Continental impresses at SICAM with sustainable product innovations
500 exhibitors, thousands of ideas. Once again, Pordenone in Italy became the metropolis of the furniture supply industry in mid-October. Four days of holistic inspiration, personal exchange and intensive trend observation – this year’s SICAM had all that in store for its international visitors. In the heart of the hustle and bustle: Continental. The baggage included a host of exciting product innovations.
Good ideas succeed – especially if they are sustainable. This experience was impressively demonstrated by the technology company Continental at SICAM 2022. The issue of sustainability was not only on everyone’s lips, but could also be experienced hands-on in the truest sense of the word at the surface specialist’s stand.
In particular, the skai® rPureLux 2D soft design laminate generated enthusiasm among trade fair visitors, as the material with 100% recycled PET has not only an extremely pleasant soft feel, but also robust properties, such as maximum scratch resistance. “Many visitors were impressed with our high recycled content,” says product manager Patrick Holz. Continental is a step ahead of other companies in this respect, he notes, and is providing new inspiration.
skai® PureLux 3D Touch was just as much of a sensation. What’s special about the matte surface? Instead of appearing dull or pale, it looks wonderfully warm. Get closer, and it immediately becomes a tactile experience. Soft and delicate, it provides hands-on confirmation of the visual impression of quality – and all this comes with good resistance to chemicals, scratches and abrasion.
Visitors to the trade fair were also able to get a special feel for the wood and fantasy decor skai® Tira, because the striped pattern with fine fiber structures, straight-grained wood inclusions and narrow annual rings is best experienced by touch. The surface with its etched grooved look is enhanced by special light effects. To further intensify these, metallic effect pigments provide alluring light reflections. With similar characteristics, skai® colore structure in the new trend colors forest and parisian blue also impressed at the fair. These solid color surfaces are also enhanced with a grooved look and the resulting light reflections.
Along with skai® rPureLux 2D soft, skai® Perfect Solo also made its debut at SICAM. This is a deep matte vinyl quality furniture film. Thanks to the innovative staynu technology the material impresses with its very good surface performance, making it particularly suitable for everyday use. In addition, the solid color matte surface has a special anti-fingerprint coating that eliminates the need for tiresome wiping down.
The trade show appearance was rounded off by a focus on the wood and stone decors that are currently most in demand. Here, the versatile oak finish still dominates. Other things Continental brought to SICAM include skai® Flagstaff Oak in a rustic antique wood look, and skai® Viking Oak, the “free spirit from the far north” with wild, irregularly placed, highly distinctive features that give the film its very own charm. The third decor in the group skai® Salazar – re-interpreted with an even more realistic textured surface, “ROCCIA” is a stone decor that harmoniously combines the design classics marble, limestone, granite and dolomite. All without any sense of being heavy or oppressive.
Good meetings, inspired exchanges between equals, and new ideas – the entire Continental furniture film team around Heiko Gerstl looks back on SICAM in a positive mood: “We got very positive feedback on many of our exhibits. We’ve really missed this personal contact and exchange with our customers and partners in recent years, due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
