Summary
• The main innovation in the surfaces market is in textured finishes.
• These surfaces have a greater level of authenticity.
• The technique originated in flooring but has translated quickly across the panels sector.
• Kronospan’s Fresh 2 range replicates wood grain.
According to the trend analysts when times are trying everyone retreats to safe territory and surrounds themselves with objects and things that give them a feeling of nostalgia, longevity and security.
This is playing out in the panel products market at the moment. Design and colour wise, we are not seeing any great change in demand from customers involved with interior decoration and furniture. They continue to play it safe with the popular neutral tones of creams, browns, black and burgundy. In wood grains, oak remains the species of choice as it draws on nostalgia and offers long-lasting appeal because it can work in a variety of ways and interior settings.
Either side of this sit pale tones of maple and pine, which continue to have safe commercial appeal in furniture, and higher fashion but niche wood grains such as zebrano and walnut.
Wood grains
The main innovation in the market is linked to wood grains and this is surface texture development. Advances in texture technology apply to melamines and laminates alike as suppliers develop their products to have a greater level of authenticity and mirror the ‘real thing’ without the associated environmental issues. This chimes well with architects and designers who are noticeably moving away from real woods that carry no provenance or are endangered species.
Embossing and printing the texture in register with the wood grain to produce knots and graining originated in the flooring industry but has translated quickly across the panel products sector with great success. Vertical and horizontal deep graining, natural-looking planed finishes, freshly sanded wood in matt textures and currently a rough sawn effect with saw and tooling ‘chatter lines’ are very popular and extremely realistic. High gloss surfaces are also giving way to matt textures with a low reflective quality and different tactile nature.
Looking to the future, I think the trend will continue for ‘natural’ surfaces. Wood grains will become ever more sophisticated in their visual and tactile aesthetics, while colours will continue to be muted and neutral, delivering classic yet modern appeal. Evidence of this is the recent move by Kronospan to bring out a range of MFC matched to the Farrow & Ball paint range, a brand with a respected heritage in colour development and commercial success.
