Over A Half Century of Innovative Products and Superior Service

Lamin-Art was founded in 1946 as a manufacturer of industrial grade high-pressure laminate for use in products such as electrical components and simple electrical circuit boards. Over the course of the last 60 years, we have evolved to become the only North American supplier of innovative decorative laminates designed for the commercial specification industry. Our objective is to create value for the A/D community by offering surfacing solutions that are truly unique, of the highest quality, and offer tremendous visual impact.

High-Pressure laminate was originally used as insulation for electrical components, but after World War II, manufacturers, including Lamin-Art, discovered an interesting and creative niche for HPL as a decorative surfacing material in the booming West Coast housing market. The initial foray into decorative surfaces largely focused on offering an affordable and durable range of solid colors with no particular design emphasis.

Remember those "retro" dinette sets and countertops of the 50's and 60's? They played a large role in the emergence of suburban America, and, as a result, represented a golden era for the high-pressure laminate industry. Simple solid colors were no longer enough to satisfy the consumer, leading to a number of new design offerings. Through the Baby Boom, Lamin-Art's most popular patterns were American Walnut, Natural Travertine, White La Jolla and Yellow Balboa.

In the 70's, a trend towards brighter colors, exotic woods and natural looking products emerged. Lamin-Art introduced Koa, an exotic wood species from Hawaii. Koa became an instant success due in large part to the fact that it was the first accurate representation of a rare and expensive wood in an HPL, pushing the traditionally accepted limitations of the product. This Lamin-Art milestone paved the way for crisp, clear, and realistic looking wood prints that, to this day, continue to be one of the company's trademarks. Other wood grains such as California Oak soon followed, as well as abstract designs like Harvest Nebula and Snow Drift. And don't forget the decade's favorite solid colors, Avocado and Rally Orange!

Thus began a targeted expansion of the Lamin-Art range of patterns and colors, with a clear focus on the commercial specification industry of architects and interior designers. The 80's saw the creation of the Isochromatic® solid color collection, Premium Veneer Prints®, and the very first pearlescent HPL introduced to the marketplace under Lamin-Art's Pearlescence® brand. With such product innovations, Lamin-Art brand laminates became nationally recognized for their high quality, unique designs, and focus on future fashion trends.

1982 marked a milestone in Lamin-Art's history when Donald Krog, then General Manager of Lamin-Art, a division of a larger conglomerate, purchased the company and relocated its headquarters to Chicago, Illinois. Today, Lamin-Art remains the only privately held supplier of decorative laminates in North America.

As we look to the future, our focus remains unchanged. Recent innovations such as Chrysalis and Abacá confirm our commitment to offering designers and architects fashion-forward surfacing solutions that stimulate both tactile and visual sensibilities, and also challenge the conventional perception of high-pressure laminate as a functional surface.