Our history

CRÉA DIFFUSION
Over 30 years
of history as a
Corian© transformer

The Delles brothers' story

The CREA DIFFUSION company was established in 1988 under the initiative of Thierry and Laurent DELLES.

While earning their living as carpenters and cabinetmakers, they settled into their father’s old workshop in Rémilly, a small town located near Metz, in the north-east of France.

After three years of business in the layout market, and as the young company was starting to provide solid foundations, the DELLES brothers sensed that novelty was of the essence, firstly to contribute a more significant dynamic to their company and then to enable it to head towards a more sustained growth.

They therefore started looking for new materials that could be integrated into their workshop.

And that is how they learnt about Corian© which is a synthetic material developed by DuPont de Nemours. This discovery was to revolutionise their business.

The carpentry business was indeed gradually narrowed down to give way to the transformation of Corian© and, soon enough, wood was entirely withdrawn from the workshop.

Orienting towards an innovative product was novel and original, but also a daring and extremely beneficial gamble because the company showed a regular growth of around 15% a year.

The first few years allowed the DELLES brothers to work on integrating Corian© (then not well-known) within a network of kitchen designers in the Metz region.

At that stage, already more than ten employees manufactured kitchen work surfaces daily.

Hospitals were next in line to be seduced by the numerous advantages that this material had to offer: hygiene, resistance, limited upkeep… The company markets, from then on, went national.

The DELLES brothers did not stop there however,

as they began a close collaboration with a few recognised designers, enabling them as a result to introduce Corian© on the layout market for major brand names.

Lack of space became a reality and even a handicap, so much so that the company transferred its business in 2002 to a new 2,000 m²building in Solgne, a small town also located near Metz.

Palais des Congrès d’Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

With this experience behind them, Thierry and Laurent DELLES initiated several research & development programmes on the properties of Corian© and on thermoforming. These efforts allowed them to win a significant market in Africa with the integral coating of the Conference Centre in Abidjan on the Ivory Coast. It was a real kick-off for the application of Corian© to facades, leading in turn to the covering of the neighbouring 100-metre-high tower: the Sofitel hotel of the Lagoon. With over 11,000 m², this project represented the largest surface of Corian© ever fitted on one same site.

At the same time, CREA DIFFUSION filed for a patent for the bending and postforming of Corian© which was designed to produce work surfaces for laboratories and hospitals.

The ThermoLine^© patent focused on the machine and its bending technique.

During the Las Vegas trade fair in 2010, the DELLES brothers received an award from the ISFA jury for the best Corian©-type synthetic resin transformer.

In 2011, CREA DIFFUSION won an award for the most innovative transformer.

In 2020, CREA DIFFUSION was labelled Living Heritage Company (EPV), a mark of recognition established to distinguish French companies for the excellence of their traditional and industrial skills. In order to benefit from this label, companies have to meet various criteria of economic heritage, of command of highly technical techniques and of great renown. (link towards the qualification)

CREA DIFFUSION
AT THE DESIGNERS’ SERVICE

For years, the company based in Solgne has been accustomed to rising up to great challenges, with projects each more spectacular than the last! While specialising in the work of Corian©, the material created by the DuPont company, CREA DIFFUSION was able to produce the craziest of designs thanks to its limitless adjustment capacity and arouse over the years a strong interest from both European and international companies!

NCM Dallas

CREA DIFFUSION continued its ascent by collaborating with numerous creators, artists, designers and architects who placed their trust in the skills of the DELLES brothers who endlessly pushed their boundaries:

A+A Cooren, Andrée Puttman, Arik Levy, Christian Ghion, Claude Lecante, Claudio Colucci, Emmanuel Babled, Emmanuel Jacquet, Eric Berthes, Erwan & Ronan Bouroullec, Issey Miyake, Jack Schneider, Jérôme Tarby, Luc Boulais, Matali Crasset, Mickael Craig Martin, Mike Renier, Noé Duchaufour- Lawrence, Ora Ito, Patrick Norguet, Réza Azard, Hervé Bouttet, Daniel Meszaros, Réna Dumas, Ron Arad, Roxanne Flick…

CREA DIFFUSION has also been involved in joint efforts with major brand names such as:

Anne Fontaine, Annick Goutal, La cristallerie de Baccarat, Cappellini, Caviar House, Chantal Thomass, Christofle, Louis Vuitton, Harvey Nichols, Hermès, Marionnaud, Shiseido, Hagen Dasz, BHV, Champagne Nicolas Feuillatte, Cinéma Gaumont…

CREA DIFFUSION over time

In 2003, the artist Natasha Saint-Pier helped out the singer Pascal Obispo to shoot the event clip “Mourir Demain”. The production team called on the services of the DELLES brothers to craft a unique table made out of Corian for the occasion.

histo-slide-2 — In 2007, Mickael Craig Martin created an 88-metre-long and 4.50-metre-high fresco at the B.E.I in Luxembourg. He also created a second 40-metre-long and 3.30-metre-high fresco, with 14 custom-made colours and more than 2,000 metres of rounded listels made out of coloured Corian©, for the HDI Gerling company in Hannover.

histo-slide-3 — In 2009, CREA DIFFUSION met not only major designers’ challenges, but also more industrial ones. The growing company made preparations to carry out the rehabilitation of the facade of the . Conference Centre in Abidjan . A facade which represented close to 9,000 m2 of panels entirely made out of Corian©. It has been said to be the largest facade project ever undertaken since the invention of Corian©!

2010-en — In order to make Corian part of the height of culture, beautiful plans of hexagonal basins were produced for the Centre Pompidou in Metz in 2010.

CREA DIFFUSION was then entrusted with a breathtaking project which consisted of the layout of eleven rooms from the history gallery of the Palace of Versailles, in collaboration with the Projectiles architectural firm.

2014-en — In 2014, CREA DIFFUSION collaborated once more with the Projectiles architectural firm, but this time on an international project, namely the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame de Fort Worth

2014-2-en — In 2014, the DELLES brothers created a sensation by producing a 1,700-millimetre-diametral black globe entirely made out of Corian©, a creation which was to appear in the hall of the prestigious Pullman hotel of New Delhi. It was to be the first of a long series of globes sent to numerous Pullman hotels throughout the world and in several ranges of colour. (Abidjan, Germany, England, Belgium, Brazil, Dakar, India, France, Latvia, the Netherlands…)

2015-en — In 2015, CREA DIFFUSION received an unexpected call.
Disneyland PARIS was contemplating the creation of a gigantic water fountain for its attraction “It’s a Small World”. A two-ton heavy and eight-metre-diametral half-sphere, a colossal assignment which was to require 120 moulds and six months of work, one of the most complex projects ever undertaken by CREA DIFFUSION. A real opportunity!

2017-en — More recently, in 2017, Metz Métropole called on the professionalism of CREA DIFFUSION to be entrusted with the creation of the urban sculpture “Inspire Metz” which is currently set up at the Metz railway station.

2018-en — In 2018, the production and installation of planter benches for the Hamad International Airport of Doha in Qatar also symbolised a splendid international project for CREA DIFFUSION.

Between 2018 and 2021, seven facades were unveiled, amounting to a total of 45,000 m2 and establishing CREA DIFFUSION as the French leader of coating for exterior facades.

From Monaco (the towers of the Cap Fleuri and the Carré d’Or neighbourhoods) to Luxembourg (OBH/

Mama Shelter hotel in Kirchberg), or even Paris (54 rue de Londres, 75008 Paris; 157 rue Croix-Nivert, 75015 Paris; the middle school Claude Chappe, 75019 Paris; the multimedia library Le Coudray-Montceau), you will be able to see with your own eyes the excellent work provided by CREA DIFFUSION.

In 2021, CREA DIFFUSION carried out a wonderful project of scenographic layout (link or infotip to the definition of the word) in a museum in Hamburg for an internationally recognised major brand. A new collaboration was launched with the Projectiles architectural firm and this opportunity reinforced CREA DIFFUSION’s skills in the field of scenographic layout.

CRÉA DIFFUSION Over 30 yearsof history as aCorian© transformer

The Delles brothers' story

They therefore started looking for new materials that could be integrated into their workshop.

The DELLES brothers did not stop there however,

CREA DIFFUSIONAT THE DESIGNERS’ SERVICE

CREA DIFFUSION over time

A project ? A question ?

CRÉA DIFFUSION
Over 30 years
of history as a
Corian© transformer

CREA DIFFUSION
AT THE DESIGNERS’ SERVICE

A project ?
A question ?