Innovation

Innovation

INNOVATING FOR THE FLOORS OF TOMORROW

Our 180 R&D experts in 24 labs worldwide work everyday at creating value for our customers by developing innovative flooring solutions and services. Their aim is to create enjoyable living spaces that are environmentally friendly, personalisable, and connected and interactive.

Innovating for people and the planet

Applying the principles of the closed-loop circular design based on the Cradle to Cradle® approach has required to change our mindset from a one-off use and disposal of resources to a repeated re-use of resources, modifying profoundly the way we conceive and produce our products.

There is a constant need to innovate to live up to our environmental ambitions and comply to ever more stringent regulatory requirements while maintaining the quality of our products. We are proud to say that we frequently achieve industry recognition for setting ecological standards and leading the way in the flooring industry.

SOME OF OUR ECO-INNOVATIONS HAVE LED TO:

  • First phthalate-free vinyl floor on the market
  • First carpet tile manufacturer to achieve Cradle to Cradle® Gold level certification for our Desso product line
  • First linoleum producer to achieve Cradle to Cradle® Gold level certification with Linoleum Veneto Essenza
  • Only vinyl floor range on the market to be certified Cradle to Cradle™ Gold, with  iQ One
  • All our floors maintaining low VOC emissions way below EU standards (individual values displayed on all products’ specifications)

Innovating to help you create unique spaces

Transforming spaces with new flooring ideas can improve quality of life by making interiors beautiful, providing comfort and contributing to people’s well-being. This can be achieved by developing new production techniques and materials, more colours and textures or by providing more flexibility for personalisation or pure and simple customisation.

TECHNICAL INNOVATIONS

Our latest technical innovations for vinyl rolls include the first mechanical embossing to achieve the most realistic rendering of wood, the largest surfaces without pattern repeat on the market and the long plank effect that is the current trend in wood floors.

PERSONALIZATION

Working with shapes, colours, materials, our innovation and design teams have worked to provide a playful approach to designing a floor by mixing and matching the different planks, tiles, vinyl, carpet and so on. The different options are compatible and easy to assemble so that floor becomes the new playground.

CUSTOMIZATION

To accommodate designer’s creative approaches and our customer’s branding needs, we have imagined ways to make personalisation easy. We offer several services supported by digital applications to translate imagination on the floors: create a logo or a signature floor with our Floorcraft designers and have the sonic precision cutter cut it from our vinyl floors or use the online application from Desso to customise your AirMaster® carpet.

Innovating to connect you to our floors

Connected surfaces are revolutionising the potential of flooring and its relationship with users. Our interactive surface innovations have led to the award-winning FloorInMotion system that detects falls, room exits or intrusions for patients in healthcare and aged-care facilities and our Luminous Carpets™ solution that combines light-reactive carpet with LED lighting to display graphics and words with a touch of a smartphone or tablet.