This Is Not Your Father's MDF.

Fresh and vibrant engineered wood panels accent four-star interiors.

Housed is a landmark building on South Park Avenue in New York City, Olives Restaurant opened recently to rave reviews. In addition to a gourmet menu from its famed chef, Todd English, guests are treated to a breathtaking interior overlooking Union Square Park. A 17-foot vaulted leather-covered ceiling creates a spacious area for dining. Overlooking the main floor is balcony, with laminated glass railing, for private parties.

The adjoining bar area is another focal point, and the architects and designers from the Rockwell Group decided to add a bit of textural warmth here to offset all the glitz. Designer Kim Silvia Hall says, "We wanted ambiance with a funky edge."

Funky aptly describes the imported panels of medium density fiberboard with machined-gouged surfaces used for bar counters, cabinet doors and a mantle. They provide just the right look -- hand-carved and rustic. The corrugated panel surfaces create an interplay of light and shadows that changes throughout the day.

The unique MDF panels used for special esthetic effect in Olives were developed by Marotte, a Paris, France company that specializes in high-quality veneered panels, made to order. Third generation owner Benoit Marotte and designer and wood technician Georges Muquet collaborated on the line.

Rockwell Design Group specified the same dimensional panels to add unusual decorative elements to District, a restaurant in Manhattan's theater district where, again, mood plays a leading role. District is an upscale, trend-setting restaurant where mirrors and stage lights make patrons feel as if they themselves are onstage.

Another high profile building with a decided "edge," IBM's e-business Innovation Centre, in Toronto was designed to be a creative, imaginative environment. The company asked II BY IV Design Associates for a setting that would encourage customers to envision and act upon e-business opportunities.

In addition, IBM wanted the space to appeal to and inspire young and talented employees. Dynamic shapes and colors, imaginative details and non-traditional approaches to construction materials and furnishings make a strong design (and image-enhancing) statement.

The designers used light as a key design element -- daylight, neon signage, task lighting, wall sconces, translucent privacy panels and a changing light show on wide expanses of wall. An illuminated niche breaks up a long corridor of meeting spaces and shows off panels of carved and vibrantly stained MDF.

Marotte MDF panels are available in five standard colors and a variety of three-dimensional carving styles: gouged, guilloched (interlacing bands), roughened, granulated; grooved, lined or scratch-finished. Gouged and guilloched panels also can have wavy, dune, or folded patterns. Grooves can be parallel or criss-crossed. These designs are achieved on solid panels by laser cutting, multi-axial milling or computer-assisted machining.

Regular or irregular designs can be specified, with scale modified to suit the design, according to Nancy Jackson of Architectural Systems Inc., Marotte's exclusive U.S. distributor. Marotte also offers embossed, woven, intarsia and perforated wood panels, and 120 veneers ranging from common to exceptional.