Written Rug by Maartje Santbergen

This Writtenby rug from Dutch designer Maartje Santbergen is made from tiny rolls of paper, woven together to form a rug. Individual strands can be unwoven in order to read the writing traced upon the paper and create personalised patterns and textures.

Retail Therapy: Barefoot Floors

Barefoot Floors’ website greets you with zingy orange and a sense of carefree happiness, which is, of course, exactly what they’re offering their customers. Barefoot Floors are selling a concept, not just flooring and that concept is delivered to the browser through a variety of means, video, photo galleries, personal accounts from all members of staff successfully portraying the team, from CEO to Customer Care as a close-knit, highly enthusiastic group who are all 100% sold on the products and services they can offer.



The widespread use of video and story-telling is a great tool for creating brand awareness and drawing the customer into a world, instead of simply presenting products on a flat page. Consumers will feed off the energy and positive attitude of the team in their personal “barefoot stories” which will encourage them to stay longer on the website and browse a greater variety of products.
Potential buyers can browse flooring by product, by room or by sector. Each sub-category contains a list of links. For example, under “by room”, one finds bedroom, bathroom, garden and pathways etc. For each page, suggestions are made as to the collections best suited to those environments, with examples of layout, design and room themes. There is a video of a customer testimonial where they are also invited to tell their “barefoot story”, linking them with the company and further strengthening the impression that this is a company a customer can have complete trust in and form a solid retailer-client relationship. The video also allows for consumers to see exactly how a barefoot floor can fit in a home and what level of customer service the clients enjoyed.


The Products link takes you to the collections, with a designer or customer testimonial and an inside look at who and what inspired the various designs and colours. Brochures are available to download for every collection.
Barefoot Floors have a list of partners, all of whom reflect their concept of carefree, zen living and individuality. The partnership page for garden designer Bernie Quinn features a flip-book photojournal of a barefoot flooring installation as part of the garden designer’s award-winning garden at the Royal horticultural Show.
The overall aim of the website, therefore, is to sell customers an entire lifestyle, based around a flooring product. The stories, images, videos, flip-books and art installations that fill the pages are perfect for the ADD generation whose attention needs constant fulfilment and variety, but also give the impression that when buying barefoot you are buying so much more than a floor, but buying into happiness, a slice of the team’s perfect world. It may sound far-fetched and pretentious, but twenty minutes of browsing on the website and I still wasn’t bored, although a couple of the staff testimonial videos were a touch too sugary for me.



The product barefoot are selling is genuinely creative, stunning to look at and different enough from the norm to hook you in. No amount of fantastic online marketing can flog a duff product, but everything from the slick website design to the high-quality art work and sheer conviction of everyone connected to the company delivers a powerful retail punch.
The only let down? Some missing links and wrong telephone numbers - easy mistakes to make but shocking on a website of this calibre as well as fundamental information for a buyer.

Barefoot Floors

Girli Concrete : Where Riot Grrrl attitude meets Creative Flooring Genius

Tactility Factory™ is a collaboration between architect Ruth Morrow and textile designer Trish Belford. Developed within the auspices of the University of Ulster, the pair researched and conceived a series of surfaces combining soft materials and textures with the durability and hardness of concrete. The resulting Girli Concrete™ is a bespoke, craft product of exceptional beauty and great creative potential. Pieces are made to clients specifications, and can be as diverse as the fabrics and textiles used.

The woven fabrics used range from linens and stitched materials as well as experimental materials which are in constant evolution and development. Tactility Factory currently offers three standard panel sizes, 17 x 12 cm, 30 x 30 cm, 45 x 45 cm with the bespoke service able to accommodate any sizes or shapes required.

A blog exploring the artisanal traditions and research that lie behind this beautiful product can be found at http://girliconcrete.blogspot.com/.

New York Paved with Gold

A friend just sent me this, the Standard hotel in new York, a city famous for its movers, shakers and money makers, has paved its grill restaurant with thousands of shiny pennies. Recession? What recession?

Nothing Wooly About Prince's Campaign!

HRH The Prince of Wales is the man! Proudly standing up for British wool as a sustainable, natural product with excellent resilient and fire-retardant properties he hopes the project will show off the qualities of British sheep fibre for fashion, furnishings and flooring.


A major promotional campaign was launched yesterday (26th Jan 2010) by HRH The Prince of Wales. The Wool Project is his initiative to bring the natural and sustainable attributes of wool to the attention of textile buyers, retailers and ultimately the consumer.
Gathering over 130 textile stakeholders from the world of wool including merchants, scourers, spinners, weavers, manufacturers and major retailers and also icon designers, HRH The Prince of Wales gave the keynote address and explained why he believes it to be the fibre that can add immense value to both fashion and interiors.
The interest in wool originated in discussions with tenants on his estate who outlined the poor return for the shorn fleece. Wool is a historic fibre that has long supplied the carpet manufacturing and upholstery industry but competition from man-made fibres impacted on the price of wool globally and present generations have little understanding of the real natural benefits of wool. He explained clearly the issues faced by sheep farmers that make little or no money from wool when their shearing costs are often more than the price they get for their wool. He commented that the “The future of the fibre was looking very bleak indeed.”

“The sad truth is that around the world farmers are leaving sheep production because the price they get for their wool is below the costs of actually shearing it.”


"lovely young wooly!"

HRH is no stranger to controversy and the environmental agenda is clearly a driving passion in his projects. He referred in his address to the ministerial session of the United Nations Climate Change negotiations, where he spoke of the need to change and that by living in harmony with nature, it would be possible to improve the quality of life for an expanding world population.

Touching on the benefits of wool, he clearly believes that the carbon count which is affecting the planet is something each and every one of us can affect in a positive way. The BWMB’s Life Cycle Analysis refers in its conclusion to the fact that wool has far less environmental impact than either nylon or polypropylene and he sees this as something the industry should explore.

He encouraged people to think twice about “the seemingly trivial decision about whether to buy a wool carpet or its manmade alternative, or the decision to buy a wool coat as opposed to a polyester jacket.”

The fire safety aspect of wool is, he believes another major asset that is overlooked by the everyday consumer – well-known to the contract and hospitality industry, where wool is considered the safest fibre for carpet due to its high ignition rate (600 degrees) and its natural flame retardant qualities. The Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser , Sir Ken Knight informed HRH that he would rather send men in to a wool carpeted house because it is more fire retardant and emits less fumes.

Nicholas Coleridge, managing director of Conde Nast, the global publishing company behind titles such as Vogue, is a Wool Project member and also presented to the attendees, he commented, “We want to thrust wool into the public consciousness.” Then, he laid out plans for a major push later in the year which he titled the ‘Wool Week’ which would see the retail world promoting wool in-store supported by POS and PR.


"...and then she said... 'Baaaa'"

The aim is clearly to promote the use of more wool, make it fashionable and better understood, so that consumers are buying with knowledge. And can understand better how their choice makes a difference.

The main wool organisations from around the world have also joined together to back The Wool Project and to promote wool generically. The Prince said, “The wool industry is truly international and I am glad that the Wool Project is now a partnership that includes the wool-growing organisations of Australia, Britain and New Zealand.”

Ian Hartley, CEO of the BWMB commented, “Wool clearly needs to be better understood, regardless of its brand or origin and wool prices have suffered globally not just in one area. This is an excellent opportunity for wool and we are delighted about it.”

The Wool Week will be held during September and the Wool Project will release further plans during the coming months.

Watch the video of the launch:



(issued by Bridgette Kelly, Press and PR Manager at the British Wool Marketing Board)

Concept Interiors talks Flooring Trends 2010

This morning I spoke to Concept Interiors' head designer Samantha Morgan about her views on what trends we can expect in residential flooring for 2010. This article will feature in full in the February issue of Retail Floors magazine. "Spring is fast approaching and Samantha Morgan, head designer at Concept Interiors, has been looking at future home and interior trends. We asked her to give Retail Floors readers some advice on what materials, patterns and colour pallets will be featuring in homes over the coming year, with a particular emphasis on flooring.

Concept Interiors creates eye-catching and sophisticated living spaces for clients who want the very best in their homes. Says Samantha, “People are starting to opt for quality products in preference to cheaper alternatives for their homes. The current focus is on the more durable and eco friendly choices.” Samantha thinks 2010 will see high quality products and finishing touches such as black nickel curtain poles with lavish jewelled finials and oversized wool pieces such as knitted rugs or upholstered furniture featuring in our homes.

She explains that the two key interior looks for 2010 will be “English Kitsch” and “Eastern Glam”. Both use floral and organic shapes in their style and natural fibres. Weaves also feature in both looks.

English kitsch with the Ryalux william classics collection

Black will remain a signature colour in our bathrooms - but with more style than we’ve seen throughout 2009. Introducing luxurious purples into the theme will simultaneously soften the room and add to the glam factor. “Choosing the right focal point or element for each individual room is important,” Sam continues. “However, you’ll also need the other elements of the space to work with that focal point to complete your room design.” To help make this possible, dramatic flooring and statement lights will be hitting our homes to create a focal point for all of our rooms. Patterns such as stripes or a woven carpet, for example, will bring texture and an area of interest, while lighting can frame the room or highlight a specific element. Indeed, light fittings themselves can become features or the focal point - providing it helps to create an atmosphere.

In terms of wood flooring, Samantha is seeing a growing popularity of dark, chocolatey woods, especially wenge, a marked contrast to the walnut colours that dominated last year. Leather tiles are also making headway in living rooms and hallways, a material that only gets better with age and, like a favourite soft leather jacket, looks good even when worn and lived in.


leather floor tiles from alberta hardwood flooring

In the tile department, porcelain is making a comeback all across the downstairs areas, replacing natural stone as a favourite because of its ease of maintenance and durability.

wenge wood flooring from quick step

Concept Interiors have recently completed an installation of a large format tiled border (600 x 600) with an inset carpet, allowing a seamless flow from a tiled hallway into the living room. Whilst woods are getting darker in colour, carpets are remaining light and neutral, despite the explosion on colour and pattern at last year’s major flooring shows, it seems the consumer is not yet fully comfortable with bold, bright statement carpets in the home, a trend which may cotton on in a couple of years time.

Rugs are where the flurry of creativity remains in terms of pattern and texture, with homeowners more likely to choose a statement rug or a funky design no an item that can be moved or changed more readily than carpet or tile.