Most businesses look forward to the holidays, and Replex is no exception — but not because of Black Friday or for the chance to boost fourth-quarter earnings before the end of the year. The holidays give us a chance to dial up our creative side and do some projects that are unique, meaningful, and just downright fun!
1. Dreaming Of A Blue Christmas — A Tree Like No Other
When a design firm was tasked with creating an unforgettable Christmas tree for a high-end hotel in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, all it took was concave mirrors and some blue light to prove the power of reflection. Replex joined the team developing the mirrors for the project.
Mirrors of different sizes were affixed to an artificial trunk in a pattern that mimicked the classic Christmas tree shape — but these weren’t just any old mirrors. The backs of the mirrors were painted white and the mirrors themselves were arranged at different angles. Because they were concave in shape, the images they reflected appeared upside down. When the tree was bathed in blue light from a flood lamp, the building’s lobby was transformed into a holiday wonderland.
2. When Shopping for the Holidays, Look For The Use Of Mirrored Ornaments
Another project a few years ago called for the creation of approximately 10,000 shiny Christmas balls between two and four feet (60 – 120 cm) in diameter for Target stores. The Replex team put their heads together with a partner company in Minneapolis. The partner company did the thermoforming and Replex metallized the inside of the hemispheres. Each hemisphere had narrow flange with a hole that allowed the finished globes to be hung from the ceiling with a monofilament line (like fishing line). Shoppers enjoyed these 10,000 giant, shiny Christmas globes adorning every Target store in the country during the holiday season.
3. Holiday Ornaments: Our Token Of Customer Appreciation
Here at Replex we enjoy sending out one-of-a-kind, reflective plastic holiday ornaments as a way to thank customers. First, a flat piece of acrylic is metallized and back coated for protection, and then artwork is generated on a program such as Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw, or CAD software such as Solidworks for our printers to place on the mirror.
But these printers don’t print by depositing ink the way a normal printer does. Instead, a precision laser “prints” the image by burning into the plastic. Wherever the laser touches, the metal and back coating are burned away and the sheet is reverted back to clear. When the image is back-painted, the applied color shines through only that clear portion.
From the front, you see a colorful piece of artwork in the mirror. It’s a small token of our appreciation to you but provides a fun project for us at Replex and hopefully a fun piece of mail for customers to receive.
The holidays are a wonderful time at Replex. We get to make unique designs for special applications and we have a chance to let out our inner artists. Most of all, the holidays give us the opportunity to make a little something special for our customers.
We wish you and your families a wonderful holiday season and a prosperous and happy 2019.