Monday, 01 August 2016 00:00

James Latham explores specifying for sustainable projects

    Improving health and wellbeing in internal environments is of utmost importance for today’s interior design community. Employing natural materials within interior schemes articulates our relationship between indoor spaces and nature. James Latham, importer and distributor of wood-based products, invited Inex to its supplier’s Belgium-based headquarters to visualise first-hand just how the natural beauty of wood can impact an interior scheme.

    When it comes to the origin of wood, both James Latham and its supplier Decospan are conscious of their wood’s birthplace. Whether it be larch, oak or walnut, James Latham has assurance that Decospan sources its woods from well-managed forests. With 90% of its veneers FSC or PEFC-certified, James Latham has full confidence that its veneers are being delivered by an environmentally-conscious manufacturer by using Decospan.

    Environmentally-friendly selections are of vital importance for both today’s interior designers and their clients. This isn’t narrowed down solely to the product selection itself, but extends to the entire lifespan of the product, from sourcing and manufacturing, to logistics and even down to the status of the showroom that the product inhabits. Meeting consumer demands, Decospan aims to neutralise its footprint in years to come and currently utilises 30% of its energy from solar panels with the remaining 70% sourced as green energy. The company also uses its unusable off-cuts to heat its business premises and machinery. With waste kept to an absolute minimum, Sales and Marketing Director PieterJan Desmet, son of Founder of Decospan Urbain Desmet, adopts the attitude that “a great butcher utilises every part of a cow, this is how Decospan approaches its manufacturing”. Enhancing its eco-friendly status even further, Decospan also owns two wind turbines as a source of sustainable, renewable energy.

    Today’s designers and clients are becoming ever more environmentally and socially aware about their choices. So much so that many of today’s hoteliers are opting to create eco-friendly schemes within hotel interiors. These ‘green’ schemes attract a new generation of hotel guests and evoke our natural, instinctive bond between other living systems. Wood is the prime material evident of these ‘green’ schemes. With so many hotel guests inspired by hotels from their travels across the years, it is evident that these hotel interiors are influential. As a result, the ‘green’ scheme is making a rapid movement into residential schemes.

    Appropriate applications

    Finding the right balance between high-end and sustainability can be a difficult task for today’s designers. Addressing this issue, Decospan produces its products in a choice of three versatile distribution ranges – Architectural, Classic and Commercial. Intended for high-end applications is the Architectural range, which hosts striking, well-defined grains with a clear colour and structure. Exemplary for decorative use, this range has a continuous gradient and is produced using impeccable logs.

    With the raw, natural trend evolving amongst consumers, natural defaults within wood, that once would have been dismissed, are proving popular in interior schemes. Which is precisely what Decospan’s second range, Classic, presents. Original characteristics that are specific to the chosen wood are palpable alongside small knots, which Latham has witnessed as a recurrent request from its clients.

    The final range, Commercial, as the name suggests, is produced for commercial applications. This budget-friendly range hosts more typical properties of wood, such as small, centred and larger, prominent knots. The discolouration of this range can contribute to rustic, organic schemes whilst keeping in budget for economical projects.

    Collections

    With a wide variety of choices, Decospan’s brand collection comprises Shinnoki, ‘Look’likes’, Nordus and Querkus. Each of these brands hold their own individual benefits, such as the Shinnoki brand. James Latham has seen this sought-after brand prevail with considerable interest from its clients. Shinnoki, translated as ‘real wood’ in Japanese, has been specified for many high-profile properties with its popularity underpinned by the likes of football stars, John Terry and Steven Gerrard.

    Ready for application, the Shinnoki range of veneers is prefinished and of a high-quality Architectural grade. Due to its prefinished status, Shinnoki proves popular with the industry’s designers specifying for the hospitality sector where down-time must vitally be kept to a minimum. Although this range displays a higher price point, the agility of Shinnoki is highly beneficial to interior designers and architects alike.

    Following the trend for Scandinavian, modern interior design, Decospan’s Nordus range offers the highest quality soft and birch wood. This collection presents a ‘raw feel’ with eight designs which are perfect for creating contemporary settings. Available with matching edge bands, Nordus can host numerous paint or oil finishing possibilities, offering a truly versatile collection.

    Oak has been a popular wood preference for many years due to its rich aesthetic. Decospan’s Querkus brand, Latin for ‘oak veneer’, comprises the finest oak which has been sustainably designed and harvested from FSC-certified European white and reclaimed oak. Designers in search of a more natural veneer are drawn to the Querkus brand for its unique, innovative matching techniques.

    Taking the company’s creativity one step further, Decospan’s ‘Look’likes’ collection oozes innovation. Hosting the appearance of real wood, this inspiring collection is aimed at interior designers and architects in search of an environmentally-friendly solution to using real wood. Due to the traceability of tropical wood being a troublesome process, this brand was developed as an alternative to using real tropical wood. Exotic ‘Look’likes’ such as ebony, macasar and teak are available with an FSC label.

    Available as panels, ply, the company’s innovative Decoflex and wallpaper, this flexible brand comprises three collections – Classics, Exotic and Art. Offering innumerable creative design options, this collection is appropriate for all interior schemes, offering interior designers full creativity while being environmentally-friendly.

    Decospan’s exclusive, innovative Decoflex is extremely easy to work with. Offering a flexible structure, this product is a versatile choice for interior designers looking for a wood product to wrap around bent surfaces. Available in a wide range of choices, this product can be specified in numerous wood species from bamboo, oak and pine, to teak, walnut and birch.

    Meeting interior designers’ needs

    Igniting all your senses, all these products are available to see, touch and smell at Decospan’s innovative ‘experience centre’. Appropriately named, Decospan’s Treehouse is far from your run-of-the-mill showroom.

    Designed by design studio Pink Eye, with the concept’s innovation owed to Pieterjan Desmet, the Treehouse exhibits Decospan’s collections and even utilises some of the manufacturer’s products within the build itself – such as the bottom floor’s toilet doors which are produced from Decospan’s vintage oak and the striking elm and bamboo panelled staircase leading up to the Treehouse.

    Upon entering the Treehouse, visitors are immersed into a natural environment. Bathed in natural daylight, visitors are greeted by interactive panels showcasing some of Decospan’s products. Further enhancing this organic scheme, these interchangeable panels are nestled amongst natural moss and are changed every two to three months to offer visitors a variety in the products they come to observe. Architects and interior designers are welcome to bring their clients along to the Treehouse to visualise first-hand their specified wood species. Furthermore, Decospan offers designers and their clients the option to personally select their own log to produce into a veneer.

    Decospan’s ranges are available through James Latham, which has recently announced the opening of a brand new 60m2 showroom in the heart of London. Located in the Business Design Centre, James Latham’s new showroom will reveal its opening in summer 2016, showcasing Decospan’s innovative, responsibly-sourced veneers, from the Shinnoki range to Decospan’s ingenious ‘Look’likes’ brand.

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    Inex magazine and its complementary website is the ultimate specification resource for design professionals working in both the domestic and commercial marketplaces.

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