Tunnels represent a passage from one point to another, moving those who journey through them physically and sometimes even psychologically. Printer manufacturer Mimaki Engineering Co. Ltd. and its exhibit house, Kubik Inc., understood its potential impact, building an extraordinary corridor that judges acclaimed as "completely transportive and evocative," in awarding the developer of wide-format printers this year's Edge award for Exhibit Design and Graphic Excellence. Made from MDF, the tunnel – comprising six sequential ring-like structures – grew progressively larger as visitors wended their way through it, from roughly 11 feet high to 13 feet to finally more than 16 feet by its endpoint, which induced a sense of a magically expanding wonderland. The structure's design challenges, though, were as complex as its shape was simple. "In order to maintain the desired proportions of the tunnel segments and cantilevered design," said Marta Frackowiak, a project manager with Kubik, "we had to engineer a certain level of hidden reinforcement." The tunnel was fortified with a kind of metal skeleton after designers had built a scale model to test its safety and stability.

That engineering and design sorcery was invisible to attendees who saw only a surrealist gallery filled with items made on Mimaki printers, ranging from the everyday to the extraordinary: stickers and printed 3-D models, as well as prints on tiles, leather shoes, and silk fabric. The products were positioned against an alternating background – one of black-and-white graphics to make the flamboyant goods pop by contrast, and an anarchy of color devised by nonagenarian artist Rik Lina. By the time guests reached the end of the tunnel, they had also reached the beginning of a new way to see Mimaki. E