Making the Materials Board

There are few other presentation techniques more ubiquitous than the interior designer’s materials board. Besides the Mood Board (generally digital) which establishes the overall aesthetic and conceptual direction for the project, creating the materials board marks a major milestone in any project’s development. At BC3, once the mood board is established the interior design team begins finding materials that align well with the project’s budget, goals, mood, style and performance requirements (commercial vs residential). 

How do we Start? 

We begin in our own materials library. Over the last ten years the office has built relationships with local, national and international vendors across all finishes types, furnishings and equipment. We have grown our library from 120 sf to 400 sf. Our library is catalogued and organized and kept up-to-date with the help our vendors and the interior design team. 

We receive new materials from old and new vendors each week and often meet as a team to discuss our likes and dislikes. It is in our library we begin looking for the materials needed to fulfill the project’s goals. We contact vendors, order samples, visit showrooms, host luncheons by vendor representatives, and gather data regarding lead times, pricing and, in some cases, installation methods.

As the materials arrive they are evaluated individually and a decision is made on whether to include the product or not. For a given project, each application may evaluate 3-9 different materials before being selected to be mounted on the board and presented to the client. In the next post we look at the materials selected on a typical project.