Revolutionary Materials!

Design for Life has combined world first design, production and materials. Our unique process can utilize natural products such as sand, sea shells or a range of thermoset composite materials.

Please contact us to discuss your requirements.

For more... www.designforlife.co.nz

Introducing Rotational Moulded Composite Sculptures

An unsolicited letter from Michael Winn, international author and one of our clients:

Flowform sculptor Iain Trousdell describes the lightweight composite granites, jades and metals that he helped invent as perfect for Flowforms. This is a ‘world-first’ development, reproducing precious stone and metals in complicated seamless hollow shapes from copyright material to near perfect replication using a computer controlled patented method.

These ground breaking developments, whilst new, are based on half a century of extraordinarily thorough thermoset research by the world’s scientific community. This is a material that has passed rigorous tests in a huge array of different applications globally.

Examples of our exciting jade and granite stone-effects

(You need a clear screen to see an accurate approximation of our jade samples.)

*Our dark, medium & light liquid jade-effects.

Valuable nephrite jade samples

Our granite stone-effect finish

*Our white granite effect * Our black granite effect

Natural Granite stone sample comparisons

Imperial White Hassan Gray

Benefits are considered as:

Cost Effective – replicating granite and jade stones at a portion of the price.

Lightweight, being one-sixth the weight of stone allows for ease of transportation, assembly and handling. Foundations can also be lightweight, and sculptures easily taken with you on moving to live elsewhere.

Product life - extremely long lasting, very strong, and doesn't wear away, while remaining stable in very high and low temperatures.

Maintenance of Beautiful appearance. Sculptures from our beautiful stone-effect material can be simply cleaned with a rough cloth or very fine pot scrubber and then polished with a car cream car polish to return it to a pristine new appearance! (We recommend CRC carnauba cream)

Please Note: In some geographic areas, bore or stream water is very hard, and lacks electrons, creating a stone buildup on surfaces called 'scale'.

Occasionally, a resistant white scale can build up on the Flowform in the areas beside and underneath water flows. A fine pot scrubber can clean this off the evaporative areas besides the waterflow surfaces. However, the waterflow surfaces may well retain the scale. which can look quite beautiful and natural. This is the same process as stalacmite build up.

Stable Inert Surface
The material does not give off any gases or chemicals into the water. High-profile polyesters are used by professional chefs as bench tops and adhere to the strictest regulations for kitchen hygiene.

High tolerance to a range of Temperature: The base polyester material is used in Formula One racing chassis, as hulls of Antarctic research ships and we have tested them to +135 C and found no marking or warping. We are assured by polyester researchers that our material retains form and function down to -20 C and probably beyond.

(NB Most man-made materials integrity is not assured in lower than minus -20C temperatures.)

Sunlight: Our products have the most modern UV light protection within them, and will maintain their colours for many many years.

Permanence under water: There are yachts built over 50 years ago, which still have the original hull surface made in polyester, without needing a replacement in that time. The material is also resilient in caustic applications, such as in cow shed effluent treatment.

Benefits compared to concrete and caststone

These other materials stain with their small holes harboring algae and microbes, and they discolour. Cement based products give of a whitish lime-bloom which mars the colour while surface cracks generally evolve. Differing thickness can create temperature expansion and contraction deep cracks. Water erosion of the surfaces can become an issue as does a brittleness, and the heavy weight makes freight and installation more difficult and costly. Concrete also tends to capture oxygen out of the water and adds calcium to it, hardening the mineral content.

SOME GENUINE JADE AND GRANITE in our Flowforms.

Actual Jade dust are added to our thermoset during production, so every Jade Flowform we make has the inner quality of the true material within it to enhance the reproduction’s visual authenticity.

To carve real jade Flowforms would cost clients many tens of thousands of dollars. We are providing this jade-effect experience with real jade portions included so people around the world can know that they have some of the real material in their Flowforms.

Gorgeous JADE......... Background information

There are two Jades types in the world, Jadeite and Nephrite found only in China, Burma, Yukon, Russia and New Zealand. Pure jade is white in colour.

Our beautiful material is based on both types, while working to create the rich experience of deep green nephrite with black ‘river inclusion’ flowing swirls in it which we call ‘dark liquid jade’.

Our beautiful Jadeite is a semi translucent light green, an authentic illusion of real 'Asian' jade.

Jade has a long history of being a stone of peace, humility and spiritual depth. Lao Tze said of it “ I carry jade within my heart” and Confucius, in a poem, said it was the Tao itself. Maori traditions place jade, or pounamu, at the top of valuable possessions, and they ascribe spiritual life giving power to the stone.

Beautiful GRANITE......... Background information

Granites are formed under far greater metamorphic pressures than jade and that only after the rock has solidified after erupting as volcanic molten magma, then driven far down beneath the surface of the earth. It is there that these huge pressures transform the stone into granite over vast time spans at high temperatures. Then with various earth movements, rich veins of granite come to the surface to be mined and coveted by human society.

India supplies the world’s most prized granites, though it can be found in any region that was once or is volcanic.

Granite is famed for the richness and depth of its flecked and multicolored surface when polished. Like jade it can be polished to a mirror like surface or can be presented in a semi-dull finish.

Our black granite is based on a combination of Forest Black and Galaxy Black stones, and our white granite is based on Galaxy White and Imperial White granites.

Historically, granite has been viewed as an awakening stone with intensity of concentration available in its localities. When water runs over granite it can carve the most wonderful shapes over long time periods, with granite’s variable hardness mirroring the semi-rhythmical movements of water.

NEW MATERIALS RESEARCH....................

DEVELOPING NEW stone and alloy effects:

We are developing new material looks, such as flecked jades and hopefully an Oriental translucent jade as well as some new granites.

Marbles and some crystal effects such as amythyst are also planned, as are bronze and copper alloys, all using the authentic dust and grain materials to some extent. We hope these will be available by the end of 2004.

If you have any questions regarding our materials please do not

hesitate to email us.