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Presents several marble, stone and ceramic tile offerings at the international exhibition in Italy. Features of Marbre du Boulonnais from Stone Selection; Description of Sky Blue Marble from Campa Srl; Components of Ipar's heavy-duty terrazzo flooring from La San Giorgio. INSET: Mistakes to avoid if specifying stone..

This article reports that Architectural Systems Inc.'s 5,000-square-foot New York City showroom has introduced about 20 new finish options this year, including Bamboo Strand Board flooring. Satintech etched, solid aluminum sheets are ideal for vertical, light horizontal, and curved applications. The material responds dynamically to a small amount of direct accent lighting, giving the appearance of a fully illuminated, dimensional surface.

This article informs that Canopy Designs Ltd. is a new resource for builders, designers, and architects who are interested in hard-to-source green materials. Durat, a durable solidsurface product from Finland made from 50 percent recycled plastic and that is 100 percent recyclable. Kirei, an alternative wood product made from pressed, reclaimed Sorghum stalks and a formaldehyde-free adhesive. Canopy's collection of finished goods includes the 100 percent recycled aluminum cast-metal tiles, sinks, and light fixtures from Eleek and the 100 percent recycled copper sinks from Native Trails.

This article reports that specifiers saw an increase in the cost of flooring-grade lumber and plastic resins, in turn raising the price of some resilient and hardwood floo ring products. This month's roundup includes a range of flooring options, including reclaimed wood, rubber, cork, and linoleum products.

This article presents information on Haworth Inc.'s new showroom, designed by Perkins & Will/Eva Maddox Branded Environments. A Restore Pavilion features a reflecting pool built into the raised flooring, while a Work Pavilion incorporates "Glow Walls" that offer artificial daylight and flooring used for communication.

Walker Zanger Inc.'s new collection of micro mosaics features decorative borders and dots made from tesserae— limestone and marble chips harvested along the southern shore of the Mediterranean in Tunisia. Artisans using a process unchanged from Roman times cut and fit each mosaic, fashioning both classic and modern motifs on a marble backing. The designs are suitable for most light commercial and residential applications, including backsplashes, wainscoting, showers, and floors.

The Anticosti collection features a range of mosaic designs handmade of pieces of glass, granite, and marble in honed, tumbled, or polished finishes. Luxor Grey Limestone for floors and walls features an unusual 1 7/10" x 17" rectangular format. The Klimt-inspired Fritza pattern features colorful mosaics run between strips of tetra slate and black granite.

The Omnisport Collection from Tarkett Sommer combines four distinct vinyl and linoleum flooring products—Amensport II Wood and Solids, Training, Linosport, and Granit Acoustiflor—for a variety of indoor recreational facilities that require proper traction and cushion.

Flooring and paving take on the look of hand-laid natural slate with Yorkshire Stone, one of the latest additions to floor covering company Bomanite Corp.'s line of colored, textured, and imprinted cast-in-place architectural concrete paving. An economical alternative to natural stone, Yorkshire Stone comes in individual stonelike patterns in eight different sizes, from 6" x 24" to 36" x 36", and offers a choice of two different texture directions.

The ECOromp Play Area flooring system has been developed specifically for young children's play areas often found in malls, airports, or doctor's offices. ECOromp meets playground critical fall tests at standard indoor room temperature for 3' and 4' drop heights.

Prosource Wholesale Floorcoverings Showrooms will offer 17 new styles of natural fiber carpeting from its Somerset House division. Selections will include wool, sea grass, mountain grass, and bamboo offerings. The Somerset House brand carries products consisting of fashion-forward natural fiber products ranging from printed wools to flat weaves to woven Wiltons.

Norament 925 B Krypto Earth and Krypto Sky rubber flooring can be specified for extra-heavy traffic areas requiring a colorful visual appearance along with lasting wear. Designed to bring an outdoor feeling to interior spaces, Krypto Earth patterns and color options, ranging from gray to burnt orange are inspired by granite and terrazzo. In Krypto Sky, color granules form a tone-on-tone integration with base colors in brighter hues.

Floor coverings company Chilewich is introducing two new weaves in their Plynyl floor covering collection, Grass Cloth and Bamboo. Both of these new weaves utilize bicolor vinyl yarns, which add a textural dimension to the surface. The addition of muted gold and silver yarns in each of the colorations creates a subtle and powdery sheen. The Grass Cloth weave has the appearance of a wool crepe, while the Bamboo weave has what Chilewich describes as a woody texture.

Dex-O-Tex Micro-Topping is a thinsection, seamless polymeric floor surfacing that is less moisture sensitive than conventional sheet and tile flooring and provides a clear, wear-resistant finish. In addition to flooring, Micro-Topping can be applied on countertops and walls over materials including concrete, brick, metal, masonry, and wood, making it ideal for remodeling projects by eliminating the cost of expensive removal. A two-component product, Dex-O-Tex consists of a polymer-fortified, rubberlike liquid that is mixed at the time of application with a cement-aggregate blend.

Working in collaboration with Polyurethane manufacturer Bolidt, designer Petra Blaisse has created a floor for the new Aviation and Aerospace Faculty Building of the Technical University in Delft, the Netherlands, that lets students keep one foot on earth and the other in the clouds. The client, along with an arts committee, invited Blaisse's firm, Inside Outside, to implement an art piece that would add more color and visual tension to the building, designed by Dutch architect Rudy Uytcnhaak. While the material allowed Blaisse to create depth in the flat surface of the floor, it had other advantages, as well.

BHK Moderna Logo laminate ceiling planks from BHK of America are now available in the U.S. in colors including Maple Royal, Natural Maple, Beech Siena, Pearl White, and Montblanc Pine. Like BHK's flooring product line, the new ceiling panels install with a four-sided tongue-and-groove joinery system. BHK's complete product line of flooring includes laminate, engineered wood, and cork.