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Monday, 10 January 2022 15:43

Purity, simplicity and sustainability for a long-lasting interior.

While the pandemic continues to create uncertainty across markets, there is one thing the flooring sector knows for sure: consumers want natural, sustainable, and hard-wearing interiors, in the hope to reset and create a more circular economy.

Ultra-realistic design and surface texture combined with tough and robust materials

Design trends have increasingly shifted towards natural organic style in the past year, with earthy colours and materials being at the forefront. The pandemic completely turned our lives upside down. People have found themselves doing more activities at home. This created a growing need to create a cocoon of calmness amidst the external chaos. Additionally, growing concerns around hygiene and healthy living translated into customers choosing floorings that are both natural and easy to clean. In response to this, our members have worked to improve the realism of their products’ imitation, to provide customers with ultra-realistic design reminiscing of nature.

Consumers want purity and simplicity to create a calm and harmonious home. They tend to look for warmth and a palette of earthly tonalities, from sand to beige, green moss and calming nude nuances. When it comes to materials, natural materials like terrazzo, concrete, cement, oaks and some pine tend to be top of the list. Cork has also made a comeback. On one hand, iconic Herringbone with nostalgic elegant touch is making a comeback; on the other hand, larger format natural wood planks and calm stone tiles are highly popular for minimalistic yet luxurious modern interior.
Additionally, from the design of their flooring, consumers also look for durability, practicality, and safety. Therefore, our members constantly invest in developing new technologies for tough, sturdy, waterproof materials that offer perfectly water-repellent properties, making it the ideal choice of flooring for bathrooms and kitchens. Floorings have also become easier to install and longer lasting, thanks to a new floating floor system with click that allows for a smoother installation process.

The key word for 2022: resource conservation

The global pandemic led us to reflect our relationship to nature. Building a more circular economy, keeping the valuable material & resources within the economy and out of the environment should be our common task across the industry.

Our members have listened to consumers’ desires and invested in innovative solutions that ensure sustainable processes and recycled materials. Thanks to a new special design layer made of Tinyl, there is no need for plasticisers or PVC anymore. Cork, which promises to become a growing trend, is a 100% natural and recyclable material that can be sustainably sourced. Rigid floorings, including the integrated sound-absorbing cushions are particularly easy to recycle and are already being produced in an internal recycling system. Finally, some members have embraced the revolutionary DEC (Durable Eco Composite) core board with 50% natural wood fibres, making it an industry leading solution to the problem of producing an environmentally friendly floor without sacrificing performance.
More than most other industries, interiors are driven by products with a longer lifespan, and sustainability has become a mainstream consideration within this. 2022 and beyond, our members will continue to invest and innovate for creating more beautiful, green and durable products, which meet the highest functional standard, and come with carefully designed regenerative post-consumer circular plans.