A new rainbow in design

The dark lacquered appearance of CFRP is a familiar sight in the composites world, but it doesn’t lend itself to imaginative design. Ed Hill discovers more about a new coloured alternative, Hypetex.

A world without colour would be very drab indeed. Artists, designers, manufacturers and advertisers have always used it creatively to attract customers to their products.

Until now carbon fibre composite (CFRP) has had many admirable structural and mechanical qualities but it has been markedly lacking in colour; or as Henry Ford put it, “you can have any colour you like, as long as it’s black”.

Now, things are set to change with the introduction of Hypetex, developed in the UK by GPF One. The new product advanced by material specialists from the world of Formula 1 comes in a full range of colours from deep blues to vibrant oranges, yellows, greens and reds.

The idea began after F1 fan Marc Cohen and a group of friends began wondering why carbon fibre colours were so limited.

Cohen, now CEO of GPF One, begins: “Carbon fibre has so many unique properties we just thought it would be great if you could colour it as well. We wanted to develop a colourisation process that would give you the visual qualities of carbon fibre that racing car fans are familiar with but with colour. However, we knew that would take money.”

The R&D into producing Hypetex would not only need a substantial amount of capital invested by Cohen and his associates, it would also need time. Cohen turned to F1 experts who had been involved with carbon fibre for many years. In total it has taken seven years to get the product to the point where it could be taken to market.

One of the biggest challenges for the technical team has been maintaining the weight and strength properties of CRFP, so useful to engineers and designers, whilst introducing colour into the mix.

“After five years of struggle it was very difficult,” Cohen explains. “We tried using weave substitutes but it didn’t lend itself to the kind of quality and visual features that we wanted to express. We also found colours would bleed but we kept plugging away. We started to discover that by doing certain processes we were able to take the visual features of carbon fibre and enhance them.”

GPF One then patented the process and continued its R&D to further enhance the material.

“Initially we were just doing flat panelled surfaces, but we really had to see whether we could do forms and shapes without losing the carbon fibre appearance and that has taken a lot more development.”

As Hypetex had its origins in expertise from the world of motorsport, Cohen was keen to build on the relationship. The company showed the new material to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone who signed a deal to make the Hypetex brand an official licensee of the sport able to use its logo and branding for promotion.

The motorsport connection inevitably led the company to approach the automotive sector which is already showing strong interest in the material. However, Cohen is keen to point out that he does not want to limit the applications of Hypetex to any particular sector.

“We are being actively creative about how industry can embrace this new technology. We believe that it will lead to designers in all sorts of areas embracing composites more. Now you have colourisation there are so many more possibilities. We want to appeal to top end designers first so they can imagine the potential of this material rather than pushing it straight to manufacturing.”

With this approach in mind, Cohen needed a project that demonstrated Hypetex in the best possible way, so he turned to designer Michael Sodeau.

“Our PR consultant had a connection with Michael and he liked the prospect of working with Hypetex straight away. Since we started the relationship his ideas have surpassed my expectations. He has created a chair that takes the structural properties of the carbon fibre to an extreme by using it in a very natural and simplistic design form. The back of the chair almost appears to float because of the position of the connecting struts. It demonstrates that carbon fibre allows you to do amazing things.”

The limited edition chairs, entitled Halo, were launched at the Designjunction show in London in September.

Michael Sodeau says about his creation: “The chair follows the modernist rules of form and function with the removal of all unnecessary clutter, which is juxtaposed with the decorative aesthetic given by the material.

“The contoured shape interacts perfectly with light creating vibrant refractions on the surface of the material. When the chair is viewed from behind it hides what is in front, adding a playful quality that only reveals its full shape as you walk around it.”

The design pieces’ objective of promoting the material seems to have paid off; generating a lot of interest wherever they have been shown.

“More and more people have begun to approach us,” states Cohen. “We are engaging with designers from lots of other industries who want to create shapes and forms with carbon fibre and colour. Whether it’s aerospace, sports and consumer goods, yachts even musical instrument makers, I am confident my technical team can produce it.”

However, it is still early days for Hypetex. Cohen admits that at the moment the production process is expensive and more R&D is needed to integrate it into mass production and industrial supply chains and certifications.

It is estimated 90% of colours can be produced with the process but GPF One is also working on different textures such as matt surfaces and a raw material style finish.

“Initially we want to strengthen the aspirational aspects of the Hypetex brand. We have designers and composite experts bouncing ideas off one another to see what they can do, so it’s really exciting to see the potential of the material.”

Cohen concludes: “Composites are extending so much into industry but people have not been able to get the visual effects that give it a real ‘wow factor’. Carbon fibre use is going to continue expand over the next 10-20 years, so for us to be in this key area at this crucial time is a real advantage.

“The response has been incredible. The words ‘technology’, ‘F1’ and ‘design’ have been a real springboard. It is made in the UK with Formula 1 technology at Silverstone and has great export potential.”

www.hypetex.com