In the world of interior design, innovation often comes in the form of new materials, fresh aesthetics, or trendsetting color palettes. But for Guy Adam Ailion, the real revolution is happening at a technological level, reshaping how designers and architects source materials, and how brands get their materials in front of designers and architects.
As an award-winning architect with over two decades of experience designing luxury boutique resorts and running a large architecture and design (A&D) firm, Ailion spent years navigating the wasteful and outdated world of physical material sampling. His frustration with the inefficiencies of the process led to the founding of Mattoboard, the 3D interior design platform streamlining product curation and reducing material waste through virtual sampling and advanced visual search.
From High-End Architecture to Digital Innovation
When Guy expanded his A&D firm’s interior design division, he saw firsthand a fundamental problem in the industry.
“We were receiving physical off-cuts of materials daily, sometimes unsolicited. We stored them in sample libraries, but 95% were thrown away. It was not only wasteful but also incredibly inefficient.”
Physical sampling not only contributes to the 92 million tons of waste generated annually by the textile industry but also imposes financial burdens on A&D professionals and suppliers alike. The process is archaic and leads to disjointed workflows, where designers manually source materials, browse multiple supplier websites at once, save low-quality images, and use outdated presentation tools to curate their concepts.
Mattoboard is eliminating physical sampling to create a more sustainable, efficient A&D industry, reducing waste and transforming the creative process of curation to specification.
The Power of Virtual Sampling
Through its expansive online database, Mattoboard simulates the real-life qualities of each material — how surfaces and textures reflect light, how shadows are displaced, the metallic-ness of a surface, glossiness, and reflections — allowing designers to mix and match 3D materials in real-time.
“Designers can now iterate on their vision without ordering a single sample. When they’re happy with their composition, only then do they order physical materials”
For brands, the value proposition is just as strong. Traditionally, material manufacturers rely on costly physical sampling programs and inefficient digital marketing, spending heavily on Google and Pinterest ads while hoping to catch the attention of designers.
“With a digital twin of their products on Mattoboard, brands can put their materials in front of tens of thousands of designers, at the exact moment they’re searching. It’s a much better ROI than shipping physical samples blindly.”
This data-driven approach ensures brands can track engagement in ways never before possible, providing insight into which products are being explored, tested, and curated by designers.
AI-Powered Creativity: Introducing “Design Stream”
With Mattoboard’s rapid growth, averaging 10,000 new designer sign-ups per month, Ailion and his team are doubling down on AI-driven innovation. Their latest feature, Design Stream, aims to revolutionize product discovery.
“Instead of a rigid, filter-based search, Design Stream allows designers to search based on style, mood, or even technical specifications. It’s a conversational approach to finding the perfect material”
Despite the industry’s initial hesitation about AI, Ailion sees artificial intelligence as an amplifier for creativity, not a replacement for designers.
“The misconception is that AI will take over design. But designers are the ones doing the real thinking. AI is just a tool to enhance and accelerate that process.”
Growth Without Ads: The Viral Success of Mattoboard
One of the most remarkable aspects of Mattoboard’s journey is that it has grown entirely through organic word-of-mouth and social media, without spending a dollar on paid advertising. With its recent $2 million seed funding round, backed by Acrobator Ventures, Home Depot Ventures, and Masco Ventures, Mattoboard is scaling its 3D material database, enhancing its platform with AI-enabled features, and expanding partnerships with top brands.
The Future of Interior Design is Digital
For Ailion, the writing is on the wall: designers who embrace technology will be most successful.
“The future of design is about collaborating with intelligent tools. The designers who learn to leverage AI and digital workflows will be the ones who dominate the next decade.”
As Mattoboard equips designers and architects worldwide with advanced 3D material twins and AI-powered discovery tools, it’s clear the industry is heading toward a more sustainable, efficient, and creative future.
