01:00 AM EST on Sunday, January 22, 2006

BY CONSTANCE GORFINKLE
The Patriot Ledger

The space-age designs Joel Miller creates don't look like they're made of your daddy's Corian. That DuPont material, used largely for kitchen counters, has grown up, thanks to artisans like Miller, who has learned how to clad walls, build bathtubs and even fashion armchairs out of the versatile substance that appears to have few limits on its application.

One of those big, shiny chairs sits across from Miller's desk in his Brockton, Mass., loft studio. Dark green and magenta, the eye-popping chair is one of almost two dozen Miller made for an installation in the lower concourse of Grand Central Station in New York City, in collaboration with Sterling Surfaces of Leominster, Mass.

If that use for a commercial material seems more P.R. than practical, Miller begs to differ, pointing out the durability of Corian, which far outlasts that of natural materials.

"Corian is acrylic, which means it's nonporous and won't stain," he explains. It's also easily renewable, a plus for a piece of furniture that is sat in daily by thousands of people looking to rest their weary legs. It can be scorched, however.

"Whether it's scratched or whether there is a little discoloration, it can be restored as good as day one." In fact, Corian can be completely remodeled, says Miller.

"We've taken kitchens that are 10 years old and reconfigured them with some additional material when the home owners have wanted to remodel. So, basically, they've gotten their money's worth out of the product."

The 31-year-old Miller, who grew up in Brockton and learned cabinetry at South Easton Vocational School before working on high-end reproduction furniture at Eldred Wheeler in Hingham, eventually was drawn to Corian for its ability to be shaped when heated to 315 degrees Fahrenheit. It also can be sandblasted, laser-etched, back-lit and combined with other materials, including glass, wood, stone and metals.

Miller still makes what he calls cookie-cutter products out of the material, which comes to him in 12-foot-by-30-foot-by-inch-thick sheets.

"That's my bread and butter," he concedes. But more and more, he's getting jobs that require him "to think out of the box," as designers and architects increasingly get to know his work.

Among those out-of-the-box projects are a whimsical playground in Cambridge; a loft apartment in New York City, all of whose walls are clad in Corian; various pieces of furniture, among them a coffee table that appears to undulate; a handsome, heated chaise lounge, and a grouping of square bathroom sinks, striking in the purity of their design.

That the word about Miller is getting out is apparent in his growing list of clients. That includes the bath-and-kitchen design company Waterworks, Donna Karan Retail, Boston's Museum of Science, and Ian Schrager Hotels of New York.

A walkthrough of Miller's bright and airy, 6,000-square-foot studio is an eye-opener to what his work entails. Dominated by a long table, the room is cluttered with plywood molds upon which he shapes the Corian, after it's made malleable in the special oven that heats it to just the right temperature, a process that requires constant monitoring by Miller.

In the third floor of an old loft building, Sterling-Miller Designs is run by two-people: Miller is the artisan responsible for design and execution while his sister Tanya runs the business end of the company.

What Miller describes as his high-end work has been recognized in such prestigious publications as Architectural Digest. But that hasn't made him dismissive of his commercial jobs. In fact, he sees a strong crossover between those and his more innovative creations.

Jeanne and Mason Wiley of Marshfield, Mass., can attest to that. In renovating the kitchen of their 1830 Colonial, the couple wanted open shelves rather than cabinets, so that their collection of attractive ceramicware, made by Jeanne, could be properly displayed.

Since the shelves would be in front of a large window, overlooking their large backyard and the woods beyond, it was necessary that they not be too bulky.

Miller already was on the job fashioning the kitchen's countertops, so the Wileys appealed to him to find a way to create shelves thin enough to look as though they were floating, but strong enough to support the considerable weight of the ceramics.

Miller's solution was to affix a thin strip of Corian to a thin strip of aluminum. The result is just what the Wileys wanted: a graceful series of shelves that let the light in and are as beautiful as the pieces displayed upon them.

The Wileys have another project for Miller. Since circumstances have made it necessary for them to put their Marshfield house on the market, they will ask him to fashion an exciting workspace in the kitchen of their new home -- a 1743 house in Hingham.

Thrilled with their Marshfield masterpiece, Jeanne Wiley says: "I'll love anything Joel comes up with."

For more information, see sterlingmillerdesigns.com or call (508) 894-6999.