Covestro, Chris Lefteri Design jointly release color and materials trends reports

Exploring material applications in design

• 2021/2022 CMF Trends brochures published in both automotive, and electronics, electrical & appliances industries
• New Aesthetic Toolkits also unveiled to inspire designers
• Integrating aesthetics and functionality to provide applicable materials solutions

As consumers are more engaged with product aesthetics, CMF (color, materials, and finish) becomes increasingly important in industrial fields. To explore and inspire creative ways to apply CMF in product designs, materials manufacturer Covestro has published two CMF trends brochures for the automotive and the electronics, electrical & appliances (EE&A) industries respectively, in collaboration with material-led design studio Chris Lefteri Design.

The reports were unveiled today at an event in Shanghai jointly held by Covestro and the German Design Council. Covestro is an international company member of the Council and a member of the German Design Council Foundation.

The brochures analyze upcoming CMF trends in color, pattern, and texture in the automotive and EE&A industries. As people care more about sustainability, such a trend is also embodied in design with an inclination towards nature. The brochures highlight materials with natural texture, aesthetics, and rich details, which deliver added comfort and relaxation. Polycarbonate, the versatile plastic that Covestro invented in 1953, has a high degree of flexibility to adapt to this CMF trend, and the materials solutions can achieve functionality while presenting creative visual effects, thus offering infinite inspiration.

“I am delighted to cooperate with such a manufacturer as trusted and influential as Covestro,” said Chris Lefteri, Head of Chris Lefteri Design and world-renowned leading authority on materials and their application in design. “Covestro has earned expertise in both industries and specializes in materials. This cooperation is a perfect opportunity for us to broaden our market scope and diversify how materials are applied in the design process.”

“As a leading material supplier, Covestro goes beyond providing material solutions,” said Dr. Christopher Stillings, Vice President, Global Head of Color & Design at Covestro’s Polycarbonates segment. “Through this cooperation with Chris, we look forward to inspiring more collaborators to create and realize aesthetic, efficient and inspiring designs, ultimately providing added value to our clients.”

At the same event in Shanghai, Covestro also released a set of Aesthetics Toolkits, aiming to inspire designers to develop new applications of polycarbonates through leveraging different possibilities in color and texture finishing combinations. The new toolkit, which contains a car-shaped bottom plate and pebble-sized inserts, covers 24 trendy colors, while incorporating a variety of textures and finishes. Designers can better grasp the properties of polycarbonate, and capture the visual effects of different combinations to effectively and efficiently facilitate the process from product design to launch.

With well-rounded capabilities from front-end trends research to back-end design applications, the CMF team at Covestro are experts in material processing technology, and are able to come up with solutions that are both of high aesthetic value and applicable to mass production. A collection of CMF solutions based on Covestro materials are already available through Covestro’s expertise on colorant application and processing technology.

Based in Covestro’s Asia-Pacific Innovation Center in Shanghai, the Covestro CMF team is a part of the “Open Innovation” initiative. The team can be reached via cmf-design@covestro.com for cooperation and partnerships. With a global network of color and design experts, Covestro can provide customers with a variety of CMF solutions across the globe.

About Covestro:

With 2019 sales of EUR 12.4 billion, Covestro is among the world’s largest polymer companies. Business activities are focused on the manufacture of high-tech polymer materials and the development of innovative solutions for products used in many areas of daily life. The main segments served are the automotive, construction, wood processing and furniture, and electrical and electronics industries. Other sectors include sports and leisure, cosmetics, health and the chemical industry itself. Covestro has 30 production sites worldwide and employs approximately 17,200 people (calculated as full-time equivalents) at the end of 2019.

This press release is available at www.covestro.cn. Please acknowledge the source of any pictures used.

Find more information at www.covestro.cn.

Forward-looking statements
This news release may contain forward-looking statements based on current assumptions and forecasts made by Covestro AG. Various known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors could lead to material differences between the actual future results, financial situation, development or performance of the company and the estimates given here. These factors include those discussed in Covestro’s public reports which are available at www.covestro.com. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments.