Martin Luther King Jr. Mural Composed of Sustainable Materials

Print Shop: ER2 Image Group (er2image.com)
Location: Bartlett, Illinois
Tools and Supplies: Sutherland sound absorption boards, EFI Vutek H5 press, G3 3XL-1600 CNC cutting table

INNOVATING WITH INTEGRITY Together is how Chicago Trading Company works with its clients. In late 2019, CTC partnered with Gensler, a renowned architectural and design firm, on a multimillion-dollar interior remodel. The plan was to create a space that would inspire and promote collaboration with its employees and customers. The centerpiece of the design needed to include a monochromatic, changeable pixel “moment” behind the main lobby’s exposed staircase. Gensler and CTC partnered with ER2 Image Group to help engineer, manufacture, and install this challenging design.

ER2’s solution? A sustainable, changeable floor-to-ceiling display composed entirely out of recycled PET. The 22- x 24-foot wall features 7000 individual, pixel-shaped inserts. “The concept behind the project was to take images of individual employees within CTC and create one grand image out of the group as a whole,” says Matt Blackmar, director, ER2.

The PSP imaged employee headshots in six colors using an EFI Vutek H5 printer and routed thousands of “pixels” with the shop’s Zünd G3 3XL-1600 cutter to produce a mural of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for MLK Day and Black History Month.

The project also helped kick off ER2 Image Group’s Applied Surfaces Division, led by Jason Dillas, managing director, and Blackmar. “My vision of Applied Surfaces was to build a dedicated team that truly understands the direct correlation between the spaces we occupy and our overall health and wellbeing,” says Dillas.

In March, ER2 changed the graphics to depict the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in celebration of Women’s History Month.

PHOTO GALLERY (5 IMAGES)