The Wood Issue

Lamin-Art has staked its reputation on offering design impact surfacing materials.  In this edition of The Source, we are proud to introduce the latest additions to our Premium Wood Prints collection-10 new wood grains and an exciting new finish.  These new products clearly demonstrate our commitment to designing striking wood reproductions that display rich color, refinement of grain structure, and remarkable depth and clarity.  Through the use of 3 and 4-stage printing processes, our goal is to create wood prints that come as close to the real thing as possible. 

More on our latest wood prints and new Supermatte finish below, as well as tips for making your wood print laminate applications look as realistic as possible.

10 New Wood Grains and a Supermatte Finish

A combination of exotic, eco-inspired, and contemporary interpretations of classic wood species, and the debut of a unique genuine raw veneer finish make up our latest product introduction.  

Further expanding our palette of rare exotic wood species, Indian Apple screams sophistication and opulence for a striking visual impact in high-end interior design and fixture applications.  Classic species like Walnut and Teak, once hugely popular, are making a strong comeback both in Europe and North America.  Our new Black and Contemporary Walnuts offer modern spins on this traditional American walnut grain structure.  Weathered, Natural, and Oiled Teak re-interpret this long dormant and under-utilized species with a look that has little in common with its ancestors.  Lastly, our Native and Blackened Seagrasses, as well as our Coastal and Tropical Palmwoods present colorful and textural collages of natural materials, translating into an innovative surface with an ethnic vibe.  Each of these new classics has been selected and color-styled to enhance today's commercial interior design palette and to coordinate with other items in the Lamin-Art line of premium decorative high-pressure laminates. 

These new wood prints are further embellished by a new Supermatte finish with a very low sheen level (LRV: 2.0).  This finish, yielding a surface with a smooth, velvety texture similar to that of raw veneer imparts yet another touch of realism to Lamin-Art's growing selection of exotic and native wood interpretations.  The new items are also available for specification in smooth Velva-Tex and high-impact Gloss finishes.  Be sure to ask your Architectural Representative for samples of these hot woods today, or order them online!

Nature Preserved

You probably already know that wood print laminates are durable and cost-effective alternatives to real wood veneers, but have you ever considered utilizing laminates for their "green" characteristics?  Contrary to popular belief, high-pressure decorative laminate is a paper-based product (87% paper, 13% resins).  The kraft paper used in the laminate has approximately 40% pre-consumer recovered content, and comes from responsibly managed and renewable sources.  Using high-pressure decorative laminate instead of real wood can contribute to preserving one of the world's most precious resources.

Furthermore, our Premium Wood Prints collection features a wide selection of exotic species that are either no longer available in real wood veneers, extremely difficult to source, or cost-prohibitive to use.  Our decorative laminates offer a rich, exotic look without the use of any rain forest timbers or tropical hardwoods.

Because they are designed specifically for commercial applications, our wood prints feature much larger vertical and horizontal repeats than those normally found in HPL, and display matching patterns simlar to the ones used in veneering (book matching, slip matching or random matching).  When laid up in a commercial interior application, it is often difficult to tell the difference between real veneer and our Premium Wood Prints.

So next time your project calls for a natural wood look but you face budget constraints, maintenance issues, or you are concerned about the environmental impact of sourcing real wood, consider Lamin-Art Premium Wood Prints.

The Illusion of Real Wood

Once you've selected one of Lamin-Art's authentic looking wood grain laminates for your project, finish off the application with some creative fabrication techniques for an even more realistic wood look.  Rather than using edgebanding to create the illusion of a solid surface, try a miter fold, bull nose or self edge to eliminate the undesirable "brown lines" and create the appearance of a solid piece of wood.  Download our How to Create Unique Edges and How to Bend HPL guides for tips on how to accomplish these techniques.  Finishing off your edge with a piece of solid wood of the same species as the wood print laminate can also give you that solid wood look.  Try using a contrasting wood species, wide edge, or an ornamental, finely carved molding to add even more design impact.

New Wood Prints Portfolio Now Available

Lamin-Art is proud to announce a new edition of our Wood Prints Portfolio.  This informative brochure was developed to provide an accurate picture of the grain structure and matching patterns of our wood reproductions.  The portfolio features high quality images of 4'x10' sheets of each item in our Premium Wood Prints collection, as well as detailed information on horizontal and vertical repeats and matching patterns.  This brochure is especially helpful when specifying Lamin-Art wood prints over large surface areas, or to help clients understand the end result of a project.  Ask your Architectural Representative for a copy of our 2007 Wood Prints Portfolio, or view the 4'x10' sheet images online when browsing our product catalog.