As flexible as it gets: AluShape

Discover AluShape, an innovation in three-dimensional scenic sculpturing. Though surprisingly lightweight, its aluminium core makes it fully self-supportive and mouldable into any form you like. AluShape offers endless possibilities and can be pre-printed or fully customised to meet your requirements. Used as a creative blackout fabric or textured projection screen, it becomes a mind-blowing special effect. The choice is yours!

1. Standing its ground

The reusable AluShape moulding cloth’s aluminium core can support most set pieces without having to add stiffening agents to the fabrics or find ways to support their weight and shape.

This inspired designer Shizuka Hariu to create a serene backdrop from self-supportive textured ShowTex AluShape for the choreography of Sacred Monsters by Akram Khan's dance company. Hariu’s jagged mountain top set design toured various cities with performances at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in London and the festival Les nuits de Fourvière in Lyon and De Munt in Brussels.

2. Painted black

AluShape by ShowTex is simply the top textile solution for creating that perfect blackout and its versatility offers endless possibilities. Flanders’ three major city theatres (KVS, NTGent and Toneelhuis) presented their interpretation AUGUST: Osage County, by American author Tracy Letts. An impressive performance against the backdrop of a simple but beautiful set made of ShowTex AluShape painted black.

Borders made from AluShape Cretonne were also painted black and hung very low over the stage, blocking all incoming light and setting a very dark mood.

Freek Boey, technical director of Toneelhuis: "By creasing alushape cretonne and painting it black, we created a set that sometimes could be dark and threatening and at other times reflect the incident daylight when necessary."

3. As if floating on air

AluShape is surprisingly lightweight, allowing fast and easy creation of stunning backdrops, stage scenery and props.

Lighting specialist Delta Light made good use of these properties and picked out AluShape Cretonne to create the illusion of a giant boulder floating above its exhibition stand. An enormous rock appeared to be hanging in mid-air above Delta Light’s booth at a height of 1.86 meters.

At first glance, visitors saw a giant structure supported by metal pillars. This illusion transformed when the viewer got closer and looked up while walking underneath the boulder, to see the highlighted Delta Light products through portholes in a variety of diameters.

4. Set the tone

AluShape is not only handy as a flexible fabric that can be shaped into an endless amount of fabulous textured forms, it is also great as a projection surface! This was demonstrated during a Milan fashion show, where the audience was immersed in a fully projected underwater world using AluShape as a lifelike rocky projection surface.

AluShape’s sturdy design can be installed without the need of any prior confection. It’s plug & play. You can create any small or largescale 3D projection surface in no time and easily transform the atmosphere of your entire setup by means of video projections or light effects.

5. Reach new heights

The French ski area of Les 3 Vallées, one of the world’s biggest ski resorts, relied on ShowTex to recreate the sensation of altitude and the highest snowy peaks with malleable fabric. Their crazy idea was to install a huge inverted mountain enthroned above the heads in the centre of the room. This easy-to-shape aluminium foil allowed the mound to come to life in a customised way. The piece was fixed with hook-and-loop fasteners on a wooden frame and metal rods.