Submaterial

++ COLOR INSPIRATION ++

New Mexico houses, but make it aesthetically decrepit. All this needs is a ristra hanging on it to add a pop of burgundy.

We’ve been making summer color palettes for a bit; scroll through to see the many colors of New Mexico.

Which one is your favorite?

First photo by Imitat on Unsplash



[Image ID 1: A ruin of a stucco house against a stark blue sky. Wooden supports are sticking out and casting long dark shadows on the wall. To the right, there is a graphic of samples of colors from the image, of blue, tan, and brown.
Image ID 2: The Bosque River in New Mexico, looking across at the Sandia Mountains illuminated by golden hour, casting an orange hue on the mountains. There is a film strip-style graphic overlaid, pulling colors from the image of dark blue, light purple, orange, and baby blue.
Image ID 3: A bloom on a prickly pear cactus backlit by sunlight. Color graphics are placed above, showing the colors from the image.
Image ID 4: Assorted plants and brush in a New Mexico landscape, in a mix of green, yellow, tan, and purple. Swatches of these colors are overlaid on the image to the right.
Image ID 5: Landscape of White Sands National Park, the sky and sand are a variety of blue hues. A filmstrip to the right of the image pulled colors of the blue colors to sample.]

++ COLOR INSPIRATION ++

New Mexico houses, but make it aesthetically decrepit. All this needs is a ristra hanging on it to add a pop of burgundy.

We’ve been making summer color palettes for a bit; scroll through to see the many colors of New Mexico.

Which one is your favorite?

First photo by Imitat on Unsplash

Sorry not sorry 🙃

Meet Carmelo, the first bunny in our Calendar and our June pet!

Carmelo, also known as “Carmelito Papacito” is no longer with us 💕

But he loved running around in the snow and getting treats. He was so spoiled with treats that anytime someone walked past him, he would assume he was getting one, and if you didn’t have one, he’d turn his butt towards you.

He was best buds with his housemate, a Dober-dane, Ocean. They would always cuddle together. He was the best cuddle buddy. Carmelo also loved getting his hair braided.

While he only visited the studio once, he was such a sweetheart, and we all miss him!

All good designs start as a quick sketch on the back of something else... or at least Echo did!

That simple drawing translated into this elegant and minimal wall tile, with subtle vertical indents that create small bands of shadow and highlight. We dabbled in a new material for Echo, using a cactus-based material (or cactus leather) from Desserto, a Mexican studio and maker. We’ve known about this material for a while and were thrilled to incorporate it into this design. That slight reflective sheen and muted texture create a really unexpected look.

This product is available to customize now ➡️
www.submaterial.com/products/echo-wall-covering

Hi! We’re your friendly neighborhood design and manufacturer. 👋

We’re not some big luxury company; we’re everyday people working together to create unique wall art! Here’s a little introduction if you’re new here (or want to explain who we are to someone else!)

We’ve been around for 20 years now, and we’re so grateful to our founder, David, for creating the company and design principles, and to all of you for sticking with us!

Was getting home from NY smooth? No. Are we ready to tell you all about ICFF? Yes!

Despite it taking over 34 hours for Owen to travel home with delays, Submaterial had a great time at ICFF.

We displayed 3 never-before-seen designs: Echo, Ripple, and Confluence Screen (more on those two soon!) Featured fresh designs, Cork | Planar, the Habitat collection, and of course, some crowd favorites, our mirrors!

The Wander | Pill Mirror was especially a hit for selfies, which we loved to see! 📷

Damian and Owen enjoyed meeting and talking to so many people and had really great conversations. Sometimes it feels like we’re a little isolated here in New Mexico, so being able to connect with other brands and designers was a real treat.

If you took a photo of our booth or any cute selfies, we’d love to see them!

Meet ECHO.

This is our newest modular tile design, featuring a brand new material.... CACTUS LEATHER. You read that right, it's a biomaterial with no animal byproducts, no plastic, just cactus. 🌵 (Nopal cactus to be specific). We backed it with recycled acoustic substrate, so it still packs a noise-dampening punch.

Did the cactus leather prick your interest? Find out about this unique Mexican-made material from .pelle. We love working with dessert-dwellers.



[Image ID 1: A leather-looking wall tile with indents creating shadows; there are shadows of plants on the right side.]

“The most perfect ode to grass” - By Andrea Dupree

We’re so lucky to have such an amazing community, filled with artists and craftspeople who make beautiful things from our offcuts. We especially love to see things that are really different from our design language, like this. They’re so inspiring and look at the material differently than we do! Andrea is a highly skilled fiber artist. You can check out her work on her page. She does a lot of felting that we definitely oggle! If you’re a local, you can find her installations in the New Mexico Museum of Art in November 2026