GPI Blog is Moving to New Website

We've re-designed our website and one of the changes includes an integrated blog.  Please check us out at GPI's Beneath the Surface Blog for all future posts!


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Backlighting Resin with LED Panels

Resin and acrylic surfaces can provide intense color and flexibility.  The lightweight nature allows for ease of installation and reduced structural support or hardware.  Many resin-based products are so translucent, attention to the structural systems and lighting design need to be considered to properly eliminate shadows, hot spots, or visual identification of the light source.

GPI’s FLAT-Lite™ custom LED panels were used to backlight 3Form © resin for the renovation of Harrah’s Rincon Café.  All panels were wired back to FLAT-Lite™ Power Supplies so that over 100 SF of LED panels were run off a single power source.

More about the surface:

3Form © Varia Ecoresin “Moderna” collection- swept silver with custom cobalt color and patina finishes.

GPI's Sustainable Practices & Products

GPI’s environmental policy is straightforward: if it harms the environment, we avoid it.  It is evident in everything we do here, form the cars we drive to the fluorescent-free lighting in our offices to recycling our own paper.  You will find forward-thinking in our partnerships, in our processes and in our products.  We believe our designs have an impact, maybe small, but an impact nonetheless.  What matters most is that we are doing our best to influence smart, sustainable design and we are proud of our long history of environmentally-conscious design.  

A few more examples of our commitment -

• We use thin slices, just fractions of Mother Earth in our DURA-Lite™ natural stone panels (renewable).
• With thin, lightweight panels, our shipping footprint is a fraction of typical stone shipping footprints.
• Our custom natural stone panel fabrication produces up to 35% less waste.
• Our FLAT-Lite™ LED panels use very little energy and last for years and years.
• Our FLAT-Lite™ LED panels generate no heat, or hazardous material waste.
• Lighter, thinner products allow substantially less steel needed in our structural systems.
• We offer recycled glass products including a 100% post-consumer waste glass panel.
• Our PVC used in our stretch fabrics is 100% recycled.
• Increasing the use of wall panel substrates with recycled and no formaldehyde-added content.
• We are using or converting to aqueous-based adhesives and top coats with low emitting volatile organic compounds (VOC’s).
• We use only HAPS compliant coatings.
• All saw dust produced in our manufacturing process is recycled.
• All low VOC solvents used in manufacturing are recycled.
• We recycle cardboard, clear plastic and paper used in our offices.
• We use LOW Emission and hybrid vehicles for company transportation.
• Protection and sustained yield management are strictly enforced.
• We no longer print marketing sales aids, all tech info and product sheets are sent electronically.
• When we do print in the office, we use “spranq eco sans” font that uses 20% less ink. (http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html)

In doing our part to protect the environment, we will continue to pursue ways to find new, more sustainable solutions for our company and customers.

Dura-Lite™ is in Good Company on Materialicious

GPI International's DURA-Lite™ translucent glass-backed natural stone product is now featured on the Materialicious website.

Materialicious is a useful, design-driven database of design surfaces, objects, and spaces.   We're having a blast exploring other materials on here, as well.

See DURA-Lite™ featured on Materialicious and check out all of the other innovative posts.

Illuminating Translucent Materials in Our Design Lab

Some of the latest surfaces our designers are testing.  The sky is the limit!

We're a Favorite Place on Google!

Just opened today's mail, and almost lost in the stack of colorful Christmas mailings and office supply brochures was a small, crisp yellow envelope from Google Headquarters.  GPI International was chosen as one of Google's new "Favorite Places on Google", the mega-company's latest efforts to reach out to small businesses and capitalize on the growth of mobile technology.  

How it works: we'll post the sticker with our unique QR code on it, anyone passing by with the right "app" on their mobile phone can scan the bar code.   The user will be able to read reviews, visit the website, and find out any information on our company. 

Sounds kind of like a combination of Yelp, Twitter, and Whitepages all at once.  Now we just have to decide which window to put the sticker on...

Thanks to our wonderful clients and collaborators for searching for GPI and making us a Favorite Place on Google! 


Still not sure what we're talking about? Google Blog explains this new program in more depth.

You Tell Us: New Materials & Products

Our design team is continuously building our materials library with the latest and greatest in architectural surfaces.  Backlighting translucent surfaces is what we do best- especially if you're crunched for space and need even illumination across a surface.  Based on the properties of the surface you choose, we'll provide consultation for lighting systems and construction details to achieve your intended lighting effect.

GPI International can provide backlighting for virtually any translucent surface you can dream up.  Here's just a sampling of recent products we've been integrating with our FLAT-Lite LED panels:

                 -Glass (recycled, printed, frosted)

                 -Resin / plastic / acrylic / polycarbonate / PETG

                 -Stretch fabrics

                 -Translucent honeycomb panels

                 -Screens

Interior designers, architects, spec. writers, contractors- what new products are you itching to use but haven't found the right application for yet?