LAGRANGE, GA.—Convergence from Milliken Hospitality took the honors at the recent HD Expo, capturing the Best Product Design Award in the Flooring, Carpeting and Carpet Systems category. With this new product technology, the pattern and color are integrated into the structure, so it reads as one. Pattern emerges through texture and texture through pattern to create an unexpected, complex new surface.
Building on the award winning Étage concept, Milliken Hospitality Carpet introduced three new broadloom collections at the 2007 Hospitality Design Expo. Étage allows designers to interact with the layers of pattern and use them in different combinations to create hundreds of different pattern possibilities. Each design has been created with multiple layers starting with the use of a textural graphics tufting structure and then integrating layers of pattern. The end result is a highly dimensional and textural pattern.
The three new collections, Tallinn, Milan and Barcelona, represent a union of several new Milliken technologies. Not only do they use the layering expertise of Étage, they are also offered in the new, textured ‘Strato’ construction, making use of Milliken’s Convergence technology. Convergence integrates pattern and color into the structure of the carpet.
The color direction was inspired by Milliken creative director, Kaye Gosline’s Revolve 2007 color forecast. With Revolve 2007, Gosline offers fresh perspective on the phenomena of color, including 25 new colors inspired by the art, architecture and natural beauty of Italy.
Versatile Design Options
Tallinn, Barcelona, and Milan advance on the Étage layering concept first introduced last year. Within each collection, each design layer is artfully crafted to stand on its own or to work in synergy with other layers. Designers manipulate the selection and combination of layers to change the pattern output. Fewer layers create more streamlined patterns, while adding layers increases complexity. Each design is a 12-color custom palette which allows for easy recoloring.
The new collections were created by the Milliken in-house design team, led by Terry Luebbers. Terry has over 18 years of hospitality design experience. He has worked with some of the most demanding international and domestic clients in the industry. The fruits of his creativity can be seen in spaces all over the world including convention centers in Kuala Lumpur and Hong Kong, casinos in Las Vegas and South Africa. and hotels in Dubai as well as throughout the United States.
“In a market where everything is custom, I have created standard collections that are not really standard,” says Luebbers, senior designer for Milliken Hospitality. “It is a totally different way to approach design. One of the coolest features of the collection is that it will allow designers to create their own custom concepts by mixing different layers and motifs from the three design packages.”
Each design in the new collection is very organic and free flowing. Most of the rugs and corridor designs are asymmetrical and borderless. Market feedback from a group of leading hospitality interior designers pointed to a desire to move away from traditional rigid rugs and hard-line borders. In fact the entire collection only has one border.
“These collections are designed to crash into the walls,” Luebbers says. “It’s a collection that gets away from typical hospitality runners and door drops.”
Go to Milliken Hospitality.
