The process begins at design fairs such as Milan’s Salon del Mobile, where product manager Ann De Blanck looks for trends with staying power. While tapping into the ‘latest thing’ through Evola’s regular collection updates, Ann’s ultimate goal is to ensure the overall collection is stable, inspired by real life and captures an integrity and honesty in its approach.
Other industries too become part of the design process, with Ann revealing; ‘like the car industry. That is where the gold trend started’. Ann and her team also rank customer feedback as a crucial part of product development. ‘They tell us what is happening in their market segment. Finding inspiration means being open to influences from everywhere,’ continues Ann. There is nothing more scientific about the research process than following a strong gut instinct to pull together a contemporary collection that is 100% UNILIN Evola.
The UNILIN studio is full of genuine products, for instance designer coffee tables discovered on Italian holidays, and these are used as inspiration for new textures in the Evola collection. Taking texture from real life objects helps Evola products to deliver authenticity, yet the process is one of trial and error. For example, when the reclaimed trend was all the rage, the UNILIN development team created a décor with cracks in the panel. Using a drum full of nails and screws, it turned the drum with the décor inside, the tumbling screws and nails making scratches in the décor in a random fashion that would have been impossible through digital manipulation alone.
Ann continues; ‘if you want real wood, you’ll always choose the real thing, if you are looking for a more budget-friendly alternative that’s just as sensitive to natural aesthetics, then you’ve come to the right place. If you put our end product next to the real thing, then you won’t be able to see the difference. That is our ultimate goal.’
Today, the originality and authenticity of textures are more important than ever, people want to feel, and there’s little point in an attractive décor if it comes across as fake. That is why, UNILIN, division panels, has spent the last few years focusing on developing textures. They can be deep or incredibly subtle, but all uphold ease of maintenance, durability and workability. With deep textures, such as the brand-new Brushed Wood, this is no easy task and UNILIN developed a complex technology to achieve an authentic and original look without a performance trade-off.
‘We have a team that spends every day examining and repositioning all the elements in a décor. They will analyse if the look is right: if the design is not too heavy, is every element in the right place, is it too big or just right? That is truly a painstaking job and makes sure that every UNILIN Evola décor bring originality, authenticity and functionality.’ Concludes Ann De Blanck.
For more information; unilinpanels.com, info.panels@unilin.com