BRINTONS CARPETS
First impressions really do count
the carpet, and makes it harder-wearing. We also did all the corridors in the Palazzo’s hotel.
We have electronic jacquard technology which allows us to weave patterns that are incredibly long, over three metres. If you think about creating an impression, when the customer walks into the casino you want them to say ‘wow’. If you have a huge pattern spreading across the floor, it adds to the visual impression; an electronic jacquard allows you to do that. Before this technology came in, we were restricted
to under two metres for a pattern. Alan Hinton: Yes, the repeat [in the pattern] was
constrained by how many ‘punch cards’ you could accommodate on a loom, in a cradle. There had to be a punch card for every row of carpet, so you can imagine in a 12-row Axminster, when you get to 12 inches in length you have 144 cards already. It’s a manageability thing with punch cards rather than a technical capability.
CI: So Brintons specialises in Axminster – but what benefits does Axminster bring specifically? Why are you successful in gaming and hospitality?
NH: In a commercial environment, the Axminster carpet rarely wears out; it doesn’t get bald spots. In a casino, after maybe five years or so, it will what we
call ‘ugly out’, which means it just doesn’t look as good as the day it was laid. With the Nylon addition, the carpet can retain its appearance for longer, so within those five years it still looks pretty fantastic up to the day it was lifted up. One of the reasons Brintons is so successful in this
type of environment is that if you think of the wear and tear on the flooring in a casino, it has to do lots of different things. It has to be comfortable underfoot, as you want patrons in the casino round the clock potentially. Also it has to be incredibly hard wearing, because there are cash trolleys, people – lots of things go over the carpet. That’s why a broadloom Axminster is the material of choice for a large number of casinos.
CI: What other high-profile casinos have you been involved with, and what other carpet types/styles?
AH: We also did Star City in Birmingham, UK, and
it’s a great example of our tiled carpet. It’s actually very hard to detect that it’s a tile, it looks very much like a broadloom carpet. It looks like a single piece. People use tile because of ease of access, and you
can replace a single tile if there’s a problem of any kind. In Native American gaming in the US they tend to prefer tile carpets for improved access. That’s a relatively new market for us, but we think our designability will give us an edge there. The tiles are
SEPTEMBER 2010 39
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