Material Bank

If you haven't heard of Material Bank yet, you are seriously missing out. Over the last six months I've seen advertisements in Interior Design Magazine for a national materials library- a "bank" if you will. It is advertised that membership to this bank will allow you access to any sample available. Orders placed before midnight EST are scheduled to arrive the next morning. In the same box.

It seemed too good to be true! Normally when ordering a sample, it takes a week to arrive. If needed immediately, it's possible your local rep may have some stock or have the ability to have it delivered express in two days. Material Bank is changing everything about this system... In the best way. Not only does Material Bank provide samples that are stocked regularly, but they also keep records of brand reps by location and notify the reps when their materials are ordered. The reps are still a huge part of the sample ordering process and they are kept in the loop from the beginning.

While Material Bank doesn't stock every well known brand and they don't always have samples in stock, but I've already found it to be a great resource for researching materials ideas and finding products I haven't had the opportunity to use yet. And when they do have the sample I'm looking for, it's on my desk the very next day! In addition to delivering samples quickly, they accept returns quickly and easily too. All samples are able to be returned in the same boxes they are delivered in at no cost to the designer.

All of that being said, my first box arrived today. Last week I found out about a quick marketing package our design team was tasked with putting together. On Tuesday, my application to Material Bank was accepted and I was allowed access to the site. Wednesday, I browsed the site and created an inspiration board on the Material Bank site and ordered samples at the end of the day. Today, 45 unique samples arrived to my desk all in the same box! It was definitely an unreal experience. I played with the samples all day today, using them to continue working through our design and drawing materials inspiration. And what did I do at the end of the day? I ordered more samples for tomorrow! -C