-- A Laminate Three-Hole Putt-Putt Course and a Touch of Whimsy Blur the Lines between Art, Design and Craft --

TEMPLE, Texas, May 17, 2003 - Before the days of haute design, Michael Graves teakettles and the Martha Stewart empire, design was an innocent, unpretentious exploration of shape, function and materials. Hierarchical distinctions between art, design and craft didn't exist and design was used to improve life and not as a vehicle to keep up with the status quo.

Wilsonart Wonderland, a three-hole putt-putt course on display at this year's International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York City, blurs the distinctions between art, design and craft to create an otherworldly space that - unlike arcades and video games - is interactive and grounded in the here and now to bring people together for the sake of having fun, something that should not be overlooked during these challenging times.

Wonderland is the fourth installment of Wilsonart International's award-winning Wilsonart Champions program. Each Champions exhibition has been conceptualized by design historian and Wilsonart consultant Grace Jeffers and “champions” the use of laminate in creative and unorthodox ways to encourage designers to think out-of-the-box when it comes to this surprising, yet fun, material. All of the Champions exhibitions have debuted at the ICFF.

“We're trying to raise the bar in the design industry about laminate and its uses, while at the same time exploring different design concepts,” explains Ron Gagnon, Wilsonart Director of Design and Marketing. “Laminate has traditionally been a stodgy, functional material. We hope that the Wilsonart Champions exhibitions peek designers' interest and makes them realize that laminate is fun, creative and anything but stodgy.”

Wilsonart Wonderland celebrates a time when amusement parks were about spending the day together instead of spending money and miniature golf courses were owned by local residents and not corporate America. Wilsonart Wonderland was designed by artist Kenny Scharf, designer John Maeda, and craftsperson Judson Beaumont, and constructed chiefly from laminate.

Miniature golf proved to be an excellent venue for Wilsonart's fourth Champions endeavor because by its very nature, miniature golf breaks down barriers. Is the course sculpture, architecture, cabinetry or garden architecture gone awry? The game is enjoyed by young and old alike and is played indoors and out during day and night. Often, what should be small is oversized and what should be huge is miniature. The game takes the seriousness and elitism of regulation golf and twists it into a lighthearted version for the masses, leaving many asking, “Is it leisure or sport?”

Each hole of Wilsonart Wonderland tells a story unique to each designer, encompasses their one-of-kind sense of humor infused with a healthy dose of whimsy.

• Kenny Scharf's “Chomp Change” takes golfers on a cosmic journey through the inner workings of a money-hungry, change-chomping space monster dressed in bold plaid. Golfers drive their golf balls up the hungry creature's long tongue and into its mouth and play out the rest of the hole on his back before exiting via his tail to sink the hole.
  
  Scharf is recognized as one of the 100 most important living American artists and his colorful cartoon-like work has appeared in galleries around the world.
  
  
• John Maeda's “Oh Give Me a Hole Where the Buffalo Roam” beckons willing golfers to enter the inside of a tutti-frutti colored Wilsonart tractor-trailer, which is parked on a curved angle, before exiting the truck and maneuvering their balls over the green and into the hole.
  
  Maeda is an associate professor of design and computation at the MIT Media Laboratory in Cambridge, Mass. His digital media designs have received numerous awards, including the 1999 DaimlerChrylser Design Award.
  
  
• Judson Beaumont's “…Down the Rabbit Hole” treats players to a trip through an Alice in Wonderland-inspired cartoon rabbit's underground living room/obstacle course, complete with a welcome mat, oversized arm chair and matching ottoman, reading lamp and a mid-century television that sports a pair of rabbit ears.
  
  Beaumont owns a shop in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, and specializes in designing and constructing curvaceous children's furniture that looks as if it is straight from fantasyland.

“The designers are champions in our view,” says Gagnon. “And together we'd like to champion an issue of exploration with design and laminate.”

The first Wilsonart Champions project highlighted art on laminate, with artists from eight different mediums creating laminate patterns. The second project featured a vintage travel trailer with a renovated interior of laminate furniture; and the third installment introduced the concept of expandable architecture, or laminate furniture that can be used for more than one purpose. All three of these designs have won ICFF Editors Awards. To date, Wilsonart is the only company to have garnered three such awards.

Wilsonart International, based in Temple, Texas, is a leading manufacturer of decorative surfacing products, including Wilsonart® Laminate, Wilsonart Gibraltar, Wilsonart® Decorative Metals, Wilsonart® Custom Edges and Wilsonart® Flooring.

For more information about the newest additions to Wilsonart Laminate or any other Wilsonart products, please call the Customer Service Hotline at 800-433-3222, or visit the Wilsonart Web site at www.wilsonart.com.

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	“Chomp Change,” was designed by artist Kenny Scharf		Wilsonart Wonderland welcome desk. Both were designed and constructed by Judson Beaumont and feature Wilsonart laminate.
	Judson Beaumont's “…Down the Rabbit Hole”		John Maeda's “Oh Give Me a Hole Where the Buffalo Roam”
	Kenny Scharf's Plaid.		John Maeda's Digitalia
	John Maeda's Tutti Frutti		Wilsonart Wonderland miniature golf sign and golf club holder. Both were designed and constructed by Judson Beaumont and feature Wilsonart laminate.