“Laminateplus – Fashion on the Floor” - Laminate Flooring Manufacturers take over the Show

“Laminate^plus – Fashion on the Floor” was the title of an extraordinary design show by European laminate flooring producers at “contractworld 2007”. Globally renowned companies from the sector presented innovative flooring solutions for the commercial property business at this top international event for architecture and interior design organized by the EPLF. Creative design ideas beyond mass products or in other words: “Laminate^plus”!

The companies which took part include Agepan Tarkett Laminate Park, EFP Egger Retail Products, EPI Flooring Division, Kaindl Flooring, Kronoflooring, Kronotex Fußboden, Meister Werke Schulte, Spanolux – Divisie Balterio, Parador, Pergo Europe, Skema, Unilin Flooring and Witex. Nearly 2.000 trade visitors, among them many architects and planners, took the chance to have a look at the latest design innovations of the laminate flooring industry.

These laminate flooring manufacturers intended to set new trends in Hanover with five design themes. “Classic” covered the whole range of elegant wood decors from cherry to wengé with matt or coated finishes. “Nature” represented rustic looks in oak and other characteristic wood types with brushed or smoked finishes. “Retro” provided graphic and floral patterns from the fifties and seventies in powerful orange and green colors. “Stone” involved large designs with mineral finishes, tiles, ceramics or natural stone. Concrete, steel, aluminum, stainless steel and screed stood for the new “Industry” look.

Agepan Tarkett Laminate Park presented expressive wood decors at the “contractworld” in the form of “Woven Wood”, “Monterosso Elm” and “Surinamese Snakewood”. “Woven Wood” is a dark oak which combines modern pore synchronous printing with the latest hand-scraped look. The “Monterosso Elm” style incorporates the inspiration of natural stone in a hardwood design with a dark mocha color. The boards are supplied in strips measuring 121.6 cm x 13.4 cm to create a particularly elegant flooring appearance. “Surinamese Snakewood” creates an exotic atmosphere. Snakewood makes for a real focal point with its red and brown shades and original wood grain.

The “Pearl Cherry” décor, a cherry version with a mother-of-pearl finish, which Egger presented in Hanover, exudes quality and style. With its light friendly color and floral elements, it will make any house into a home. The new format of 129.2 cm x 13.4 cm gives the finish a particularly lively look. “Torres Sabia”, a light tile décor that is ideal for use on large areas, creates a feeling of genuine stone. “Colorado Walnut” is a natural décor whose appearance is very close to that of real wood flooring. The modern anthracite-brown walnut shade creates a pleasant interplay between its natural colors.

EPI Flooring Division from France was represented on the EPLF stand in Hall 4 where it displayed a light birch style product with intensive texturing which will fit into any surroundings and make rooms look bigger. It is the perfect choice for clothing businesses whose brightly colored clothing range will create an interesting contrast with the flooring. With its intensive warm brown color, the “Patagonia Oak” in a 2-strip pattern is much darker and creates an expressive flooring look for quality design solutions.

Kaindl payed homage to Mother Nature with its “AH Oak 37550” oak décor from the Kaindl One 8.5 Collection. The striking brown color shows off the optical antique style of this flooring perfectly. The special feature of the 8.5 Collection is that the wood grain on one board continues on to the next despite the joint. This produces an even, uniform look on the flooring. The “AH Teak 37887 from the Kaindl 11.5 Collection offers classical elegance. The red and brown narrow boards with a genuine V-joint have a striking design both longitudinally and laterally when laid.

“Red Lacquered Oak” is a red oak design from Kronoflooring, which skillfully masters the “Retro” theme. With its expressive red coloring and typical wood grain, this oak style creates an exciting contrast on the floor. “Oliena” represents the “Stone” theme and offers a very authentic finish together with a high quality look. “Metallic Cooper”, an industry theme style with a metallic look, is another highlight from Kronoflooring that produces a very modern and innovative effect.

Kronotex showed two collections at the “contractworld” in the form of Mammut and Mega, both of which are ideal for large areas in the commercial property sector. The "Oak Barrique” style has an authentic surface texture combined with an elegant dark brown color. The boards are 184.5 cm long – in other words absolutely mammoth in size. “Sargasso Slate” is a silver-grey stone décor from the Mega Collection, which sets innovative accents with its typical stone texture and realistic joints. Mega is the perfect flooring for fast installation.

Meister Werke Schulte was one of the first manufacturers to show a directly printed laminate flooring at Hanover: “Antique Oak” from the Alanto Collection. This dark oak style with surrounding micro chamfer features intensive depth to its appearance and has a new feel which is warm to the hand. “Sandstone”, a décor from the Frame Collection, provides a perfect color contrast to “Antique Oak” and also features an unusual format with a width of 32.5 cm and a length of 85 cm. Quality flooring design. “Cosmo blue”, a retro style with a blue background and orange motifs, is sure to be a real eye-catcher from Schulte Räume at the “contractworld”. It is creative, cheeky and modern.

Parador is well known for its unusual design ideas and demonstrated this once again at the “contractworld”. The new “Wine & Fruits” laminate flooring décor takes its inspiration from old fruit and wine crates and transports the beholder to the atmosphere of a Hamburg warehouse. It is extremely imaginative. The “Digital Net” retro décor shows the special aesthetic of digital design and stands out due to its intensive green color featuring geometric structures. “Fuzzy Black” is a black décor with fine white strips to portray classic industrial felt. It is the archetypal Industry look.

“Wengé”, “Aged Elm Plank” and “Black Slate” are the design innovations that Pergo showed in the EPLF section of the “contractworld”. “Wengé” from the Pergo Expression Collection is a quality, dark wood décor that is ideal for commercial properties. The “Aged Elm Plank” décor takes up the theme of “old timber design” and looks very authentic with its textured surface and farmhouse hall format of 119.6 x 14.4 cm. The modern “Black Slate” stone décor with rounded edges on the other hand offers a genuine stone feeling.

“Majestic” is the genuinely royal name of the collection from which the two “contractworld” exhibits of Quick-Step are taken. “Harvest Oak Planks” and the exotic “Merbau Planks” are the décors which are extremely hard-wearing and are also moisture-resistant. The satin gloss finish shows the expressive wood types of these two laminate flooring styles in their very best light. The “Harvest Oak” style is a farmhouse style and creates a rustic, antique looking floor, while the main feature of the Merbau design is its intensive red-brown color.

The Italian company Skema is regarded as an expert in creative design within the sector. Skema presented “Acid Metal” and Piasentina Stone” from its Brio Collection at Hanover, as well as its combination décor “Dark Acid Metal + Raw Cement + Aluminium Special”. “Acid Metal” is firmly in the Industry group with its rust-brown washed appearance making it look like etched metal. When it is combined with raw cement and Aluminium Special it creates some very interesting color contrasts. “Piasentina Stone” is a light gray stone décor which harmonizes very well with light wood, for example.
“Black Walnut” and “Legacy Oak” are the two exhibits that Belgian company Spanolux – Divisie Balterio showed on the EPLF stand in Hall 4. The walnut décor from the Tradition Exotic Collection has an authentic wood look with a fine texture. In addition to walnut the Collection comprises a further five attractive exotic wood types, which are at least as attractive. “Legacy Oak” from the Tradition Quattro Collection shows nature at its best. The light oak décor provides the perfect backdrop for the very latest country look and shows beautiful furniture in its very best light.

Witex presented also an Industry décor at the “contractworld” event: “Campino” from the Vision Collection. The oxidized metal look is firmly in keeping with the purist market trend and can be combined brilliantly with lots of building materials such as concrete, glass and stainless steel. “Apfel markant” is a red-brown fruit wood in a 2-strip look which looks particularly strong and lively as a result of its stark color contrasts. The rustic “Mountain Oak EI 200” is similarly innovative and features a farmhouse floor design whose finish has a “scrubbed” look. The coarse fiber oak structure also gives it a 3-D effect.

Photo CD: kd@phmeyer.de