Belle of the Ball

Visit Philip Johnson’s Four Season’s restaurant in New York and you’ll surely notice the shimmering silver curtain in the landmarked interior. It’s made of metal-ball chains with the strands stretched horizontally between two tracks. In recent years metal-ball chain curtains have made a comeback, and design firms like Yabu Pushelberg, the Rockwell Group, and Gensler have rediscovered this versatile, flexible, and fun material.

Marketed under the ShimmerScreen name by BCM Architectural, the product is offered in a variety of finishes and colors together with special services like custom cutting. “We made it work as a material to be used in different settings, not just as a raw material on a spool,” explains Robert Goldstein, the company’s director of marketing and sales.

ShimmerScreen can be found in the Borgata Casino, in Atlantic City, where the architects from Dougall Design used the sparkling chain to define a wall space outside of the Music Box Theater. “It was backlit by LEDs, creating this sparkling wall that jumps out at you,” Goldstein notes. “It’s textured and illuminated so that it appears differently.”

One New York architect recently used the product in the design of a rooftop garden, where the chain was fixed from both the top and the bottom to create a stable screen, providing not only privacy but ventilation as well.

ShimmerScreen is available in a series of antique and metallic finishes. “Designers are playing with combinations of gold and silver, and they are also mixing sizes,” Goldstein says, “so that no two projects are alike.”

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BCM Architectural ShimmerScreens

Composition:
Metal-ball chain curtains, with ball diameters ranging in size from 3/16” to 5/8”. Suspended horizontally or vertically from an aluminum track system.

Applications:
For indoor or outdoor use; screens for space division and architectural or decorative treatment of walls, windows, curtains, partitions, lighting, theatrical backdrops, retail designs, and exhibition spaces.

Properties:
Sparkling, reflective, tailored, and crisp. Can be used in any length. Available in four styles and ten different metallic finishes, from nickel plate and medieval brass to gunmetal, antique brown, and aluminum. More than 150 colors and custom matching available.

Manufacturer:
BCM Architectural
741 South Fulton Avenue
Mount Vernon, NY 10550

T. 914-664-7500
www.shimmerscreen.com