We continue our NeoCon 2016 recap with a look at the latest contract finishes that are sure to enliven walls, floors and even countertops or tabletops. Think patterned architectural glass, vibrantly hued carpet tile, shimmering high-performance wall coverings and stone-emulating laminate.
3form: Translucent Color Portfolio and Edge
The main story in 3form’s Merchandise Mart showroom this year was its Translucent Color Portfolio of 250 hues that have been selected for commercial interiors. Highlights from this edited palette became suspended, rotating disks that transformed the showroom into an art gallery of sorts.
3form
Meanwhile, the company also unveiled new fin shapes for its Edge modular wall/ceiling-fin series, which are particularly ideal for animating long corridors.
3form
Arborite: Commercial Stones
Ranging from engineered-stone textures to large-scale veiny-marble patterns, the 14 designs of this curated line of high-pressure laminate enables designers to incorporate luxurious surfacing looks at a fraction of the cost. What’s more, these classic styles can easily cross over into residential settings yet perform for commercial markets.
Arborite
Bentley: (los)t angeles
The LA-based flooring company’s Mart showroom could be characterized as dark and moody — in a good way. It was all part of Bentley’s (los)t angeles narrative, which looks at and interprets the hidden and forgotten places of its home base. Two styles make up the modular carpet series: Underground features large-scale abstracted blocks of rich color, while Trespass sports a distressed, pixelated plaid that almost reads as a crosshatch pattern. Both are composed of Antron Lumena Type 6,6 solution-dyed nylon and come in 24-inch squares or 18-by-36-inch planks.
Bentley
Carnegie: High-Performance Wallcoverings and Xorel Artform
New York City–based textile company Carnegie has expanded its wallcovering category with new designs that are all high performing but PVC free, as part of its commitment to providing PVC-free alternatives. The new products are constructed of woven of Carnegie’s own Xorel material, TPOs (thermoplastic olefins) and other high-performance yarns. Xorel is Cradle-to-Cradle certified but also comes in a bio-based version that is Gold certified, while the TPOs meet Cal 1350 indoor air quality.
Carnegie
Some of you will remember that earlier this year Carnegie debuted acoustical panels using its textiles in some-200 colors. Now the company is offering some of its patterned and textured fabrics for these tiles: the nine added embossed and embroidered patterns come in more than 50 colorways.
Carnegie
Designtex: Bespoke Surfaces and Patina
Showing off its super-high-resolution printing capabilities, Designtex showcased a number of Bespoke Surfaces, which can be digitally printed onto any of 15 substrate materials including ceramic steel, glass film, wall coverings, rigid panels and magnetic surfaces. The images are part of the company’s curated portfolio and range from abstract graphics to nature.
Designtex
Also a showstopper, the Patina wall covering collection boasts a gorgeous and almost painterly design created by digitally printing patterns with translucent ink onto a vinyl metallic substrate. Three styles are offered.
Designtex
Edelman Leather: Kyle Bunting
Here’s something you don’t see every day. Edelman Leather tapped designer Kyle Bunting on some NeoCon collaborations, including this trippy-fun wall covering. The piece is aniline double-dyed hair-on-hide.
Edelman Leather
FilzFelt: ARO Block
Award-winning ARO (Architecture Research Office) followed up on its previous FilzFelt collaboration with ARO Block, a sound-absorbing wall-tile system defined by triangles and hexagons. The combination of geometric forms results in a dynamic and graphic composition, and the 100-percent-wool felt units come in a choice of 63 colors.
FilzFelt
Interface: World Woven
Timeless and familiar fabrics encountered throughout the world — from a classic houndstooth to a Scottish plaid — inspired designer David Oakey’s latest modular carpet collection for the flooring giant. The group consists of six Skinny Planks and three FLOR by Interface square tiles in a selection of eight color palettes. Long a leader in sustainable manufacturing practices, Interface produces this line with 100-percent-recycled-content nylon with GlasBac RE backing (which consists of up to 81-percent-recycled content and is manufactured in clean-energy-powered factories).
Interface
Mannington Commercial: Infused Collection
As if taking cues from current trends in the ceramic tile industry, this LVT (luxury vinyl tile) collection is styled like patchwork mosaics with a variety of coordinating graphic patterns and colorways. The ONEGlobal-designed series includes five patterns each in 9-inch-square or 2.5-by-36-inch formats with a 20-millimeter wear layer for durability. The floors look stunning whether mixing and matching or laying in a monochromatic field.
Mannington Commercial
Mohawk: Geometric Landscape and Moonscape
There were some really strong Mohawk products in both the LVT and carpet categories, so we’re highlighting our absolute favorite in each. On the LVT side, Geometry wowed us with very simple lines and angles that combine with solids to create striking patterns that draw and move the eye. Each tile features a 20-millimeter wear layer with an M-Force Enhanced Urethane finish for high-traffic durability.
Mohawk
Following the success of its 2015 collaboration with 13&9, Mohawk teamed up with the design studio again for Moonscapes. The collection essentially layers abstracted, halftone-like patterns of the moon’s terrain with a geometric grid. The dimensional design comes in broadloom as well as seven cut rugs.
Mohawk
Patcraft: AdMix
We walked into the Patcraft showroom thinking that the company was now producing terrazzo, when in fact what we saw was really a resilient tile line, AdMix. The remarkably realistic appearance is thanks to its homogeneous (through-body) coloring and large formats. Optional weld rods additionally create the illusion of metal strips in terrazzo. AdMix is composed of 10.4-percent pre-consumer recycled content and boasts lower VOC emissions than linoleum and rubber.
Patcraft
Shaw Contract Group: Configure
The hexagonal carpet tile isn’t new, but exciting colorations within the hex are enabling designers to create some fresh floor compositions. Case in point, the new Configure tiles sport asymmetric color blocks within the hex that, when combined, offer truly one-off designs. The collection’s four styles are multilevel pattern cut/loop construction made with EcoSolution Q nylon.
Shaw Contract Group
Skyline Design: Glass Gradients
Amsterdam-based Scholten & Baijings rethink gradient glass patterns with simple geometries and soft palettes in this newest collection for Skyline Design. The square or dot patterns can be scaled for clear tempered safety or low-iron PPG Starphire tempered safety glass in sizes of up to 72 by 144 inches. The substrate can be specified clear or etched, while color can be applied to the pattern or its background. The glass would be perfect as interior walls and doors, partitions or even wall cladding.
Skyline Design
Tarkett: Collections Infinies
This new digitally printed LVT collection consists of five collaborations with world-renowned artists/designers of different stripes: Stefan Sagmeister (shown at top), Suzanne Tick, D.B. Kim, 2×4 and K&Co. The styles range from the bold and graphic (Kim’s overlapping crystalline pattern) to the subtle (K&Co’s tonal gradients on a woodgrain-mimicking ground).
Tarkett
Unika Vaev: ecoustic Veneer
A different kind of acoustical covering, Instyle’s ecoustic Veneer is a perforated or non-perforated wood panel product that can be applied to interior walls and ceilings to provide an NRC of up to 0.80. The 11-by-106-inch units interlock via a shiplap system for ease of installation.
Unika Vaev