Current trends and the latest products – for many visitors to DOMOTEX the show is all about innovation. From 11 to 14 January the world’s leading trade fair for carpets and floor coverings showed all the latest new products from exhibitors in a new presentation format: Innovations@DOMOTEX. Here the key trends in floor coverings for 2014/15 can be seen: the rediscovery of natural materials and the natural look, sophisticated minimalism and a sensuous opulence. Resilient floor coverings have seen a strong surge in popularity. Designer floor coverings in particular are very much the trend at the moment, and definitely rank as one of the most sought-after product segments. The large choice of finishes in a wide variety of different formats offers plenty of inspiration for creative floor design.
Designer floorings never fail to appeal
Today’s innovative floor coverings combine good looks with practicality and ease of installation. Designer floorings are an ideal choice both for domestic and contract applications, where their many advantages include durability, low maintenance, good sound-absorbing properties and minimal build heights. Loose-laid designer floor coverings like those marketed by Project Floors and MFlor International are quick to lay and require no adhesives.
Back to our natural roots
Natural materials such as wood, hemp, linen, bamboo and wool are also very popular right now. Wood flooring manufacturers such as Baltic Wood favour a look that is as close to nature as possible. The Polish company’s new “Timeless” collection features real wood floorboards that have been aged and distressed by hand, with worm holes, traces of black paint and hand-planed edges. Surfaces tend to be matt rather than shiny, and slightly rough, which gives them a particularly natural appearance. The Dutch company Boleform is exhibiting solid wood floorboards with curved edges that follow the lines of a tree’s natural growth, taking the concept of “the natural look” in flooring to its logical conclusion – and also helping to conserve valuable resources by minimizing timber wastage. Recycled timber beams are worked by hand to give them a deliberately uneven finish. The rustic “used look” is not just a visual thing either, but a tactile experience, something that can be felt with the hand. Caring for the environment also plays a big part. Exhibitors will be showing floors made entirely from recycled materials, which can be fully recycled themselves in due course. One example is the resilient floor covering “Bergo Eco Tennis” from Swedish manufacturer Bergo Flooring.
Trendy rugs made from old bicycle inner tubes, used car fan belts or items of clothing are a speciality of the Belgian firm Papilio. Warm colours such as beige, brown, olive green, chrome yellow and aubergine set the tone. Contrast comes in the form of more vibrant colours such as coral, pink turquoise and petrol blue, used for fringes, borders or as an overlaid pattern. The yearning for native lifestyles and cultures is also evident in ethnically inspired designs and traditional patterns associated with nomadic tribes. Tactile and deeply textured surfaces deliver the welcome snuggle factor. Fashion-inspired innovations in fitted carpets include bouclé-type finishes and chenille yarns. Wave-like surface textures that look as if they have been plaited can now be incorporated into fitted carpets with the aid of special tufting machines. This opens up the possibility of other formats for rugs beyond the traditional rectangle, including organic, free-form shapes with flowing curves and ragged edges, as seen in the work of Jan Kath at Jan Kath Design.
Sophisticated minimalism
Contemporary minimalist interiors tend to be spacious and bright, with a particular affinity for natural daylight. This feeling of light and space is underlined by the use of natural wood plank floors with exceptionally long board lengths – Douglas fir is a popular species for this application. Manufacturers such as Kährs Group have taken to incorporating metallic pigments in their parquet flooring, producing a subtly reflective surface that works well in rooms that otherwise rely on a limited colour palette. Over a large floor area the effect of these metallic tints is restrained and understated, introducing a sense of restful calm into public and private interiors.
Textile surfaces are now starting to make their appearance in resilient floor coverings too, as in the latest products from Hellsten Flooring. Parador is showing HDF laminate boards finished with a carpet print. In this way our love affair with textile floor coverings, which we like for their cosy, soft-touch feel, can enjoy a new lease of life – even in today’s minimalist domestic interiors. Pale grey in all its different tones and shades will become a key colour for interior designers to work with, teamed with greyish olive tones, grey-beige tints and cream. Large areas can be enlivened by subtly iridescent colour effects. Black and white keep things contained with straight lines and borders. They are often teamed with softer colours – fashionable nude or pale pink, perhaps. And sometimes more intense and vibrant colours are used – cyclamen, red or lemon yellow. Carpet materials are generally of superior quality, such as fine wool and silk. Patterns are often geometric – chessboard checks, triangles, grids. Stripes may be narrow and sharply defined, or sprawling, irregular, and with blurred edges. Cool digital prints and rectilinear lettering reference the contemporary design idiom. Functional purists go for patterns inspired by our high-tech electronic world, such as representations of Internet pathways. A modern take on the Oriental carpet is sometimes used as a contrasting design element, with the traditional shapes and patterns only faintly discernible underneath the over-dyed rug surface.
Sensuous opulence
Pattern and ornament play a central role here. These are traditional, highly figured and romantic. Wood floors too are characterized by a decorative playfulness – elaborate laying patterns in cherry and walnut, inlaid parquet in walnut, basketweave parquet in spruce and mosaic-look parquet from Z-Parket. Parador has collaborated with the designer Hadi Teherani to develop a reinterpretation of the traditional herringbone pattern in a combination of natural oak and fumed oak. This year’s vinyl floor coverings also feature creative patterns and patchwork effects, made particularly easy by the 360-degree click-fix system developed by Beaulieu for its Dreamclick Tile range.
Carpets and rugs are made from costly materials such as the wool of highland sheep or pure silk, painstakingly hand-knotted and embroidered by skilled carpet makers over many hundreds of hours. Patterns frequently draw on traditional decorative motifs, but combined with contemporary elements. With its great love of pattern and ornament, the period spanning the Belle Époque and Art Déco serves as a rich source of inspiration. Many carpet designs are also inspired by the world of art, and their intricate floral motifs often recall the works of old masters. The wide variety of patterns includes checks, circles, ornamental motifs, tendrils and foliage, flowers and animal motifs, inspired by our own culture, but also by the cultures of other civilizations. Sometimes these motifs are repeated to form an allover pattern, sometimes they form a playful patchwork, and sometimes they are enlarged to form the centrepiece of the design. There is also a new variation to be seen now, in which the pattern is selectively placed in one corner of the rug – either on a plain background or superimposed over a muted and toned-down allover pattern. And trompe-l’oeil effects, once confined to the ceilings of stately homes and palaces, can now be enjoyed on carpets, thanks to special printing processes used by manufacturers such as Zollanvari in Switzerland. Strong colours derived from precious stones and metals, such as emerald green, sapphire blue, ruby red, amethyst violet and gold yellow, underline the theme of opulence, but are sometimes toned down for an old and faded look. And to offset all this richness, there are also plenty of variants in natural black or other achromatic colours.
