Selected innovations from Innovations@DOMOTEX
Elastic floor coverings
Naturalness and sustainability play a key role in the world of elastic floor coverings, with many exhibits at the forthcoming DOMOTEX looking ever more similar to real wood planks. What’s more, improved technologies for printed film and embossing are creating a feel that is almost identical to nature. The designer floors that were selected as Innovations@DOMOTEX can be laid problem-free, are manufactured in an environmentally-friendly way and boast a high degree of dimensional stability.
The “Wood Classic EIR” designer flooring by US exhibitor Earthwerks is barely distinguishable from real wood. Its particularly broad printed film emphasizes color contrasts and tiny nuances in the grain that are typical of wood, and the deep embossing is precisely aligned with the wood grain. An astonishingly natural look and feel is also a defining feature of “Floorify Rigid”. These discerningly worked planks and tiles from Belgian company Floorify are water-resistant and can be laid on any surface. On ceramic tiles and other underlays, “Evolution Zero” can span a joint width of up to 1 cm. This is the first rigid designer vinyl flooring developed by Virag in Italy, and it won’t stretch even if exposed to direct sunlight.
Elastic floor coverings with surface structures designed using natural materials are creating new production opportunities. One convincing development is “Marmoleum Cocoa” by Forbo Flooring. This Dutch company is varying its successful linoleum flooring by scattering in chopped cocoa bean shells, which are an industrial waste product. This adds visual emphasis to the sustainable aspect of Marmoleum. Li&Co from Switzerland is using alpine hay, herbs and flowers for the “Lico Pur” coating. Pressed pieces of plants are mounted on cork and on a carrier plate and are made durable by means of so-called hot-coating technology. (he)
