Heart, soul, and spirit in an engineered floors

Old Floor ltaly is a fami1y business which has handed down a love of wood from generation to generation. The founder of the company was an enthusiastic woodworker who examined the quality of the wood meticulously and was able to decide perfectly how to use each part of a plank.
Nowadays, this developing tradition means that the company has a wealth of knowledge and experience of wood. Moreover, if the name Old Floor Italy evokes images of old or distressed floors, this Italian producer of threelayer parquet floors has much more to offer than that. It specialises in engineered floors with a top layer of 4mm for exotic wood sorts and 4.8 mm for European sorts.

Engineered floors

Old Floor Italy floors consist of three layers and are available in thicknesses of 15 and 20 mm. A bottom layer is utilized in the same sort of wood as the top layer or in any technological equivalent.
The middle layer is utilized is in spruce and is 5.4 mm thick for 15 mm planks and 10.4 mm for 20 mm planks. The top layer has a thickness of 4.8 mm for the wood sorts oak, European steamed walnut, Pear, Chestnut, European cherry, Steamed Acacia, European maple and Elm. With exotic wood sorts Old Floor Italy provides a top layerwhich is 4 mm thick.
This applies to Asian teak, Wenge, Doussie, and Iroko. For glueing the floorboards Old Floor Italy uses adhesives with no formaldehyde. The floorboards have bevelled edges.

Exclusive floors and fitting patterns

Old Floor Italy loves exclusive floors. This means that the Russian market, for example, is an important target group. After all, Russia has extremely demanding clients who look for quality products and special designs, special formats and special finishes.
These are all challenges which fall entirely within the speciality of Old Floor Italy. In addition to the ordinary planks (Floor Board) and the extra large planks (Maxi Floor- Board with a dimensions of 300 x 3000 mm), staves, Old Floor Italy also offers patterns for old, ingenious fitting. Herringbone and Hungarian point are excellent examples of exclusive fitting patterns which are perfect even in the most modern homes.

Settecento: walk on a piece of Venice

The new range of boards “Settecento” founds its strong point in its exclusiveness. To have at home a “Settecento” parquet doesn’t only mean to walk on a wooden floor but walk on a piece of Venice and so, a piece of history. The thousands of “Bricole” (the antique boat anchor posts) that punctuate and characterized the most famous lagoon in the world, will be utilized, with a significant work of ecologic recovering, and converted into an antique pieces.
The more of 300 years of immersion of the Bricole in the salty water, have transformed their Oak (but also Elm, Acacia and Beech) into an ossified and extremely steady material. From it, Old Floor is getting 3 layer boards, with a noble lamella 5 mm thick, supplied in random widths up to 240 mm and lengths up to 250 cm. The new line “Settecento” will be identify by hand made craftings and oiled-waxed finishes: antique liking, whitened or natural finishes with unrepeatable shading thanks to the contrast with the surface they act on. To complete the range also Rialto and Cà Foscari patterns, along with the everlasting Hungarian Herringbone, available with the same craftings and finishes of boards or, if necessary, personalized. The exclusiveness of “Settecento” unique line will be certified and every single lot will be accompanied by a document stating the origin and dating of the utilized raw material.

FEP’s 58th General Assembly and 39th Parquet Congress will be held on 5 & 6 June

As announced at last year’s meeting in Brussels, FEP’s 58th General Assembly and 39th Parquet Congress will be held on 5 & 6 June in Malaga, Spain. The Spanish member federation and companies as well as FEP look forward to welcoming all its members, international guests, press representatives and colleagues at this unique annual gathering of our industry.

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage? Which product are you placing your bets on now? ... The opinion of leading Italian companies.

Ali Parquets (Nicola Mularoni, export manager)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

We keep believing in the values our customers have always appreciated and expected from us.
We’re still convinced that honesty, clarity, transparency, effective pre- and post-sales service, and the highest product quality all contribute to the creation of added value that undoubtedly still makes the difference.
The ambition we feed each working day is to quickly meet every need our customers express in regard to indoor and outdoor parquet flooring and dec

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

EcoWarm, which permits the laying of the most slender (down to two centimeters including the thickness of the floor) pre-finished solid wood parquet without any use of glue even in floors with underlying electric heating systems. SuperPreMass Living Rovere Oak with a titanium tint, with which we offer clients a wide range of colors (two examples are shown in the photo) applied to a longlasting, high-quality product that unlike most of the pre-finished multi-layer parquets in the market permits repeated interventions for the renewal or a new look to the floor.
The new“Metals”collection in the SuperPreMass Glamour range that proposes three bleached products with tints of gold, silver and bronze over a 215 °C base Thermo Frassino Ash base. The new UV oil finish, which offers prestigious aesthetics entirely comparable those obtainable only with natural oils, while ensuring the easy maintenance and cleaning of a varnished floor.

Cadorin Group (R. Cadorin, marketing and comm. manager)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Made in Italy is a highly-appreciated calling card. The fact that every step in the production of Cadorin parquet is taken at our productive unit assures clients that the strictest control operations are conducted on both raw materials and working.
Made in Italy is synonymous with quality, and the creativity and originality that have always distinguished Italian design. What’s more, in order to distance ourselves even further from our closest competitors, we’ve invested in selecting only the most skilled company staff. Another important feature is our extraordinary versatility that allows us to produce both small and large productive lots to perfection.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

As always, we’re placing our bets on Listoni Rovere (Oak Planks): considered one of the most eclectic species of wood, Oak lends itself to enhancement through elegant and refined finishes and can be proposed in a wide range of colors. Its fascinating grain provides an ideal background for multiple proposals that can be embellished even further by various finishes, from the most “classic” to the most original.
Bleached Oak, in particular, is always one of the shades in greatest demand thanks to the special warmth it brings to any room.

Chimiver Panseri (Manuel Todeschini, export manager)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Chimiver Panseri Spa has been in the market for over 45 years. Its development is based on technological research, respect for users, environmental protection, and innvoation.
These additional factors let Chimiver Panseri Spa offer its clients one of the most complete and innovative product assortments currently available in the international market: from products for screed and subfloor repair to floor care and maintenance products, and including primers, adhesives, varnishes, stains, oils, and special products.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

Lios Sundeck W Oil is an water-based impregnating oil for wood. And it's particularly suitable for the treatment of wooden floors located outside (swimming pool edges, verandas, walkways), window and door frames, fences and canopies made of wood.
Lios Sundeck W Oil is composed of emulsified oils and water-based resins, reactive elements of which bind to the wood lignin, strengthening it and delaying the wood decay (graying) significantly. The light mordant, in addition to be an excellent solar filter, gives the wood a pleasant warm colour. Lios Sundeck W Oil also protects the wood from mildew and infesting microorganisms. On rubber and expansion joints the drying time could be longer.
Hence, is recommended to make some tests before application.

Cora' (Silvia Cora', owner)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Our sales logic begins with the importance of constructing parquet with certified materials, starting from the use of non-toxic glues and varnishes.
The environment is certainly our most important resource. This conviction is developed through both our COC, FSC, and PEFC certification and our forestry concession sustainable management plans that ensure we supply only products with guaranteed quality and reliability under the EC Mark. All our products also comply with EU Regulation 995 dated October 20, 2010, which as of March 3, 2013 introduces obligatory traceability for materials and products derived from wood. Despite our large size, we are also very flexible, receptive to dialogue, and the exchange of ideas on the market.
This is why we dedicate meticulous attention to the relations we develop with the designers who provide us with the inspiration to improve existing products or create new ones. This leads to the perfection of instruments that subsequently reach the sales outlets and even the creation of special products for individual projects.
Which product are you placing your bets on now? Nuevo Natural Oil is a pre-finished three-layer parquet in European Oak, a parquet distinguished by its Natural Oiled finish that ensures the wood natural transpiration and a warm, vibrant look with a characteristic velvety sheen.

Ideal Legno (Sandro Marigo, marketing manager, research and development)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

We believe our strength comes from our continuation of the Made in Italy tradition, that perfect combination of taste, creativity, and quality that is appreciated in every nation on earth.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

We’re developing a new product that we’ll be presenting soon, Super Listone, a new format designed to meet the needs of customers who want a large format at a lower price than they expect. This bevelled-edge oak parquet with dimensions of 11,5 x 170 x 1500/2000 mm is available in various colors and finishes. Laying by gluing makes it suitable for floor heating. Caption: Super Listone bleached white oak

Isolmant (Simone Mannocci, export manager)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Not only a direct producer of insulation materials, Isolmant also provides builders with highly-qualified consultation on the various acoustic and thermal insulation solutions available.
Isolmant provides a complete range of products that eliminate the problems that occur most frequently during the floating laying of parquet and laminates.
The range of Isolmant parquet sound absorption padding is divided into the “Home Line” for the floating laying of parquet or laminates or other limited domestic applications, and the “Professional Line” of products with high technological content that meet even the most demanding sound absorption needs in terms of duration and mechanical resistance.
All Isolmant products are provided in small format rolls for easy, scrap-free laying. Isolmant product performance is amply certified and guaranteed by external test laboratories. Isolmant can also formulate products on the basis of specific client needs.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

IsolDrum Film in the Home Line is sound absorption padding in embossed 2 mm thick HQPO polyethylene faced with a protective layer of vapor barrier film. IsolDrum Heavy in the Professional Line is sound absorption padding in 2 mm thick HQPO polyethylene faced with HDPE film for the highest obstruction to the passage of moisture.

Itlas (Gilberto Garbin, export manager)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Supply to the client a high quality, guaranteeing that the wood floors they produce are entirely made in Italy nature are entirely made in Italy, with quality, first-choice natural material, created h are exclusively designed by the company and using traditional italian artisan carving workmanship.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

The idea behind "I Grandi Classici" is a return to the past, tradition, the refined and evergreen taste of classic flooring. A project based on a careful study of the décor found in historical European homes, in close symbiosis with culture and passion for wood. The company offers three types of floors: herringbone, tiles and compositions. They can be also custom-made in accordance with the client's exclusive design and project.

Klindex (Roberto Bibiano, head of marketing)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Passion, quality, experience, innovation - always keeping one step ahead of the others and the closest contact with the customer.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

Right now our hopes are high for our new line of Hercules grinding machines with adjustable speed, the first Klindex grinding machines equipped with the DCS (Double Cutting System).
Thanks to this innovative function, the simple insertion of a pin lets you stop the rotation of the plate and continue only with the rotation of the diamond disk. The new Hercules grinding machines can be transformed from counter-rotating planetary machines, the ideal solution for grinding and polishing, into high-performance machines for the removal of glue and the preparation of industrial flooring.
The crown wheel and anti-shock system make the range sturdy and reliable under any conditions at all, while the new laser-cut frame gives it an unmistakable Italian design. Motors are available from 4 to 15 HP; speed is adjustable from 450 to 1300 rpm. Three tools with 140, 240 and 340 mm can be mounted. Useful working section ranges from 450, 550, 600, 650 to 800 mm.

La Brenta (Diana Galante, export manage)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Our strong points are absolutely the combination of high quality of the Italian products, design, innovation by conjugating different materials with wood, and direct support during the work and after. Essenze has its team of Creative Boutique for technical support during the realization of the project, the selection of woods and other materials like resins, marble, brass, steel, and the proposition of new ideas.
What is more it provides a support for laying floors, especially if they are very elaborated, so with our company customer is never alone from the beginning to the end.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

At the moment the diamond point is represented by the new collection of inlaid floors, where the main character is not only wood, indeed it is put side by side with another innovative material that is a polyester blend with marble dust. With this new combination design seems to come to live above all thanks to the particular treatment applied to this material that is in high relief to the touch, and to the handmade planning realized to the whole surface. The result is a unique handcrafted product, characterized by the typical Italian quality, beauty and elegance.

Mapei (Angelo Giangiulio, product manager Wooden Flooring Line)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Research & Development to offer innovative and ecologically sustainable products complemented by a client assistance service that ranges from information and training to direct assistance at the worksite.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

Mapei is concentrating on offering systems more than mere products: simple, safe, and longlasting systems that above all else defend human health and protect the environment. One range of products that has proven particularly gratifying in recent years is the Ultracoat line of varnishes for parquet that embody all the latest technological innovation available in the market today. Raw materials developed to provide the best results even in low VOC systems for compliance with increasingly restrictive eco- compatibility and sustainability regulations have recently been made available.
This has enabled us to obtain products that offer the same performance as before but with lower environmental impact, a “greener” line with better characteristics. The entire new line is NMP free with low VOC, EC1.

Progress Profiles

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

Progress Profiles design and selling of furnishing profiles, exports its products to over 50 countries around the world, and has recently opened a new office in the United States Randolf, New Jersey.
After over 28 years of success in world markets and the opening of two offices in the main centers of contemporary business such as Dubai (Progress Profiles Middle East LLC) and Moscow (Progress M Plast), Progress Profiles reinforces its presence in the United States ready to offer solutions of excellence to satisfy the most demanding customers. One of the strengths of this successful and modern company is the continued investment in high-quality training, reserved to employees and clients, in which Progress Profiles has always invested a large amount of energy and resources.
A dynamic policy, as well as a wide range of products items and a very high quality of production have led the company to achieve the goal of over 5000 active and satisfied clients.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

Among the product news, the already rich range of finishing for the Progress Profiles's products grows again: Prodeso is an uncoupling and waterproofing membrane ideal for the complicated substrates, balconies, terraces and horizontal surfaces of any dimension without splitting joints, expansion of the screed before the laying of the ceramic and natural stones.
This new membrane guarantee the laying of any pavement and the waterproofing of the substrate also in case of overlapping, on supports with cracks and not perfectly aged and so with possible steam stresses.
This innovative Waterstop system reduces the time of construction because it’s possible to work without interruption during the laying of the membrane until the grouting of the floor; furthermore it’s a versatile and suitable system for any support also of great dimension both inside and outside.

Woodpro (Katia Gava, export manager)

What are the winning cards in your company’s hand that ensure its competitive advantage?

The strongest cards in the Woodpro hand are thirty years of experience in the woodworking sector and first-hand knowledge of the leading raw material supply markets. We’re also distinguished by our “just in time” productive flexibility that lets us satisfy every client request, even the most urgent.
Our warehouse is always stocked with various qualities and sizes of wood. Clients can come from anywhere to inspect the material they want and even purchase minimum quantities. Thanks to the relationships we maintain with various national and international shippers, we can guarantee rapid deliveries anywhere at all.

Which product are you placing your bets on now?

Our core business is the production of exclusive, Made in Italy, oak lath top layer parquet cut from certified timber felled in qualified areas. Upon client request, we can also supply top quality lath in other types of wood, such as walnut, cherry, and ash. Dimensions and qualities can be adapted to the precise request of each client.
We’re specializing our current production in large-size lath (with widths of 250/280/300/350 mm and lengths of from 2000 to 4000 mm, for example).

This year’s password will be “innovation”: from the latest trends in the market to design show rooms and the many information, training and networking possibilities that present tomorrow’s developments today

Little more than a month away from its opening, the Domotex Show, the world’s prestigious showcase for the flooring market, is already showing signs of certain success thanks to an ample international dimension, the new section entitled Innovations@DOMOTEX dedicated to the most innovative proposals in the market, and the return of the Wood Flooring Summit.
This year’s Domotex Show will be held in Hannover from January 11 – 14, 2014, and feature the participation of around 1,400 exhibitors from 60 different nations, who will present their products and new collections to the world on a parade of the coming trends and styles in the flooring sector. Just one event will put the spotlight on all the sector’s different categories, from resilient textile floor coverings for the residential and contract market, to carpets, parquet, and laminates, while also providing a close look at the best techniques of use, laying, and maintenance.
One of the Show’s most distinctive fea- tures will certainly be Innovations@DOMOTEX, a special section that will high- light the exhibitors’ most innovative proposals selected by an independent panel of five experts chaired by industrial de- signer Stefan Diez. The winners will be placed on proud display in the Halls 6, 9, and 17 that host the Innovations@DOMOTEX-Areas. On this tour for the discovery of innovation, visitors will be rewarded with a precious overall view of all the latest trends in the sector. Another popular area at Domotex 2014 will most certainly be the return of the Wood Flooring Summit after its success- ful debut in 2012. The production of the world’s leading names in parquet and laminates will be placed on display in a setting enhanced by conferences, special guests, and award ceremonies. The in- creasingly important Outdoor Living sec- tor will have a spotlight of its own focused on the most exciting new offers in outdoor flooring, covering, and paneling. More than two-hundred producers of parquet, laminate, decks and facing are expected to exhibit at Domotex 2014. Last but not least, the event would not becomplete without a point of reference for the greater information and updating of the sector’s professionals: Treffpunkt Handwerk. Alongside a parallel forum for the tradesmen (Forum Handwerk), the Show’s program will offer installers who lay parquet and floors, painters, and interior decorators unique opportunities to gain greater familiarity with the latest techniques and tools developed for working and laying. This year as well, the 2014 Domotex Show promises to offer interna- tional operators in the sector an incomparably complete overall view of the tendencies and the most significant evolutions in one of the world’s important mar- kets, the flooring market, which now appears to be finally growing again.