Tafisa’s Brass Band design, a Hickory woodgrain structure in taupe.

Tafisa’s ‘True Touch of Wood’ Crosses Material Boundaries

There are many different ways to save trees. We can use our manufacturing technology to get more composite wood panels from recovered wood fiber. We can use advanced design technologies to create stunning replicas of endangered woods with such convincing details that experts are hard pressed to see that it isn’t the real thing. Or we could create design matches across several different material options, dramatically simplifying the specification process.

Even better: We could do all three.

That’s what Tafisa does.

Synchronized Textures Transcend TFL

Tafisa Canada has long been a design leader in North American TFL, pushing the category with fashion-forward design collections and successful efforts to incorporate post-consumer recycled wood waste into new decorative and composite wood panels.

The Feria texture, textural essence of hickory, in both TFL and HPL. Click image to enlarge.

And now Tafisa has introduced something entirely new to the North American materials catalog: “The Perfect Match.” That is, perfect HPL matches to their Sommet and Prelude TFL collections, with Sommet EiR surface textures produced with the exact same embossing plates and printed décors in both materials.

This is a bold leap forward for designers who want to value engineer their projects without sacrificing design harmony.

EiR (Embossed in Register) technology allows laminate producers to emboss woodgrain textures in which every tiny tick, knot and cathedral is perfectly aligned with its printed counterpart. It’s a recent innovation that, until now in North America, has been exclusive to TFL (thermally fused laminate) panels. The process took years to develop and required the cooperation of décor printers, press plate manufacturers and panel producers.

EiR surfaces in HPL, however, are a revolution. HPL and TFL are manufactured differently, and the precision required to perfectly align an embossing plate is much more challenging in HPL production than it is on a TFL line.

Surforma HPL is manufactured by Tafisa’s sister company in Portugal, Sonae Indústria de Revestimentos SA. SIR has been making HPL since 1959 and has cracked the EiR code for HPL. Tafisa’s Perfect Match program includes all Tafisa’s textures in the Prelude and Sommet Series. That’s right! Besides VIVA, FERIA and BRAVA textures are also available in HPL EiR.

Why add HPL to your offering if TFL is already the best choice for most furniture and interior applications? Because HPL has the impact resistance to stand up abusive applications.

Tafisa’s Appalachia design is based on a Blackwood grain structure, in brown, with the Alto texture. In TFL and HPL.

EiR: Laminate’s Great Leap Forward

Simply put, realistic textures have been the final frontier in the realism of laminate woodgrains. For many years, now, the rotogravure (and now digitally) printed décors have achieved incredible detail and nuance. But these details were often lost under the generic “stipple” finish that was once pretty much the only surface texture you could get.

As texture technology evolved we started to see more matte/gloss effects and stylized tactile woodgrains that eliminated that “laminate glare” but still didn’t deliver the ultimate realism of an exact match to the printed décor.

EiR has basically reintroduced laminates as an entirely new material option, with stunningly realistic wood textures and finishes. In some cases, the touch is so real that you feel like you have to wipe sawdust off your fingers after touching them!

The allure of EiR surfaces has become so powerful that collections like Tafisa’s Sommet Series is organized around wood species-specific textures, instead of visual designs, and marketed under the theme “The True Touch of Wood.”

Tafisa’s EiR Textures

FERIA, the textural essence of hickory, a trusted wood known for its lightness and durability. Warm color variations evoke movement and rhythm—like a laidback, yet lively, celebration that sets the soul and the imagination alight.

BRAVA, a surface inspired by teak, a noble and timeless wood species, creates a lasting impression with its rich cathedral motifs. The striking look and feel of these panels are designed to stay with you, like the lingering traces of a fond memory. VIVA actually offers two different wood structures — Elegant and Cerused—that are precision-engineered to provide the same synchronized texture, panel after panel.

VIVA, the first in the Sommet series, a unique butternut texture and woodgrain structure that’s both elegant and refined. VIVA comes in three different wood structures— Elegant, Rustic, and Planked Effect, all beautifully authentic.

Each texture is available in many different wood visuals, all aligned to the texture.

Tafisa also offers more budget-friendly non-EiR laminate textures, of course, in both TFL and HPL:

Alto, a bold, highly tactile linear woodgrain
Isola, a smooth satin
Urbania, a woodgrain that evokes a subtle straight-grained oak
Smoothwood, a gentle, classic woodgrain
Crystalite, a robust classic laminate texture

Surface Realism Keeps Butternut Alive

The Viva texture feels like Butternut, an endangered softwood once widely favored by wood carvers. Click image to enlarge.

The VIVA collection, based on butternut woodgrain structures, is a case study in preserving a species that is truly endangered. Butternut trees are a beautiful, light tan-colored relative of the black walnut, with a coarse straight grain. The wood is softer than walnut and a favorite of wood carvers, which is why it is often found on church altars.

Butternut is also all but extinct. Since the late 1960s a fungus that causes butternut canker disease has been spreading through the entire North America population. In some areas more than 80 percent of butternut trees have died from the disease, and most of the survivors are infected.

“Several universities are trying to identify resistant butternuts, planting seeds in plots under infected trees,” says conservationist Dr. Tom Kimmerer. “The seedlings that survive under these conditions may be resistant, or partly resistant. Once resistant seedlings have been selected, they can be crossed to create a new generation of trees which can then be tested for resistance.

“This is a process that takes a very long time and with an uncertain outcome.”

Tafisa’s choice of the butternut texture allows future generations to love the feel of this rare wood. By choosing any color in the VIVA collection, you’re keeping the unique beauty of butternut alive while helping preserve this small, struggling population of surviving trees.

Rewood Technology: Extending the Life Cycle of Wood Fiber

In 2005 Tafisa created its Rewood program to develop sustainable sources for wood fiber. This visionary long-term investment plan ensures a productive and healthy future for the company, as well as its employees, products and markets.

Rather than limit itself to traditional resource channels, the company is always investing in green technology that further enhances its capacity to recycle wood materials derived from the CRD (construction, renovation and demolition) and ICI (industrial, commercial and institutional) sectors. The program has given a growing number of Canada’s recycling sorting centers a major new customer for waste wood that was otherwise hard to utilize.

Rewood also enables Tafisa to utilize 244,000 tons of post-consumer wood fiber annually, saving millions of trees, and extending the useful life cycle of wood fiber. Instead of ending up in a landfill, post-consumer wood materials are recycled and integrated into the new decorative panels…with beautiful wood designs that also help designers save trees.

Tafisa’s New Wave design is based on a teak woodgrain, in taupe.

Seven New Designs Just Announced!

Tafisa offers options for all tastes and pockets, from high value-added decorative surfaces from the EiR-driven Sommet Series to their Prelude colors and texture combinations. With these many choices, value engineering projects has never been easier.

Tofino, a cherry structure in tan/brown, in the Urbania texture. Available in TFL and HPL,

And because trends are always evolving, more choices have just been introduced! Tafisa announces seven new décors to its Prelude collection that will embellish all your projects. Four new colors are available in the Urbania texture, plus three in the Alto texture. And of course, they are all also available in Surforma HPL. The perfect match in TFL and HPL.

The True Touch of Wood, Prelude, Sommet, Surforma, FERIA, BRAVA, and Rewood are registered trademarks of Tafisa Canada.

Tafisa's 'True Touch of Wood'

The Perfect Match: Preserving what we love most about wood