Floors form the basis of the rooms in which we live and work - they connect people by the very ground beneath their feet and at DOMOTEX 2019 connectivity is not to be missed.

Unique flooring creates connections between a bookstore and a café at the YME Universe in Oslo. ©YME Studios

All signs point to a successful DOMOTEX 2019 (11–14 January, Hannover, Germany) – the world’s leading trade show and biggest innovations and trend platform for the flooring industry.

The fair’s new keynote theme, “CREATE’N’CONNECT”, is a bold statement that puts the spotlight on the current connectivity megatrend. Connectedness is an important aspect of flooring in the sense that floors are unifying, connecting elements of room design. Floors and flooring provide the very foundation for the rooms in which we live and work.

Many of the exhibitors lined up for DOMOTEX 2019 are authors of innovative products used in internationally renowned interior design projects. Their carpets, floor coverings and installation systems are used by international architects and interior designers to create original, imaginatively designed spaces in which the floor forms the connecting, unifying element of the overall design. The following examples perfectly illustrate the keynote theme “CREATE’N’CONNECT” and present examples of innovative cooperations.

At signature locations around the world – including an historic ballroom in Chicago, a bookstore-café in Oslo and software company headquarters in Tallin – architects, interior designers and interior planners have integrated flooring design into their creative vision from the outset, conscious of the need to give each interior that final touch of magic that brings it to life as an harmonious, organic whole. These magical interior spaces at the cutting edge of interior design feature carpet tiles, hand-made rugs, wood flooring products and installation materials that premiered at past DOMOTEX shows as part of displays mounted by such big names as Chapel Parket, Fletco, Oriental Weavers and Galleria Battilossi.

On the second floor of the YME Universe store in Oslo, a boutique women’s fashion department and adjacent bookshop/café share the same parquet flooring. For the design of the 330 sqm expanse of floor, the design team at YME Studios and the interior designers at the Oslo architecture and design firm Snøhetta chose the “Hermitage Herringbone” range from Chapel Parket. They selected the exquisite wood flooring in three contrasting tones because of its slightly rough surface and expressive interplay of colours. The black parquet elements link up with the window frames and bookshelves, while the warmer wood tones harmonize with the vintage sofa and the undressed timber beams and interior framing. Chapel Parket has exhibited at DOMOTEX on a number of occasions and will again be showcasing its characterful wooden floor products at DOMOTEX 2019.

At the newly renovated headquarters of software company Playtech, the carpet design mirrors the company's logo and connects different working areas. ©Terje Ugandi

Global software development company Playtech recently relocated its Tallinn operation to a new, 3,200-square-metre office. The architect in charge of the office’s interior, Jan Skolimowski of architectural firm KAMP, says flooring was a key element of his design concept. One of the defining themes of the concept was the play button triangle motif in the blue Playtech logo. “So I needed a commercial carpet whose pattern and colour palette fitted in with the logo. The ‘Sebastian Wrong by Fletco’ collection was my first and only choice.” Skolimowski chose dark-blue triangular carpet tiles for the central area of each room and lighter-coloured tiles for the areas around the outer perimeters, effectively making each office appear even larger. The triangular shapes and blue tones of the flooring are echoed elsewhere in the interior design concept – in cushions on wooden bases, the main reception desk and decorative wall elements, for example. The end result is one of connectedness between floors, furniture and walls. London-based designer Sebastian Wrong first unveiled his endlessly configurable carpet tile collection for Danish manufacturer Fletco at DOMOTEX.