Many factors influence choices made by architects and interior designers: technical requirements, performance, visual and tactile properties like color and texture, and don't forget sustainability. Material Intelligence offers practical definitions and applications for a wide variety of surfaces to help you choose the right material for your project.
The Guides: Surfaces and Substrates for Furniture and Interior Architecture
The granddaddy of decorative laminates, HPL has proven itself over decades of use, and still offers more design options than any other material.
Compact laminate—a 70 percent paper fiber-based solid surface that stores naturally captured carbon, requires no substrate and holds up to the most demanding applications.
Durable, easy to clean, 3D laminates are a perfect solution for healthcare, education, and retail.
TFL - thermally fused laminate - combines durability, design, and incredible textures for commercial and residential furniture and panels.
Hardwoods are beautiful, durable, can be enhanced with a wide range of stains, finishes and other treatments, and are easily worked with basic tools as a hobbyist, as well as with the latest energy-efficient manufacturing commercial production lines.
Decorative hardwood plywood is a strong and stable engineered wood product made with at least one decorative veneer surface. Known for its natural beauty, strength, and stability, it comes in a variety of thicknesses and finishes.
Learn why this versatile laminating film is economical, flexible, and fatigue-resistant, with properties that make it an excellent choice for a wide range of consumer and commercial applications.
Found often on vertical surfaces and RTA furniture, no other material is capable of the resolution and realism of decorative papers and foils.
Edgebanding matches or complements the face décor color and pattern and protects the core edges and corners against damage and wear.
Learn about special properties and applications of these climate-positive substrates for decorative laminates: particleboard and MDF.
The Technology of Surface Design
Composite wood-based decorative surfaces are created with the latest iterations of ancient decorative technologies – printing and embossing. Learn more about the process of bringing rare and beautiful surfaces to the most sustainable and durable materials you can specify.