Serengeti Living - Decorex

Earlier this year, AV specialist, Homeplay, partnered with Hill House Interiors to design their Decorex stand, "Serengeti Living"; a safari-themed experiential feature celebrating luxury interiors and innovative technology. The stand would emulate a bar/lounge area, with integrated technology including hidden speakers and choreographed lighting, to create an immersive and dynamic experience. 

Marmo were invited by Hill House to supply and install the decorative finishes within the stand. Our polished plaster finishes were selected not only to compliment the luxurious African scheme, but also owing to their natural materials and functional properties - sutainability was a key theme throughout this year's Decorex event, with many panel conversations centred around sustainable procurement, responsible design, and designing healthier indoor spaces to foster wellbeing. 

The proposed specification was for our Perla decorative paint to wall columns, skirtings, and the flat ceiling area, whilst the coffered ceilings would be finished in our Pitted Polished Plaster with Perla applied over the top. 

The Perla finish introduces a subtle tonal variation in a natural, Serengeti-inspired palette, with a gentle metallic iridescence which would be accentuated by the expertly designed lighting within the stand. The Pitted Polished Plaster finish would add depth and texture to the ceiling coffers, which would again be highlighted by the recessed LED lighting within the coffers. 

As no wet trades were permitted at the Olympia, the stand would be constructed in Homeplay's warehouse with lightweight foam-filled panels, and then deconstructed and reassembled at the Olympia ahead of Decorex.

With any polished plaster application, the substrate must be stable, smooth and free from any imperfections, as polished plaster is a relatively thin decorative finish and will therefore highight any irregularities or unevenness in the surface beneath. The substrate must also be correctly prepared and sealed to prevent issues arising from variations in porosity, which can affect suction and result in patchy colouration, uneven sheen or poor adhesion of the polished plaster finish. 

For this reason, when applying to an MDF surface, we generally require this to be constructed with one continuous sheet of MDF with no joints, as any joins can soak up the moisture from the plaster, expand when wet, and contract once dry, potentially resulting in cracks in the polished plaster. 

For this project, invisible speakers would be routed into the MDF panels which would be used to form the ceiling coffers for the stand - this meant that additional precautions were required prior to our polished plaster application. 

Moisture resistant lining paper was proposed, however this was not a suitable option as the high moisture content in our polished plaster could cause a lining paper to delaminate from the MDF during application - particularly as the method used to apply the Pitted Polished Plaster involves repeatedly striking the surface of the plaster with a sponge float whilst wet. 

As an alternative, we proposed filling over the join between the speaker and the MDF to create a smooth, flush surface, and applying a mesh tape to the join, before priming the whole panel with a Zinsser BIN primer. This would greatly reduce the amount of moisture that could penetrate into the joins, and therefore create a uniform suction across the substrate in order to reduce the risk of cracking. We would then apply our resin based primer to further control the suction, before applying the Pitted Polished Plaster finish. 

Our team visited Homeplay's warehouse in late August, to apply our Perla and Pitted Polished Plaster to over sixty individual MDF panels which would form the columns, ceilings, ceiling coffers and skirtings throughout the stand. The stand was later assembled at the Olympia in preparation for Decorex in October.

Naturally, we were very excited to visit the stand at Decorex in October, and it did not disappoint! The fully enclosed space created a sense of anticipation, with curtains opening every five minutes allowing access to the immersive five minute experience. Inside, a video sequence played on screen with choreographed soundtrack and responsive lighting, which showcased our polished plaster finishes beautifully within such a dynamic environment. 

It was a great opportunity to connect with our partners at Hill House and Homeplay as well as other collaborators who were involved in the production of such an impressive feature.