DesignWeek Chicago 2024: NeoCon and Fulton Market Design Days evolve the commercial market experience - July 2024

By Darius Helm and Jennifer Bardoner

More than 50,000 industry professionals headed to NeoCon in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart (The Mart) last month to see the latest in commercial design. NeoCon remains the sector’s preeminent show for related introductions and trends, but the event is now arguably a citywide experience as companies continue to trade that centralized location for showrooms in Fulton Market, which is a little over a mile west of The Mart in an eclectic area that is roughly four blocks wide and ten blocks long.

By many personal accounts, attendance at this year’s NeoCon felt down, though the formal count is in line with last year’s turnout. With many exhibitors in both The Mart and Fulton Market hosting weekend previews ahead of the show’s official Monday opening, it could be that visitors were more spread out, though Fulton Market was definitely bustling on Tuesday. However, it’s hard to tell how much of the crowd was there for the Design Days showroom and pop-up experiences versus the slew of trendy restaurants with streetside patios.

NeoCon hosted nearly 400 companies from across the globe, but the show seems to be shifting its exhibit base toward a narrower focus of office furniture and accessories like acoustical treatments, textiles, dividers and work pods. This year, NeoCon hosted ten floorcovering businesses. Of those, five were permanent showrooms-Mannington, Shaw Contract, Patcraft, HMTX and Aquafil. The five temporary showrooms on the seventh floor were AHF Products, Karndean, Kuberit, Bjelin and Schluter.

The Fulton Market neighborhood attracted Tarkett, J+J Flooring, Milliken and Mohawk-who is in the process of building a permanent showroom. But Interface, who has been across Wells Street from The Mart for years, signed up to be part of the Design Days marketing program.

The energy for the three-day show was high, and exhibitors-both in The Mart and Fulton Market-were pleased with the attendance and engagement. It will be interesting to watch how the events evolve, as well as how the separate marketing efforts could potentially impact overarching design trends. While there were some distinct commonalities among this year’s flooring introductions in terms of colorways and patterns, there was a notable divergence from the bright accent palettes seen in the Momentum Textiles showroom in The Mart.

NeoCon is a leading source of information on the trends shaping the industry and related design, with keynotes and panels featuring prominent stakeholders attracting at-capacity crowds. Many of this year’s presentations centered on the future of experience and how that will continue to impact design across the sector’s various verticals. Of particular note this year were conversations around neurodivergence and neuroaesthetics, or the impact design can have on the brain. There was also a notable focus on outdoor solutions, highlighting the enduring market demand for spaces that incorporate the outdoors and promote mental and physical wellbeing.

DESIGN AND COLOR TRENDS
In terms of trends, there were interesting color developments, best illustrated by the casegoods and commercial furnishings and textile companies in the permanent showrooms on the third, tenth and 11th floors of The Mart, with the retro pastels of recent years moving from clear, unmuddied hues toward earthier, more neutral interpretations and being used-in, for instance, furniture upholstery-alongside true neutrals and earth tones to create subtle and sophisticated nature-driven color combinations. And within this trend, a handful of colors dominated: blues and greens and pinks that leaned to coral and gold-all earthy and soft. And there were some richer, more saturated hues, as well, like vivid, saturated blues and deep teals, sometimes in show pieces but often in accents.

All of these colors were in the context of largely earth tone environments, elevated by the use of different textures assembled in modern designs-variety over homogeneity.

Curves were everywhere. On the furniture side, it was the shape of nooks and rugs and sofas, and a curving of corners traditionally sharp-edged. And that was certainly the case in flooring, with carpet and resilient floorcoverings displayed on show floors with generously curved corners that felt casual and welcoming and also stylized-in a throwback kind of way.

Earth tones, more complex and thoughtful than in years past, were a big part of most of the flooring showrooms, particularly carpet, and designs were biophilic through a range of expressions-stylized, literal, heavily designed, mixed materials. And there were also a surprising number of black and white designs that weren’t quite black and weren’t quite white, with thoughtful color blends that brought a fresh, organic perspective to classic motifs.

In terms of LVT, while there were plenty of wood looks-mostly white oak-the most interesting designs were the non-representational, more artistic designs that most of the manufacturers also presented. And there were also stunning stone designs, including exotic stones in both natural hues and colors not quite found in nature.

EXHIBITOR HIGHLIGHTS
Shaw Contract introduced 34 new products in its tenth-floor showroom at The Mart. Its most prominent new collection, Art + Science, is the firm’s first EcoWorx Resilient collection that’s ready for the market. Shaw has been using EcoWorx, a PVC-free polyethylene product, as its carpet tile backing for 25 years, and it first started to develop EcoWorx Resilient back in 2015, and this recent iteration, manufactured in Germany and developed in partnership with Classen, has yielded a high-performance product that enables it to compete effectively with the vinyl products on the market. The design is printed on the core, further reducing the product’s environmental footprint.

EcoWorx Resilient was introduced in three styles. Observe is a stone look reminiscent of travertine; Pivot is a wood visual with gentle graining and color shifts; and Experiment is a modern terrazzo look with a quiet stone field occasionally interrupted by colorful chunky aggregates. Observe is notable for its colorways, which include several fairly saturated hues-yellow, red, green, blue-that match the aggregates in Experiment. According to the firm, Art + Science, a gluedown product, is comparably priced to traditional commercial LVT and can handle compression loads higher than 2,500 PSI. And it is designed to be reclaimed by Shaw and turned into new resilient products or carpet tile backings-Shaw will pick it up for free with a 1,000-square-foot minimum. The collection garnered a Best of NeoCon Gold award for Hard Surface Flooring: Natural Materials.

Another award winner-garnering Best of NeoCon Gold and Sustainability awards in the modular carpet category-is Texture Study, which serves as the debut of EcoWorx Bio backing. It comes in eight classic tonal designs, including fractured and irregular grid patterns, low-key linear designs and organic textured visuals. And another carpet design, Curate, garnered a HiP award for workplace carpet. Curate, in 18 styles, takes its inspiration from artists and artistic movements. For instance, Keith, inspired by Keith Haring, features the artist’s distinctive cartoon graffiti line work.

Another standout collection, Awaken, targets the hospitality market with vivid, colorful designs created with new tufting equipment that enables the use of 16 colors, allowing the firm to create large-scale gradients of color. It’s ideal for customization, including custom area rug shapes, and it took home Best of NeoCon Gold awards for broadloom and area rugs and a HiP award for hospitality flooring.

Based on feedback and research, Mannington Commercial redesigned its showroom at The Mart, trading its open floor plan for one composed of various vignettes so designers could see how the featured products work together and feel in different environments. The moody lounge-like entry featured several options from the brand’s Amtico Signature Abstract LVT collection, displayed in a unique new ‘arc’ laying pattern that gave the impression of an Art Deco marble floor. Elsewhere in the space was a traditional curved installation of two of the four new styles of the extensive 64-SKU collection: one an etched parquet visual and the other a pixelated mosaic look reminiscent of small seashells.

Topped with a 40 mil wearlayer, the collection isn’t just notable for its wide-ranging visuals of unique designs and, in many cases, its realism, but also for the array of sizes and shapes, which add to the impact. There are 11 options, ranging from 12”x12” to 18”x48”, along with 26 laying patterns that enhance the designs and allow for personalization.

Though designed for hospitality and senior living, the new Liminal Space carpet collection is also suitable for workplace, said director of commercial marketing Kathy Long, especially in its modular format, which allows for the sweeping patterns to be dissected and randomized. It was presented in an office vignette. Winner of the Best of NeoCon Silver award for broadloom, the five-look collection features organic visuals in a largely biophilic color palette centered around blues and taupes. The Parallax design is reminiscent of a star-strewn sky, while Reverie conjures images of swirling clouds. Composed of nylon 6,6, Liminal Space helps tell the story of Mannington Commercial’s future direction.

“We’ve always been known as a production house,” said vice president of commercial design Roby Isaac. “We want to let people know that we’re also a design house.”

In its permanent showroom on Wells Street, directly across from The Mart, Interface came to Chicago with new carpet tile and LVT collections merging biophilia with high design-nature expressed through the culture of human creativity. The carpet tile collection, Etched & Threaded, is made up of seven designs notable for both sophisticated multi-level loop textural compositions, including woven looks, and nods to nature. The line includes a pebble design, an abstract level-loop stone design layered over a small-scale laddered grid, a bold motif that has the look of a stone floor deep-groove carved into random medium-scale geometrics, and organic textile aesthetics in knitted and woven visuals. The collection comes in 12 neutral colorways, from near black-and-white to subtle grey blends to earthier combos. One style in particular, E614, was a show-stopper-a heavily textured design of sumptuous cable knit rows and smaller-scale woven and knitted effects running linearly across the plank. It was installed on the showroom floor in Raffia, a dynamic earthy colorway elevated by lines of woody honeyed hues and pops of grey and black.

Earthen Forms is a collection of three LVT products-On Grain, Hearth and Crossroads-all designed to coordinate with Etched & Threaded. And in the case of Crossroads, a fusion of concrete and oak visuals that looks like the concrete has worn through to reveal the wood, it similarly elevates the designed aspect of the aesthetic. On Grain is a soft, flowing oak design in colors ranging from white oak to richer midtones; and Hearth is a stone look that’s like a concrete with hints of travertine flow, with random pockmarks adding a lively effect.

Other notable products on display included Squared Away, a square Flor product (not yet released) with an organic level field overlaid with what looks like a hand-stitched grid; Norament Arago rubber flooring, which features a surface texture like softened slate; and additions to the affordably priced Open Air line, including Striae and Open-Ended, and Breakout, with the look of varying cut-outs of textiles stitched together into carpet tiles. Etched Earth, a carpet tile collection that pairs with Etched & Threaded, is coming in November.

With the Crossville and Armstrong brands now owned by AHF Products, the firm offers a comprehensive hard surface portfolio that, when bundled, will become a strong force in the specified commercial market. At NeoCon, where it showcased new products in a pop-up space on the seventh floor, much of the focus was on Armstrong products that Yon Hinkle, vice president of resilient product management, said “have gotten lost in the shuffle.”

Relaunched just ahead of the show, Armstrong’s MedinPure homogeneous sheet flooring-a PVC-free offering composed of thermoplastic polyurethane-was joined by two new heterogeneous sheet collections that offer a complementary modern aesthetic. Zenscape comprises several organic linen visuals in a calming color palette anchored by blues, while Nidra features a soothing wood visual that includes a diamond parquet design. Along with MedinPure’s extensive biophilic colorways, the releases reflect the movement in the healthcare sector toward healing-centered design.

Armstrong is well established in the market for its VCT, and AHF Contract has now joined its ranks with two new lines. Iliad comprises a more neutral, subdued palette, while Highlights offers bold, bright colorways. Similar to healthcare settings, Hinkle said color is being used more intentionally in education to create an experience and facilitate learning. Meanwhile, many are returning to VCT after seeing how LVT held up in such high-traffic environments, Hinkle said. He reported that AHF had to expand capacity twice during the last school season, with the additional 100 million square feet at the Kankakee, Illinois plant now exceeding what Armstrong had at its two VCT plants prior to the acquisition.

As the company works to “reteach the market” about the material and its capabilities, said vice president of commercial sales Fred Reitz, it is partnering with select companies across the nation to offer custom waterjet cuts and illustrating the limitless possibilities in its marketing material, while also educating clients on the required maintenance for their specific environment.

As Mohawk Group prepares to move into its roughly 10,000-square-foot permanent showroom in Fulton Market, the focus this year was largely on “keeping our brand front and center,” said Jackie Dettmar, vice president of marketing, design and product development. The brand hosted a pop-up in a vacant storefront near where its new showroom will be, where guests could engage around its design theme for the year, “Culture of Care.” In addition to an interactive wall that invited visitors to add Post-Its denoting things they care about, the space featured a few related product introductions on the floor.

Welcoming guests was a custom area rug highlighting a new program that will curate different commercially rated rugs each season. Featuring gold veining and white geometric patterns against a black background, the statement offering tied in with the new Pathmakers collection of carpet tile featured in the back, which won the HiP Award for Environmental Impact–Workplace Flooring. The organic pattern of the Concrete Bloom style was randomly inset with Pollinator Path’s interrupted honeycomb designs, and the contrasting multitonal aesthetic lent additional drama despite the collection’s neutral color palette. Pollinator Path’s design is a reference to Mohawk’s Mo-Honey, which is harvested from honeybee colonies established at Mohawk’s Glasgow, Virginia plant in 2016.

The space was relatively small, so most of the new products were relegated to swatch books and samples scattered around the room. Included were Silvius National Forest, an upcoming launch of warmly colored engineered wood in response to customer requests for the material, and ConnectD, a slightly futuristic visual that represents the first LVT to be introduced in the Fractal collection.

Patcraft, which is part of Shaw Industries, came to the show with a focus on materiality and circular design, and was rewarded with a NeoCon Silver in the healthcare flooring category for ReMaterial, Patcraft’s EcoWorx Resilient collection of PVC-free resilient flooring. The collection comes in over 20 SKUs of wood-based visuals, including a wide range of wood tones and three blue and green colorations.

Patraft also won Best of NeoCon Silver awards for modular carpet and LVT, as well as a HiP award for workplace hard flooring, for the Lithic collection. It comes in three LVT and five carpet tile designs, with 18”x36” formats for all and featuring notably bold designs. On the carpet side, that includes abstract stone visuals in a range of neutrals along with similar field designs overlaid with thick but sparse linear bands of contrasting colors, including in rich blue, green, turquoise, yellow and red. And the resilient products include a large-scale stone-look checkerboard in moody brown and pale veined marble visuals, and two terrazzo looks available with both colorful and neutral aggregates-Neolith is a chunky clustered terrazzo design in a medium scale, and Megalith is a dramatic terrazzo interpretation with oversized aggregates in a close, semi-ordered formation.

The firm also came out with Waste Knot, a hybrid product made of recyclable PET that includes content from recycled drink bottles. What’s notable about the design is the visual, with pressed fibers in contrasting colors resembling felted carpet pad.

Bentley Mills’ new Pacific Standard Time carpet collection celebrates its heritage, drawing inspiration from the company’s California roots in honor of its 45th anniversary. The company has a permanent showroom just across the street from The Mart. The three-look Econyl nylon collection feels both nostalgic and modern and features a timeless neutral color palette of blacks, greys and tans. Lot 45 is the most contemporary style, giving the impression of a pixelated canvas, while Now/Then’s interrupted hatch mark design is distinctly Bentley, and Chronologies is a sophisticated multitonal. All are available as 6’ or 12’ broadloom and in a variety of modular sizes.

In response to a “big loud call for color” in the market, according to Vicki deVuono, vice president of product and marketing, Bentley enhanced its existing Free Day collection of neutrals with Free Day Color. The new collection-which won the HiP Award for Education/Government/Institutional Flooring-features Free Day’s same subtle linear pattern in a veritable rainbow of rich colors. While Bentley president and COO Jay Brown noted that broadloom is seeing increased demand in conference rooms and C-suites, the multi-format platform allows for selective use of color if desired. Free Day Color is augmented by a white dyable, Free Pass, which allows for custom colorations of 50 yards or more. Bentley has partnered with Sherwin Williams in order to provide consistency amid the myriad color options.

Norwalk, Connecticut-headquartered HMTX introduced several new products in its 11th floor showroom in The Mart this year, including the Frankie, Olivette and Teknoflor Healthscapes collections of SRP flooring, a PVC-free alternative made of thermoplastic polyurethane derived from PET with recycled content. The floorcovering, developed in partnership with Texas-based Huntsman, a global chemical products firm, and now licensed as SRP flooring through I4F, is designed to be fully recyclable.

The Frankie collection won a Best of NeoCon Silver in the Hard Surface Flooring – Natural Material category. Frankie is inspired by Frankenstrat, which is what Eddie Van Halen called his heavily customized guitar. The collection, which comes in two formats, is a tonal design with a field of, say, dusty blue, in a stony texture cut through at angles with strong, straight embossed lines in a darker shade, echoing the stripes on Van Halen’s guitar. Frankie comes in 11 colors, including some darker but richly colored hues and moody neutrals.

Also noteworthy was Flow, inspired by metamorphic elements of the flow of water, according to HMTX designers Natalia Smith and Heather Hood. The planks feature different abstract shapes in three or four colors and faux looks-light grey smooth marble, mid-gray textile, rugged earthy stone, midtone wood-disrupting with and intersecting each other seemingly randomly, with the linearity of the plank format to rein it in.

Building on the success of J+J Flooring’s recent modular carpet launches made using new robot creels, the brand debuted the complementary Gallery Edit collection, which was installed throughout its Fulton Market showroom. Featuring design-forward aesthetics in lower weights, the Encore SD Ultima nylon collections hit an “aggressive price point” that is generating traction in the market, based on the releases of Warp & Weft and Artistic Elements earlier this year, according to Laura Holzer, director of product design. The new technology minimizes waste and allows for sophisticated patterning on machines that previously would not have been capable, she explained.

Gallery Edit comprises four styles in neutral colorways, with special attention paid to customer requests for lighter offerings to help imbue a sense of home-like coziness, Holzer said. Muted greens and blues offer subtle accents that enhance the dimensional effect, especially in Artistry, a dynamic style reminiscent of an artist’s brushstrokes in a deconstructed herringbone pattern.

Tying in well with the Technique, Curate and Composition styles, the new Step by Step LVT collection features a modern linen visual that complements the carpet tiles’ contemporary geometric designs, and the 3mm format requires no transition between the two. (There is also a 5mm format.) Representing J+J’s largest LVT launch, Step by Step’s 18 SKUs feature a palette split between light neutrals and bold jewel tones, giving it versatility that the brand is exploring in its marketing materials. With face-to-face appointments increasingly rare post-pandemic, many designers are pulling at least their initial information from the Internet, said director of business development Brian Johnson, so it’s important to help them visualize the possibilities.

J+J also previewed its first PVC-free LVT, a urethane-based construction that will be imported from Europe. Expected to be available sometime next year, the collection’s eight colors mirror existing offerings to provide options in the likelihood of value engineering.

Aquafil’s permanent showroom on the 11th floor of The Mart, continues to focus its NeoCon message on products produced with its Econyl recycled nylon 6, which moves through an ever-expanding loop of product applications, from carpet fiber to apparel to furniture. This year, the firm partnered with the MFA Textiles program at Parsons School of Design in New York City, with several student designers used Econyl fiber in different textile craft techniques to create lighting installations, which were on display in the showroom.

Also on display on the showroom wall was Phoenix, a circular Jacquard woven rug made of Econyl fiber made by New Weave, a Dutch firm, as well as the Tocco collection of colorful sustainable door handles and levers by PBA, an Italian firm.

Tarkett’s new Layered Duality carpet tile collection offers true dimension through a combination of different yarn sizes and tufting techniques that create uniquely textured designs when paired. Grounded by black, the multitonal designs combine to offer a sophisticated menswear look with the ability to add pops of color, which can be more prominent via the inclusion of the periwinkle, teal, rust and ocher field tiles in Grounded Harmony or more subtle via the coordinating pinstripes in Balancing Accents. The all-neutral color palettes of the other two looks, Balancing Act and Attract, speak to the traditional workplace aesthetic, while the accents reflect a move toward color in certain zones, said vice president of commercial design Omoleye Simmons.

Offering complementary visuals and neutral colorways, the new Layered Duality PVC-free resilient flooring collection features abstract linears that provide a contemporary take for the material. Tarkett’s first PVC-free resilient offering, Collective Pursuit, launched in January, features traditional wood and stone looks that also pair well with the new collection. With demand for PVC-free products increasing in the marketplace, Simmons said more will follow.

Tarkett also unveiled a new sustainability initiative in partnership with Mycocycle. Building on Tarkett’s ReStart recycling program, it can now use mycelium to break down post-consumer flooring products, a process loosely illustrated via a showcase in its Fulton Market showroom. The resultant powder is then used in other products, such as car mats, and the manufacturer is exploring adding it back into its own flooring production process in line with Tarkett’s goal to use 30% more recycled material.

Capable of breaking down roughly 5,000 pounds of material in two weeks, the mycelium is in action at two sites, one in Chicago and another in North Georgia, and Roxane Spears, Tarkett’s vice president of sustainability for North America, hopes to have two more up and running by the end of the year. ReStart accepts any type of flooring from any manufacturer, and Spears said they “haven’t found a flooring product the mycelium can’t break down, but it loves carpet.”

Bjelin was back on the seventh floor of The Mart for the second year in a row, this time in a more prominent space, showcasing its Woodura hardened wood products, which won a Best of NeoCon Gold award for, incongruously, vinyl/LVT (there’s no PVC in it). On display was the firm’s Contrast collection of European white oak, with the wood powder that fuses the core to the thin veneer pigmented to contrast with the color of the wood-darker graining for lighter wood, and a lighter cerusing effect on darker woods. The products are made in the firm’s Croatia facility, and the Spacva oak is also sourced from Croatia.

The firm also previewed Woodura Herringbone, which will launch at the end of this year, uses the 5G Herringbone locking system from sister company Välinge Innovation. Bjelin has recently partnered with Spartan Surfaces to channel its products through the commercial market.

In the biggest introduction in the company’s history, LVT specialist Karndean came to NeoCon with 34 new wood designs and 17 new stone looks in its Art Select collection of 30 mil premium LVT, available in both gluedown flex and rigid core constructions. Four of the woods come in 4”x24” herringbone formats.

Among the notable stone looks in Art Select are Calacatta d’Oro, a marble with dramatic gold veining, and Rose Onyx with a soft, buttery texture and on-trend color, which was installed on the floor of the seventh-floor space. Also on the floor was Serrano Oak in a medium brown hue, with a texture reminiscent of worn linear hand scraping.

Karndean, which is headquartered in the U.K., has been in the flooring business for 51 years and in the U.S. for the last 25 years.

Novalis’ Ava commercial brand was hosted by Spartan Surfaces in a spot around the corner from The Mart, and on display was its Sway LVT line, introduced earlier this year, which offers an array of wood looks in chevrons and herringbone constructions. The line is available in 2.5mm gluedown and 6mm with an HDC clic system and comes in eight colors. Sway features a cork back and targets a broad range of sectors, from hospitality to multifamily to tenant improvement.

Bolon is enhancing its sustainability story through a complete overhaul of its manufacturing process for its woven vinyl flooring, which now comprises 68% recycled material (both PVC and chalk) plus “bio-sourced” PVC. Additionally, its standard backing is also mostly recycled PVC reclaimed from the factory in Ulricehamn, Sweden and other sources, and the optional acoustic felt backing is 90% made from recycled water bottles. And it’s all made using 100% renewable, certified electricity.

The new Graphic collection offers four looks. While all can stand on their own, the geometric Gradient and the striated Etch, Tan, Matche and String styles were paired with the Swedish manufacturer’s Shape It Up program, which allows for unique designs through custom cuts of the rolled goods, providing an eye-catching entry to the company’s pop-up in Fulton Market, hosted in conjunction with Matter Surfaces. Meanwhile, the Herringbone and striped Duo styles were displayed as traditional area rugs.

Matter Surfaces is the exclusive distributor of Bolon in the U.S., and the products are cut to order in its Georgia facility. The distributor plans to expand the capability to other resilient products in its portfolio in the near future.

Additionally, Matter Surfaces is experimenting with various installation methods to allow products to be easily and sustainably reclaimed, such as magnetic backings, environmentally friendly adhesives and tape systems. Though it will initially debut such options via Bolon products, the firm plans to expand that capability as well, said vice president of brand development Rachel Pettit.

Milliken’s pop-up showroom near Fulton Market offered a sneak peek of forthcoming products, in addition to a fresh lunch, smoothies and juices, chair massages, and visits from puppies. Among the three new collections previewed was Collective Mind. The featured style was a tight linear in intersecting triangular patterns, displayed in a graphic black-and-white color scheme. The four-look PrintWorks collection utilizes new tufting technology that allows for higher density with lower face weights, yielding a highly textured visual. And the “reverse tip shear” cut and loop construction lends a softer hand, while cutting down on the material requirements, according to vice president of global design Todd van der Kruik.

The overall design reflects the continued desire for residential looks in office environments, especially as many of those spaces transition to mixed use, blending standard and professional offices, retail and residential, he noted.

Milliken’s unique printing approach allows the manufacturer to apply designs in virtually any color to various bases. This also means that as opposed to creating broadloom and then cutting it into tiles, the visuals are printed directly onto individual tiles, allowing for more precise and nuanced design.

Also on display was the company’s second PVC-free resilient, Mesa, a wood- and stone-look plank collection composed of thermoplastic polypropylene. Among the ten wood visuals are darker tones, which are returning in the market.

Küberit, a German firm that produces aluminum and stainless-steel profiles, including bendable contouring profiles, was at its third NeoCon show with a space on the seventh floor, displaying products and hardware, like its specialized tool for bending contouring profiles. Also on display were samples of its LVT series of profiles specifically designed for the category.

According to Karen Bellinger, vice president of Küberit USA, her firm’s metal profiles are stronger and offer a lower profile than transitions made of wood or resilient materials. The LVT Profile Series offers solutions for transitions from LVT to carpet, ramps from LVT to uncovered concrete, the use of LVT on stair treads and risers, and transitions, turns and embellishments for varied LVT styles.

The firm, which dates back 160 years, was brought to the U.S. market in 2020 by TMT America.

Schluter, a brand best known for its orange substrate for tile installations, came to NeoCon to introduce an array of bathroom and shower solutions and had on display its Schluter-Kerdi-Board-SNLT prefabricated, waterproof shower niche that features Liprotec recessed LED lighting with an in-wall dimmer switch. The niches integrate with the Schluter-Shower system.

Copyright 2024 Floor Focus 

Related Topics:RD Weis, Crossville, Coverings, Mohawk Industries, Shaw Industries Group, Inc., Schluter®-Systems, Mannington Mills, AHF Products, Armstrong Flooring, Interface, Tarkett, HMTX, Novalis Innovative Flooring