With the homogenous colour eliminating the dark line associated with conventional laminates, ColorCore® has earned its reputation as an innovative material, used by architects and designers as well as artists, jewellers and furniture makers. From Frank Gehry’s Fish Lamps, first designed in the 1980s, to the recent Foster & Partners’ Masdar Institute of Science and Technology campus in the Middle East, ColorCore is specified for projects worldwide as it provides beautiful, customisable surfaces with superb strength and extreme durability. With the core of the product colour-matched to the decorative surface, ColorCore can be sandblasted, engraved, carved and routered to achieve original designs; customers can also build layered 3D surfaces.
Formica Group has introduced five new decors inspired by the latest design trends, and eight surface textures, including the red dot award-winning Plex and high-performance AR Plus® high gloss texture. These additions improve the usability of the range, answering both aesthetic and practical needs for architects and interior designers.
Decors
One of the five new decors, CC0949 White, is a brighter, cleaner white brought in to reflect the trend of the decade. "Whether we talk about technology or interior fit-outs, the colour white perfectly represents our technology-based modern life and our desire for simplicity and purity," says Eva Hoernisch, Design Manager, Formica Group Europe. "Minimalistic in its expression, it shines brighter in combination with acidic colour accents; natural and light reflecting, it combines well with natural materials such as timber, helping to create a more traditional look."
Surface finishes
Formica Group offers not only a wider range of colours, but also introduces new textures to the range to create unique surface finishes with additional sense of depth. Such tactile characteristics help create outstanding and memorable interior schemes that are both welcoming and inspiring. Used for a subtle or striking effect, texture can help unify a theme or interior aspects, as well as provide a stand out feature that creates a strong, individual look.
Catering for a wide range of applications and design tastes, Formica Group introduces AR Plus® high gloss texture, Plex, Rigato, MicroDot, Sculpted, Linewood, Satin NDF and Matte 58.
The avant-garde Plex has a textile feel inspired by crisp silk weaves, and together with its elegant reflective quality and pleasant dry touch, it creates authentic aesthetics and adds further dimension to ColorCore in White, Polar White and Black.
Furthermore, ColorCore’s strength is complemented through the incorporation of AR Plus® high gloss texture, a technology that delivers a surface with twice the performance of standard gloss laminate, making it highly resistant to scuffs and mar abrasions.
Applications
The updated ColorCore range is aimed at providing a more versatile and mixed choice. ColorCore can be used in a variety of environments and horizontal and vertical interior applications, particularly where durability and long-term visual appearance are key, such as in retail and furniture sectors. With the impact resistance it offers, it is especially popular for use on counter tops, point-of-sale units, doors and work surfaces, interior wall cladding and also furniture.
Sustainability
The ColorCore range is FSC® Certified as standard, offering an FSC® 70% Mix product claim.
An increasing number of commercial and residential projects are demanding certified wood-based products that can also contribute to credits under Green Building schemes such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings systems. FSC certified laminates are now available as standard across the majority of Formica Group’s European product portfolio.
Formica® Laminates are GREENGUARD Indoor Air Quality certified; the premier mark for low-emitting products.
Formica Group is also the first global laminate manufacturer to be awarded the Carbon Trust’s Carbon Reduction Label for its products.
Formica Group, the inventor of high-pressure laminate, has marked its 100th year of invention, innovation and design leadership in 2013. Working closely with architects, designers and specifiers, Formica Group is ideally placed to offer innovative new products and decors which respond to market needs and complement current design trends.
