#Industry News
THE “I NATURALI” SERIES IS ENRICHED WITH ARDESIA A SPACCO (BIANCO AND NERO VERSIONS) AND CRISTALLO LUCIDATO. VERDERAME FINISH FOR THE OSSIDO SERIES.
NATURAL STONE, INTERNATIONAL VISION AND A TEXTURE FOR THOSE WHO LOVE TO DARE: FOUR NEW PRODUCTS UNVEILED AT THE RENOVATED MILAN SHOWROOM
With its new Lego setting, the Milan Laminam showroom has changed and reopened to the public and professionals with a live streaming presentation of four new surfaces on Facebook. Ardesia a Spacco, in the finishes Bianco (white) and Nero (black), is inspired by the medieval and Renaissance tradition of using “Pietra di Lavagna” (a kind of natural slate), and aims to overcome its limits. The product has a compact and silky surface that combines Laminam product performance with the beauty and value of a natural Italian material. Cristallo Lucidato reproduces the aesthetics of polished crystal quartzite, and was designed principally as a surface for kitchen countertops. The Verderame finish, the latest addition to the Ossido series, is conceived for the most unconventional designers.
With its new brand identity and increasingly international and digital perspective, Laminam has evolved and launched – during a live streaming on Facebook - four new products on 15 July 2020. These are for outdoor architecture, interior design and furnishing surfaces which project tradition into the future by focusing on creativity, elegance and attention to Italian and international trends and influences.
Although important trade fairs such as Salone del Mobile in Milan, Cersaie in Bologna and Sicam in Pordenone have been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Laminam is not slowing down investments and other activities such as innovation, research and development. This is why the Milan showroom has been renovated with a new layout featuring Lego bricks, a brand that is an icon for expressivity, versatility, design, chromatic breadth and modularity. Laminam has expressed these values since the beginning. Theirs is a successful model and example from which Laminam draws inspiration to increasingly become an architecture and design international reference point.
The new Ardesia a Spacco and Cristallo Lucidato finishes, created through collaborations with Laminam's international research centres, enrich the “I Naturali” series. Ardesia a Spacco is inspired by “Pietra di Lavagna”, a natural slate that has been used for 2500 years. Extracted only from Italian quarries in Liguria, “Pietra di Lavagna” enjoyed its peak of popularity in Italy in medieval and Renaissance urban architecture. With its compact silky surface, Ardesia a Spacco is available in a traditional Nero finish (black) and an original Bianco finish (white), allowing new and refined opportunities for indoor and outdoor uses.
Cristallo Lucidato is intended for interior design, especially as a kitchen countertop, to offer the natural aesthetics of quartzite combined with the superior performance of Laminam surfaces: intrinsic antibacterial, stain, scratch, and deep abrasion resistant qualities.
Combining art, creativity and superior quality, the Verderame texture confirms Laminam's affinity with the world of design and its vocation for aesthetic experimentation. Based on the artistic intuition of the innovative Fluidosolido Blu Lucidato surface and the experience of the Filo series, the new surface is suggested to daring interior designers to allow them new solutions in the most audacious projects.
LAMINAM R&D DIRECTOR, CLAUDIO CORNIOLA, EXPLAINS THE ARDESIA A SPACCO AND CRISTALLO LUCIDATO PROJECT
Laminam R&D Director Claudio Corniola explains how the new Ardesia a Spacco surface was conceived in Nero and Bianco finishes. “The first time I ever held a piece of slate, I noticed the way it had been carefully shaped by Italian master artisans and I thought this is a surface that I want to reproduce on a large Laminam slab. The challenge was to develop a project with a surface design that combined different levels of depth in the finish structure, which were joined and fused, as if part of a natural structure.”
The name “Ardesia a spacco” (quarry-split slate) comes from slate used for blackboards which was obtained and enhanced by the handiwork of expert quarry workers who cut blocks of freshly extracted slate into installation-ready slabs before the stone left the quarry. The project preserves the craftsmanship and the stone’s intrinsic value." The search for aesthetic uniqueness combined with Laminam’s technological potential brought about the development of a surface structure where the deepest split, that can reach a depth of 1.5mm, is gently in contact with the shallowest split.
“The result that we offer interior designers and architects is a product that combines the performance of a Laminam product with the beauty of the natural material that inspired it, while expanding its potential applications,” continued Corniola. “Natural slate is brittle and has a low level of resistance, which considerably limits its physical applications.”
Laminam produces Ardesia a Spacco in two primary colours (white and black - Bianco and Nero) which enhance its structure and make it suitable for any design style. Technological versatility allows Laminam to provide the new finishes in three different thicknesses (Laminam 5, Laminam 12+ and Laminam 20+), which can be combined to obtain continuous surfaces and performance levels that are suited to the final use. “Due to its technical features, Ardesia a Spacco has a wide range of applications for any surface. We can use it as a kitchen countertop, in traditional or facade construction and in design.”
Evolution, a distinctive Laminam trait, is the goal of each R&D staff member who continuously experiments with, studies and designs materials, surface effects, textures, and structural effects to help Laminam become a worldwide leader in the surfaces market.
Corniola said, "Cristallo Lucidato was developed to meet a direct international demand. In the North American market, crystal quartzite is widely demanded and diffused as a kitchen countertop. With my staff, I searched the market for the most beautiful, luxurious examples of this natural material so that I could study its features and reproduce them in a large Laminam slab. The goal was to obtain the perfect crystal surface.”
The greatest difficulty for Laminam's research and development team was reproducing the crystal quartzite’s aesthetic appearance on large Laminam slabs. “The challenge was the stone’s extremely complex natural pattern composed of a typical trigonal crystalline structure that gives the material a three-dimensional appearance,” said Corniola.
To successfully complete the project and supply a high-quality distinctive surface, we used a new type of three-dimensional scanning process with a resolution of 1000 dpi. This showed us even the tiniest detail in the natural slab.”
Cristallo Lucidato, like other highly appreciated Laminam surfaces, was developed with the “bianco assoluto” mixture. It has the same colorimetric whiteness as natural quartz, which is L94 (an extremely high value).
LAMINAM – AN INNOVATIVE AND EVER-EXPANDING COMPANY
Established in 2001, Laminam quickly acquired a leading position in the global market with its large ceramic slabs offered in a wide range of surfaces, sizes and thicknesses. In March 2019, the Alpha Private Equity Fund 7 signed an agreement to gain control of Laminam Spa, and pursued a growth plan which saw Pambianco Strategie di Impresa awarding Laminam first place in the ranking of most “listable” companies in the Design/Coatings sector in November 2019.
In addition to its Fiorano Modenese headquarters, Laminam has two other production centres – one in Borgo Val di Taro, near Parma, and the other in Russia, in the Vorsino Industrial Park, near Moscow. The company’s internationalisation process is constantly ongoing, as can be seen with its recent openings of the companies Laminam Germany GmbH, Laminam Japan and Laminam UK.
Its presence in the United States, Canada, Europe and the Far East is further strengthened by a series of partnerships and sales offices in several countries, and its important distribution centres in strategic locations which were set up to support international market dynamics. Laminam’s expanding collection of showrooms, located in some of the world’s most important cities, including Milan, Moscow, Warsaw and Kiev, are becoming important reference points for local markets.
