Customization was the hot topic at this year’s Boutique Design New York expo, held last week at the Javits Center in New York City.
With hoteliers seeking new ways to make their properties stand out from the competition, many booths emphasized ways suppliers could create custom products for hotels—or even customize one room for different guest needs.
Havwoods
Wood flooring and surface solutions company Havwoods launched TreeAzzo at its booth. TreeAzzo is an FSC-certified, resin-bound wood particle product made entirely by hand, making every panel unique with no repeat patterns. To create the tiles, an eco-friendly resin is combined with reclaimed wood chips from five tree species across the woodworking industry that would otherwise be discarded. The resin can be customized to match any RAL floor resin color.
Havwoods’ Global Product Director Anthony Scott noted that the tiles are available with a fiber cement backing or an 18 millimeter plywood backing. “The ply back is designed for use with furniture making—table tops, worktops [and] cabinets,” he said. “The cement back is designed for use with floors and walls.”
Hush Acoustics
Hush Acoustics provides acoustic paneling to control noise in public spaces. “We create acoustic products that go in any space where there's a lot of echo and reverberation,” Acoustic Sales Consultant Tom Bradford said on the show floor. Lobbies, restaurants, gyms and pools are popular locations for the panels, he added.
Hush customizes its products upon request, Bradford said. “A lot of designers and hospitality groups, they have their own ideas [about] where they want to see things. So we want them to create exactly what it is they want.”
The company has an acoustic analysis service to determine how acoustics will work in any given space, Bradford said. “As the project continues along, and … the designer's dream comes to life, we then start doing prototypes, and then shop drawings. Once shop drawings are approved, we then start the manufacturing process.” Hush manufactures its products in-house, he added, and helps oversee installation.
Kasthall
Swedish rug and textile company Kasthall displayed both its tufted and woven rugs in its booth. The rugs are available in 176 colorways, and the company can custom-dye textiles as well—“with no harsh chemicals,” said Caleb Dixon, A+D and hospitality account manager, adding that each rug is signed and dated by the person who created it in the Swedish studio.
The online Kasthall Rug Designer lets designers customize a rug from Kasthall's Arkad and Häggå collection using 20 different patterns and the 176 colors. “So if you say, ‘Hey, we have this beautiful space, and the client had this color they really wanted to match and copy off of, can you match it, or try to find something close to it?’ We can actually custom dye to get as close as possible to [the color].”
PoliLam
Victoria A. Shen, managing director for North America at PoliLam, demonstrated the company’s custom printing capabilities on a range of surfaces. “We can receive graphics from designers—or, if we have enough time, we can also develop the design together with our design team,” she said. The company can then digitally print the design onto high-pressure laminate, compact laminate or exterior compact laminate. “We can add different textures after the design has already been incorporated,” Shen added.
Treca Paris
French bedding company Treca Paris had a removable mattress topper on display at its booth. The topper, Sales Associate Julie Michaux said, is made of alpaca wool and can be added or removed depending on how soft or firm a guest wants their bed to be. “You can have a custom sleeping experience for your clients,” she said. Beyond the topper, Treca mattresses are available in three different levels of firmness, Michaux added.
Welspun Living
Welspun Global Brands displayed a custom-printed textile at the company’s booth. VP of Design Ritam Ray explained that the company’s digital printer creates “endless possibilities” in terms of what a client can request.
“Any kind of customization is possible here—any kind of design, any kind of color, any kind of size,” Ray said, noting that the machine can create designs on fabrics up to four meters wide.