Aircraft Interiors Expo (AIX) 2025 attendees can experience a newly developed ‘Playground’ on Sekisui Kydex’s stand. The interactive platform provides designers with tools to facilitate the specification of Kydex Thermoplastics for aviation projects.
The company’s intention was to showcase the versatility of its thermoplastic materials to global aviation designers, and thereby “bring the decision process into the digital age”.
Following AIX 2024, Sekisui Kydex joined forces with DeepBlue Studios to bring this vision to reality, creating a suite of specialised digital tools designed to enhance remote communication, educate decision-makers on decorative options, and help reduce errors in the material specification. The application enables decision-makers to visualise various colours, materials and finishes on a seat model, save or share a project, and optimise their creation wherever they are.
This new digital extension of the designLab Innovation Center includes augmented reality to enable real-time, high-resolution 3D model viewing at a 1:1 scale. Users are guided with an interactive summary that offers key information, prompts decisions, and indicates progress.
“With the increased emphasis on CMF [colour, material and finish] to enhance the inflight passenger experience, designers are actively seeking new tools to swiftly identify project parameters and determine which aspects lend themselves to successful innovation,” said Karyn McAlphin, creative design lead at Sekisui Kydex. “The Playground can help simplify the specification process and encourage users to explore more creative solutions where applicable.”
Sekisui Kydex has been envisioning a way to showcase the versatility of its materials to a global audience of design specialists with the goal of educating decision-makers on advanced decorative processes while reducing errors in material specifications. The Playground provides users with a range of Kydex thermoplastic options, allowing them to switch out the materials, finishes, colours, textures and Infused Imaging technology on the model.
