off -cuts as well as recycyling the old fl ooring they rip up so they can be used to make new fl ooring. The brand has also updated its iQ Granit and iQ Eminent vinyl designs aimed at hard-wearing areas. Eminent, for example, mimics the surface of polished natural stone. And IVC Commercial of Waregem, Belgium, has launched a new range of natural-looking laminate solutions which are made entirely from recycled or discarded wood, often as a by-product of other industries, to create their new lines, Dhara, Nesta, Fika and Tuff a. The wood is processed into a high-density fi breboard core and includes a fi nish that withstands heavy use and makes it easy to maintain. It includes a texture that follows the wood grain pattern and
has a natural-looking extra-matt fi nish. Today, an average of 2,000 square metres of veneer for furniture, fl ooring, accessories and various other applications can be obtained from the appropriate trees. And that means that rather slow-growing, fi ner woods are used, which above all have a beautiful or interesting grain. Fast-growing woods or even wood scraps, on the other hand, serve as the preferred substrate in the form of particle board, MDF board, multiplex board or lightweight panels. When most people think of veneers they think of furniture. Their
increasing use in fl ooring is less well known, thanks to the stronger associations with solid wood or photorealistic imitations in laminate or vinyl. But the trend towards a natural living environment in the face of dwindling resources is increasingly opening the market to suppliers of wood fl oors with high-quality, real-wood veneer decors. Trailblazers here include the likes of Tim Mergelsmann, of Görlitz, Germany, whose love of birch bark and its possibilities, grew on the back of his time in Siberia, where he helped to set up a traditional birch-bark workshop and fell in love with the landscape, the people – and with the natural versatility of the material. Years after launching a company that exports vessels made of both
birch and high-quality cane bark to Germany, he spoke of “a growing desire and demand for materials that come from nature – healthy, living materials”. He said: “It is precisely this holistic need, the longing for nature, that we want to satisfy.” His company ensures its bark harvesting activities are done in the most
forest-friendly way possible, meaning by hand, by family businesses and without any heavy equipment that could compact the forest fl oor. The actual peeling of the birch is done without destroying the cambium - the layer of the tree responsible for thickness, nutrition and tree wound healing. In this way, the birch tree goes through its natural cycle without suff ering any lasting damage. Even dead trees remain in the forest as deadwood and continue to provide important habitat for organisms, serving as water reservoirs and thus accelerating the perpetual renewal
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