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Patina Stays Ahead of the Pack |
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| Patina Old World Floors was the first to introduce custom, hand distressed solid wood flooring to the top of the flooring market and remains the leader despite a host of imitators. Even with knock off copies, even some pretty good ones by the big manufacturers in the industry, Patina’s small, trim size and creative product development talents allow them to stay way ahead of the pack with innovative new products that often arise out of custom client requests. Despite these large heavy hitters of the flooring industry as their competition, Patina succeeds because it works differently. Instead of investing heavily in a standard set of “take it or leave it” product lines, Patina works directly with their clients to produce the floors that are wanted. Their client base is some of the top interior designers, architects and installers in the country. Patina works closely with them to discover what they have in mind and then produces it for them to their specifications. For example, their installation at the new 5 star Sanctuary at Kiawah Island. Because humidity is high in that location and the wide open spaces the flooring was to be installed in, Patina created an engineered flooring that layered 3/8” walnut to 3/8” plywood substrate creating a far more stable product in regard to the expansion/contraction factor at the same time as creating a floor that looks just like that found in old historic houses in the South, even creaking to the foot step. Thus Patina’s small size allows their designers to work closely with clients, whether they be architects, builders or homeowners to produce exactly the floors they want. It is this flexibility that is the hallmark of Patina. Sure, after their years in business they have stock of many different species of wood, a store house of stains and finishes, a wealth of sizes, designs, medallions, widths, textures, ancient and modern at hand. There are even standard floorings available in all their levels of distressing, species, finishes and colors, but if you want your floor to be made from timbers rescued from an old barn in New England, or if you want a certain Italian stone tile worked into a design you found in a book, if you need engineered flooring that squeaks and looks like old wide plank, Patina will make it happen. Patina has even brought its years of expertise to developing flooring for applications that don’t require the very top end. Working with a specialized manufacturer, they have introduced “Patina Floors Relics collection” (www.relicscollection.com). An engineered flooring, the “Relics Collection” comes with a smooth surface or a “distressed” surface in standard species, colors, widths and lengths for easy installation. A flooring that is a visual departure and is proving highly popular is an ultramodern smooth wide plank flooring branded under the “Metro Plank” moniker (www.metroplank.com). To provide this type of personal, custom service, the product developers at Patina are not only experts at what is available in terms of wood species, stains, product fault protection, milling methods etc. at home and abroad, but they travel far and wide researching historic and modern production methods, often pairing the two. Sometimes this is visiting old buildings in Europe or even browsing old bookstores in Venice for a long lost inlay design. This results in new floors built to today’s’ requirements and specifications that look like antique flooring in aging chateaux. So while the big guys are mass producing copies that require you to like their offerings or tough luck, Patina works hand in hand with their clients to produce custom floors that are exactly what they want. Visit the Patina Old World Floors web site at www.patinawoodfloors.com. (Downloadable high-resolution photos for this story from Photo Library at http://patinawoodfloors.com/1/files/pressroom/media/index.html. Sign in required.) Toll Free: 1 (800) 501-1113 Tel: 1-(805) 648-7521 Fax: 1-(805)-648-7301 Email: patina@patinawoodfloors.com 3820 N. Ventura Ave Ventura CA 93001 USA download PDF version |
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