Hannover, Germany, was the place to get floored (excuse the pun) by a fresh new crop of flooring stars-in-the-making at Domotex 2015. It was here that the underlying magic (again, sorry about the pun) resilient textile floor coverings, parquet and laminate flooring, woven, knotted/tufted carpets, and flooring installation systems can bring to an interior was revealed in all its glory.
FUN WITH GEOMETRY
This January at Domotex, Vorwerk presented the TEXtiles carpet-tile collection. Here, designer Werner Aisslinger uses intriguing modular geometries and colours that let designers shift between calm, rhythmic repeat patterns and vivid, graphically oriented compositions. Variations within the collection have names like Trapez, Darts+Diamonds, Tripod+Prisma and Stripe: you get the idea. vorwerk-carpet.com
THE KNOTS OF LIFE
Jürgen Dahlmanns, the design mastermind at Berlin-based Rug Star, sees Tibetan rugs as a canvas to explore all manner of the human experience. Using Freud and Nietzsche as reference points, his efforts reaped several 2015 Carpet Design Awards at Domotex, including the Best Modern Design Deluxe trophy for Heart No. 01 Original, an abstract epitome of “man’s hunger for love.” rugstar.com
A STEPPE ABOVE
Those seeking solace in nature will be transported to the lush fields and meadows of each season by the Steppe collection created by Wool and Silk. This Turkish company has fared very well at Domotex, scooping up Carpet Design Awards three years running, including this year in multiple categories. woolandsilkrugs.com
STRONG AS AN OX
Swiss firm Tisca Tiara’s new Forte Extreme line takes its name to heart. Made of extremely durable pigment-dyed yard that is twisted with an additional high-density yarn creates an end product suitable for rail carriages, ski lodges or any other area of intense use. tiscatiara.com
SIDELINED BY NATURE
Jaipur Rugs used Domotex to debut its new Project Error rug collection by Kavi, which explores what happens when the ordered precision of machines is sidelined by happy accidents. Such accidents can lead to “misprints,” or as Kavi calls it, “nature’s interruption of mechanical duplication.” Keeping true to that ethos, no two rugs are exactly the same. jaipurrugsco.com
PREPARE FOR LANDING
Berlin-based Jan Kath is always a reliable source of optical and haptic stylistic devices in hand-knotted rugs, but this time decided to take a stab at photorealism with the eye-popping Spacecrafted collection. In it are a variety of intergalactic floor fantasies, such as Moon, which uses 150 to 200 knots per square centimeter and no fewer than 60 hues to depict the lunar surface with telescopic precision. jan-kath.com
OUTSIDE THE BOX
A new carpet collection from Vorwerk flooring brings a playful touch to business-oriented spaces. The product family Elementary Shapes – by designer Werner Aisslinger – combines new colours, shapes and materials in wool carpet tiles that can be joined using brightly coloured felt strips to create free-form rug islands and runners that can act as lively room accents. vorwerk-carpet.com
TOUGH CUSTOMER
Lauzon Flooring’s latest is the Émira series from its Ambiance collection of engineered hardwood flooring. Lauzon’s Pure Genius technology (a light-activated air-purifying agent) is offered standard or optional; the company’s Titanium finish provides superior protection. Available in four colours. lauzonflooring.com
LATEST EMPIRE
Crossville has relaunched its popular Empire porcelain tile collection, now with a new nine-colour palette and updated size offerings. Empire is made with 20 per cent recycled content; it’s suitable for commercial and residential use on interior floors and walls or exterior vertical surfaces. crossvilleinc.com
A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE
XILO1934 – legally harvested timber – is a trademark of Piedmont Parquets in Milan. To date, 19 designers have been invited to “tell their stories” by adding decoration to the company’s flooring. Among them is Cinzia Anguissola D’Altoe, whose Rosea is offered in both natural and whitened oak. xilo1934.it
THE VINYL EDITION
The latest from Beaulieu International Group is Pure, a luxury vinyl tile and plank collection. Thin, water-resistant and lightweight, it can be installed over an old tile floor. Available in a wide range of colours, in several tile and plank sizes. bintg.com
THAT WAS FAST
Nora Systems Inc., manufacturer of rubber flooring, has introduced Noraplan nTx, an innovative sheet flooring that cuts installation time by as much as 50 per cent compared to standard PVC sheet installation. nora.com
DREAM SEQUENCE
From W Studio Decorative Carpets comes the W Dream collection of high-quality, colourfast, printed carpets, billed as “art for the fifth wall.” Thanks to a new and exclusive design technology, the W team can diverge from fixed and restrictive colour palettes and meet the needs of every project, no matter the size, scale or specification. W Dream encompasses a dizzying array of choices. wstudio.ca
ART & COMMERCE
Shaw’s Contract Group’s Color at Work collection merges fields of colour and pixelated pattern to create the framework for an open canvas. It comes in four styles: Achromatic, Duotone, Saturate and Value. Shown: Achromatic and Dutone. shawcontractgroup.com
SOMETHING IN COMMON
Interface has added 25-cm-by-1-m skinny plank modular carpet tiles to its Common Theme collection of squares, creating a series that can yield uncommon flooring design for a variety of commercial and workplace space. Available in three styles. These latest tile options feature up to 70 per cent recycled content. interface.com
TEST PATTERNS
From Tarkett comes two collections of vinyl sheet and tile flooring that allow for subtle non-directional design with colours and patterns that run throughout the sheet and tile. Johnsonite Melodia 2.0 (shown) and Aria 2.0 coordinate with other Johnsonite floor solutions, as well as wall base, transitions and finishing accessories. tarkettna.com
SECRET NO MORE
The use of double-dyed thread that really ramps up the diversity of colour made it possible for a surprisingly realistic depiction of a butterfly in a garden, giving the observer the sense that nature lies behind the abstract forms in blue, green, ochre and rosé. This impressed the jury, who gave Ayka Design an award for My Secret Garden in the Best Studio Artist Design carpets category. aykadesign.com