Corkcomfort in South Africa’s First Green Hotel

Cape Town, South Africa – 

Hollow on the Square Hotel

Located in the beautiful city of Cape Town, Hollow on The Square is a 4 star city hotel designed by M&B Architects & Interiors offering 114 luxuriously appointed rooms and suites, all designed for comfort and tranquility.  The newly added eco-friendly rooms were conceived using nature as inspiration and incorporate materials that reflect natural comfort.

M&B chose Wicanders Corkcomfort products as an innate fit for this project.  Over 8,600 square feet of Wicanders Cork flooring cover the guest rooms, hallways and elevators, earning praise from a number of visiting guests.  Products used include Corkcomfort HPS Identity Spice, HPS Identity Chestnut and WRT Linn Sepia.  

The elegance of these materials and others used at the Hollow on The Square, M&B House, as well as the suave colors and distinctive décor, bring in a sense of total serenity, persuading visitors to enjoy an unforgettable stay.

View more projects using Wicanders Cork Flooring by visiting our Press Room.

Amorim Flooring partners with Architectural Systems, Inc.

Amorim Flooring North America, Inc. has appointed Architectural Systems, Inc. (ASI, www.archsystems.com) as its distributor in the commercial segment of Wicanders cork flooring.   ASI will cover the  Metro New York and New Jersey areas.

Founded in 1990, ASI has been known from the start for its fresh, innovative solutions for commercial interiors.  Today, the company’s products are confidently specified by the foremost architecture & design firms and installed globally in major retail, entertainment, hospitality, corporate, healthcare, education and institutional projects.

ASI’s clients return again and again for ASI’s extensive product expertise, professionalism, commitment to service, and collective eye for what’s next®, and the ability to find it all in one place.  Founders Nancy Jackson (President) and Ron Jackson (CEO) are design advocates who help their clients materialize their vision and have worked with the most prestige clientele.  ASI’s team of experts has been recognized for their involvement in every part of the contract project process from concept to installation.  Their innovative style and established relationships in the A& D community distinguish them from the rest.  Their exceptional knowledge of the industry is known globally and sets trends before anyone recognizes them as trends.

 Architectural Systems, Inc. (ASI), a family business, is acclaimed by the industry as a leading provider of architectural materials including sustainable products.

Amorim’s international flooring portfolio is known for its unique ecological properties, aesthetic design and technical attributes. 

This new strategic partnership reinforces the demand for high quality eco-efficient flooring solutions, and will strengthen Wicanders’ presence in the New York and New Jersey markets.

We welcome ASI to our family.

Team WIcanders

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Amorim Unveils New Flooring Portfolio at Surfaces 2009

Amorim Revestimentos, the subsidiary of Corticeira Amorim SGPS, will launch the largest and most prestigious Home and Commercial Flooring Collections in its history at Surfaces 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, February 2nd-5th. With its recent 32 million Euros (44 Million USD) investments in new, state-of-the-art technology, Amorim once again confirms the company’s commitment to the development of the American market for cork flooring. Wicanders, it’s worldwide brand, continues to be the leader in the cork oak flooring category.

Extending the range from cork oak flooring to other product categories including linoleum and vinyl, the new Wicanders Collections unveil trendy, sophisticated fashion features not currently found in the American cork oak market. Combining their eco-friendly R&D innovations of 2008 with exclusive lifestyle and eco-fashion trends, Wicanders Home Flooring Collections and Commercial Flooring Collections truly represent “Nature at your feet.”

A member of the US Green Building Council, with many of its current products certified by GREENGUARD for indoor air quality, Amorim is a leading company in the environmental and social responsibility field as well, promoting business practices for CO2 emissions reduction, management of waste and by-products, and energy efficiency.

Surfaces 2009 is where manufacturers from around the world gather with over 35,000 retailers, distributors, architects, designers, builders, and installers to see and learn about the latest innovations in the floor covering industry.

Amorim Revestimentos has business operations in 14 countries around the world, and sells its products in more than 52 countries.

We’d love to have you visit Team Wicanders in Las Vegas at Surfaces 2009, Booth #2854, Hall A. We’ll be waiting for you!

For those of you who cannot attend Surfaces, please don’t hesitate to contact us  at projects@wicanderscorkoakblog.com or leave a comment below. Anxious to hear what you think of our wonderful, new collections. Until then,

Cheers!

Team Wicanders

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Choosing the cork oak floors that are right for your green building project

As you know, with Wicanders, the possibilities are nearly endless… We put Nature’s palette in your hands, combining textures and surprising colors. The originality and exotic contrasts of each pattern gives any surface a personal and distinctive touch.

But which floors are a better fit for your commercial design needs? Glue down or floating? Xtreme WRT or HPS? Read on, as today we help you determine which Wicanders floors are most suitable for your green building project…

Finding the right finish

Xtreme WRT—Wear Resistance Technology:
Ceramic is, after natural diamonds, the hardest known substance in the world. Our floating cork oak floors coated with Xtreme WRT finish with ceramic micro-bead technology, is a perfect choice if you are looking for a matte, unique, and durable finish with low maintenance.
We want you to feel assured that you are making a good, long-term investment when you choose Xtreme WRT flooring from Wicanders. Even with its hard and resistant features, Xtreme WRT gives the floor soft and natural qualities and none of the usual slippery and cold feel provided by ordinary finishes.

HPS—High Performance Surface:
The high traffic on commercial floors puts much demand on the floor and the finish. Wicanders commercial quality floors are produced with hard-wearing surface lying between the veneer and the HPS topcoat, which makes it extremely wear resistant.
Our HPS finish is based on nano beads technology. Extremely tiny beads are embedded in the top layer giving the whole surface improved properties such as scratch, slip, scuff, and stain resistance—without compromising the natural appearance, elasticity, and beauty of of our cork floors. If you are in search of flooring for high traffic areas with an extremely durable, low-sheen finish, Wicanders Cork Flooring with HPS is the choice for you. With a 15-year commercial warranty, we are confident you will love the look and feel of our HPS floors.

Glue-down versus Floating

Floating:
Wicanders Cork Oak floating floor planks are engineered with the patented CorkLoc® system on all four sides. Each edge is comprised of durable compressed cork fiberboard and Cork Protect®, a natural parafin-based all-around edge sealing system. This tightly pressed seal seamlessly vaccum locks against any and all moisture and debris, setting Wicanders CorkLoc® system apart from other floating floors.

Glue-down:
If your project calls for glue down tiles because of the area of application or the size of the job, Wicanders Series 200 and Series 2000 are the ideal products for you.

Wicanders Series 200 WRT "Natural"

And for a complete guide with detailed info on dimensions, LEED qualifying points, approximate installed cost, and our best-in-the-industry warranty, please be sure to download our 2008 Commercial Flooring Guide.

We’d also like to remind you that we have just launched a new Technical Info page right here on our blog. You can visit it by clicking here. Or if you have any questions you’d like answered, our master installers are always handy, so be sure to drop us a line.

Until next time…
Team Wicanders

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Wicanders is a Building Block of Sustainable Design!

The building blocks of green home design, like LEED certified products and sustainability, are important…but did you know that some projects are actually made from building blocks?

The ‘Harbinger’ is a two-story, 1700 square foot home built from reused shipping containers! These shipping containers, or “building blocks” are the foundation for this show-house that is displayed at West Coast Green, the nation’s largest green building, business and design conference.

In fact, if you are on the West Coast, you should stop in and check it out! The San Jose Convention Center will be displaying The Harbinger on the tradeshow floor September 25-27. Want more info? You can check it out here.

The interior of the home was designed by ecofabulous, and showcases over 20 eco products. We can’t say that we are surprised that they chose Wicanders Cork Oak Flooring for the bedrooms and hallways…but we sure are happy they did! Wicanders was a great choice for so many reasons, but we would like to remind you of just a few.

Wicanders’ Cork Oak Floors are a healthy alternative, because unlike tile and carpet, they don’t trap dirt and bacteria. This makes Cork Oak Floors a great option for kids’ bedrooms and kitchens. Wicanders’ flooring is also an environmentally responsible choice. Cork trees are not cut down, instead the bark is harvested. That means they absorb even more Carbon Dioxide!

Wicanders Cork Oak Floors are a great building block for your next green project or installation. Going green is a responsible choice, and Wicanders is happy to be a part of it!

Team Wicanders

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Green Building? Think Wicanders Cork Oak Flooring

You’d almost think architect Eric Gjerde, AIA, was writing our cork oak blog! Posted at 7:09 am and 9:25 am on Saturday, July 26th, seems like Eric was up early writing about cork floors on his GreenBuildingToday blog. Yes, cork is a really ‘green’ building product, which is why we all believe he spent several hours of his time writing about it on Saturday when he could have been sleeping in.

Two articles by Eric, “The Top 10 Reasons Why I Like Cork”, and “Cork is a Green Building Product”, are excellent. Of course, we’re a bit partial…but that’s to be expected.

He ends one post with, “Love that Cork” and “Remember to Tread Lightly or Less, Be Green, Be Happy.”

We couldn’t have said it better. Thanks Eric!

And to all the architects out there thinking about using cork in your flooring projects, we’ve got some great samples we can send to you. Just ask by leaving a comment or send us an email at projects@wicanderscorkoakblog.com.

Team Wicanders

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A Natural for Green LEED Projects—Cork Plank NeoCon Debut

For those of you who didn’t get a chance visit our booth at the 2008 NeoCon, here’s an excerpt from Floor Focus Magazine, which features our new product debut—Cork Plank. You’ll love the microbevel!

“Wicanders introduced a 4½” cork plank collection called, appropriately enough, Cork Plank. It’s a fairly significant departure from its more traditional cork looks, with the basic feel of wood plank flooring but with the distinctive look of cork.

It’s microbeveled and is installed as a floating floor. Cork Plank comes in 12 visuals and the colors of exotic hardwoods and uses the non-VOC binder Acrodur, developed by BASF, which makes it one of the greenest cork products on the market and a natural for LEED projects. Wicanders is the only cork company using the Acrodur binder. Cork Plank comes with a five-year light commercial or 15-year residential warranty.

It will be available in August or September.”

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