WOOD & LAMINATE
PARQUET LIFE
Tim Balderstone, Wood Specification Sales Manager at Domus, discusses the growing popularity of parquet.
Decoration on flooring dates as far back as the Egyptians and with our long love affair with wooden floors showing no signs of slowing, one trend that appears to be prevailing this year is parquet flooring. Having been somewhat ignored over recent years with more minimalist influences being a focus of architects and designers, attention has turned to block patterns with manufacturers offering a wider range of options catering for both traditional and more modern designs.
Originally made famous by Louis XIV, parquet flooring from classic herringbone to modern geometric patterns offers a distinctive elegance and brings attention to a surface that is not often the focal point in an interior design. It sits comfortably with other trends we’re seeing this year such as dark colours, natural timbers, strong angles and glamorous furnishings.
Parquet flooring is also versatile. The three dimensional design works as well in the traditional, rustic home as it is does in the most contemporary designs. The rich texture and various shades of woods define spaces beautifully and give floors certain vivacity, while
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providing excellent durability at the same time.
Introduced in 1684 in France, Parquet flooring was originally made by hand cutting small pieces of coloured hardwoods into geometric shapes using squares, triangles and lozenges. They were glued to a concrete floor and scraped, scrubbed, sanded and polished. These floors took time and skill to lay and were extremely expensive, appearing only in the homes of the most affluent families.
Carpet overtook wood as the flooring of choice in the 1930s, but since the 1980s there has been renewed interest. Today, there are many styles of Parquet floors to choose from – some on display in our Battersea Showroom – and they are increasingly being selected for major high end residential projects. Johnson Naylor, the interior designer of the 850 apartments at Battersea Power Station, has selected Domus’ Parquet flooring for all of his designs. The apartments, which will be sold when they complete in 2016, form part of the major regeneration of one of London’s most iconic landmarks, designed by dRMM and Ian Simpson Architects.
As a supplier of wood flooring to top architects and interior designers, we’re seeing Parquet floors in various creative and innovative forms, thanks to the natural beauty and warmth they add to any interior. The traditional choice of architects and designers is often the herringbone pattern either set as a ‘v’ of the herringbone or set diagonal to the room. Other traditional patterns include the basketweave and brick pattern with small blocks set lengthways and finally the original Versailles pattern.
Although we’re still seeing the more traditional patterns prevailing across most sectors, these days more designers are introducing a contemporary take on this traditional approach. New patterns, introducing colour, varying sizes, adding staining and new wood types are all ways in which designers of today are updating traditional parquet flooring.
I expect to see many more stunning uses throughout our projects that showcase this great flooring technique not only in the more traditional methods and spaces but across all areas of a home or project too.
www.domustiles.co.uk www.tomorrowsflooring.com
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