reveals more than a few stripes they seem to be a hallmark of her style. In terms of the fit within the Momentum Group where sustainability is a core value, Ms. Pearson says, I believe in wasting less, using what we have more economically and leaving more for future generations. Each of us should make a commitment in our own way to preserve our precious environment. The All Spaces Collection, 2014 Interior Design magazine Best of Year (BOY) Award winner. Photography courtesy Momentum Group.
08.01.16 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 5 OF 32 The Nordic Collection 2015 BOY Award winner Iceland, inspiration for the award winning Nordic Collection
08.01.16 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 6 OF 32 The March 2016 Color Story, exemplifying Sina Pearson s color sense across product lines Colores de Mexico is an outdoor textile collection of Sunbrella acrylic fibers providing resistance to mildew, sun, and chlorine
08.01.16 GIVING VOICE TO THOSE WHO CREATE WORKPLACE DESIGN & FURNISHINGS PAGE 7 OF 32 As you might expect, the internal design team at Momentum is eager to begin work with Ms. Pearson. Shantel McGowan, Vice President of Design said, A design team is most innovative when collectively tapping into the experiences and talents of the group members. With the addition of Sina we add a new creative perspective. We welcome her to the Momentum Group design team. From an industry access standpoint, Sina Pearson fabrics should benefit greatly from the operational excellence and the sales and marketing strength of Momentum. Rosanne Veljkovic, VP of Marketing at Momentum said, The Sina Pearson products will have exponentially more exposure through our sales team of over 60 representatives across North America. She went on to excitedly welcome the acquisition saying, Each Momentum Group brand has the same creative soul textiles that inspire our customers, core values that anchor our business decisions and a commitment to the world around us. Sina Pearson is the perfect addition to Momentum Group as the fourth distinct brand. She is a kindred spirit with a personal style that is all her own. The stars seem to be aligned to make this acquisition a good one for all parties, including the textile specifying community. Momentum gets an incredible collection of established, multi-award winning fabrics and the addition of Ms. Pearson to its stable of design talent. Sina Pearson gets to off-load the stress of running a company and focus on her love for designing textiles, and the specifying community gets even more of Ms. Pearson s designs backed by the operational excellence and larger sales force of Momentum. I can t say this is a sure thing because I ve seen too many acquisitions that seemed like a sure thing lead to the demise of the acquired brand. But at this point this one seems to be as close as you could get to a sure thing. I hope it turns out that way. (Note: As an aside concerning typical Momentum uber-organized ways, I wanted to go the Sina Pearson website today for some images of products. But it s gone! Yep! Type www.sinapearson.com into your browser and you are redirected to the Momentum website. Now that s a transition!) The Fast track Collection inspired by the colors and motifs of competitive sports