SICAM 2024: Continental Focuses on Sustainability and Naturalness

Which colors, decors and designs will inspire us in the furniture sector and which trends will become particularly important over the coming year? Exhibitors at this year’s SICAM, which will run from October 15 to 18, 2024, in Pordenone, Italy, will provide answers to these and many other questions. Continental will also be attending (booth B13 in hall 4) and has dedicated itself to the topics of sustainability and naturalness at the international furniture suppliers’ trade fair, where it will be presenting a broad range of exciting 2D and 3D PET and vinyl innovations as well as a variety of high-quality deep matte solid colors and stylish new decors.
Sustainable components, incredibly natural-looking decors and surfaces that offer numerous functional benefits in addition to their outstanding look and feel – Continental has all this and more in store for this year’s SICAM. The surface expert’s tagline for the international trade fair is “Sustainability starts at the surface. Inspired by nature. Expressed by design.”
What exactly lies behind this tagline? A focus on the essentials to create a modern home that invites you to relax and recharge your batteries. In other words, Continental is inspired by nature when it comes to color schemes and relies on flexibly combinable shades ranging from delicate to bold, placing the spotlight on its latest and most sustainable products that not only perfectly reflect current trends, but also drive them forward – in close collaboration with customers and partners.
Always on the lookout for optimization, Continental is also currently converting its range of vinyl foils to be phthalate-free, thereby offering its customers further added value.
Focus on product variety in terms of color, matteness and feel
Deep matte, haptically high-quality solids such as the skai® Perfect Solo furniture foil skai® Perfect Solo are a must here. Available in a wide range of colors, this design laminate is not only visually appealing, but also features an elegant, soft feel. Touch is expressly encouraged, because thanks to the innovative staynu® technology, a special surface finish developed by Continental, fingerprints and laborious wiping are now a thing of the past. The reduced “writing effect” and high scratch resistance round off the list of functional benefits and ensure long-lasting enjoyment of the furniture.
The PVC foil skai® colore classico ULTRA follows the trend toward a more tactile feel and experience. It combines an elegant matte look and fine sandy-textured feel with excellent technical surface properties such as robustness, scratch resistance and anti-fingerprint effect.
The trio of solid colors is completed by skai® rPET PureLux 2D soft. With this surface, Continental is launching a design laminate with a super-matte look and pleasantly soft feel, which not only sets standards in terms of sustainability with 100% recycled content in the PET polymer, but also scores points thanks to robust performance features such as special dirt resistance and ease of cleaning. All this is made possible by staynu® technology, which positions skai® rPET PureLux 2D soft sas an easy-care and durable surface for all areas of daily life subject to particular wear and tear.
Premiere: Continental to present printed 3D PET furniture foils for the first time
Continental will also be presenting two premieres at SICAM. These are 3D-formable PET foils. The first is the plain-colored 3D PET design laminate skai® PureLux 3D Touch. It impresses with its elegant look and smooth soft-matte feel, which invites you to touch it without leaving any annoying fingerprints. The surface is available in two versions: the standard virgin PET version and the even more sustainable rPET version. The latter features a high share of recycled material in the PET polymer. Whether for the kitchen, living area or bathroom, with its excellent material properties such as easy cleaning and scratch resistance, this design laminate is an ideal choice.
The second innovation on the market are the 3D decor-printed PET design laminates skai® PureLux 3D structure Casella Eiche nature and Catania Eiche amber. They impress with a matte feel and innovative wood texture that elegantly picks up on the “naturalness” trend. More is yet to be revealed – if you wish to find out more, you should plan a visit to the Continental booth at SICAM now.
Pure nature – elegantly rustic wood decors and stone looks prevail
Continental’s trade fair tagline “Sustainability starts at the surface. Inspired by nature. Expressed by design.” is not only expressed in the shape of sustainable furniture foils, but also in terms of the stylish new decors that the technology group will be presenting at SICAM. These include skai® Karlstad Eiche, skai® Port Oak, skai® Casella Eiche, skai® Riva and skai® Memy.
The skai® Karlstad Eiche decor, developed in close cooperation with Schattdecor, impresses with its fine, clear all-over character, which is achieved by combining various oak materials. The wide variety of typical oak components, such as flowers, pores, subtle knots and medullary rays, create a harmonious overall look that also comes into its own in large-scale applications such as living areas or kitchens to provide that extra relaxation at home.
Another oak decor is skai® Port Oak, which was developed in a decor partnership with Interprint. With a subtle brushing and cut flowers, soft pores and a slightly smoky color tone, it breaks new ground visually. In combination, these elements add a characteristic look to this fine knotless oak decor. Whether in the kitchen or the living area, skai® Port Oak knows how to welcome visitors with open arms and fascinate them.
The skai® Casella Eiche developed in cooperation with Egger and Lamigraf, is the third oak decor that Continental will be presenting to visitors at SICAM. This is a new interpretation of a classic, far removed from its rustic roots. The focus: naturalness. With its matte finish and veneer character, this decor impressively proves that oak can also be understated as well as extremely elegant across the entire interior.
The already extensive range of decors is rounded off by skai® Riva und skai® Memy.The former is inspired by the “naturalness” trend and was developed by Continental in a decor partnership with Schattdecor. In line with the trend toward a reduced, elegant rustic look, knots and cracks are completely avoided. The result is a discreet yet expressive decor with a veneer look. Thanks to its elegant natural wood texture, skai® Riva is thus suitable for a wide range of applications not only in living and working areas, but also for the design of public spaces.
Continental presents a partner for the harmonious combination of colors and decors with skai® Memy – ecreated together with Interprint. The hybrid decor of ceramic, concrete and imitation stone captivates thanks to small, light-colored stone inclusions that create a microstructure interrupted by subtle all-over quartz veins. The result of this symbiosis is a lively rock look.
Sustainability meets naturalness – with elegant, deep matte solid colors on the one hand and authentic and extremely natural-looking decors on the other, Continental combines these themes to perfection. See for yourself, from October 15 to 18, 2024, at the Continental booth B13 in hall 4. And immerse yourself in the exciting world of innovative surface materials at SICAM We look forward to seeing you there!