Hospitality Design - November 2017 - 10

advertorial

Q&A

with

john crews
design manager lifestyle studio,
shaw hospitality
How has this technology changed the
way you're able to look at product
development?

Canvas provides us with a blank canvas. From
a pattern and artwork perspective, we can do
anything now. Instead of hoping interpretations
of a design turn out to be real-enough, Canvas
allows us to design patterns, graphics and artwork
in any color in a crisp, photo-realistic way.
In developing this product, we thought a lot
about how people may change how they view
flooring. Designers are sometimes more limited
in what they can do with it in a space compared
to other design elements. Textile and furniture
manufacturers have been able to do what Canvas
achieves for years, and we're excited to offer this
in commercial flooring now. We envision that one
day these patterns can continue off the floor and
onto curtains and furniture.

What current trends are you keeping
your eye on?

Coming hospitality trends are always dictated
by guest satisfaction, and we're always thinking
about how our product design affects end users.
We continue to see a big growth in hard surface
in guest rooms for ease of maintenance and
guest satisfaction. With Canvas, we're now able
to create dynamic, new rugs to go under beds or
to bring a softness to public spaces. With hotel
brands changing the layout of the lobby and food
and beverage areas, the flooring has to indicate
different segments of the space with high contrast
rugs over hard surface flooring.
We're seeing a shift from streamlined
silhouettes in flooring, furniture and art to bigger,
bolder, more photo-real designs across all sectors,
and Canvas accomplishes that. Part of this trend
comes from a need to localize and brand flooring
as part of a hospitality environment's aesthetic.
Canvas can create patterns and prints in colors
that exactly match a hotel's overall design
aesthetic or brand palette.

What's one thing people probably don't
know about your company?
We are the only major carpet manufacturer
operating in the commercial environment with
Canvas technology.

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November 2017 hospitalitydesign.com

How did you refine the design process
for Canvas?

We began with extensive market research in
which we examined 25 different carpet patterns.
We analyzed them for blending, photo realism,
color and linear detail to decide on our priorities
for Canvas technology. Once we identified the
factors we wanted to master with Canvas, we
focused on linework to create patterns with crisp
lines that didn't bleed.
As we developed Canvas further, we pursued
a process that was curated, artistic and captured
the thought process of our designers without
having to sacrifice detail. We chose the succulent
for its interesting textures and colors, created
an image and projected that image onto flooring
without distorting or losing detail in the linework.
This is one of the most creative projects
we've ever worked on, and with the level of scale
flooring gives us, it's a great way to magnify
an artist's creativity. Through this process, our
designers have explored Canvas without being
steared or forced into a design direction. It's
important for designers to make what they're
passionate about doing and to be allowed to put
their mark on a project.

What excites you about leading the
lifestyle studio at Shaw Hospitality?

Hospitality and lifestyle influence all market
segments because they're about the individual
human experience in a space. Our focus is to
humanize design as we aim to connect people to
materials. Lifestyle helps us discover narratives
and perspectives of the human experience. Those
narratives help us discover and create the type
of products that evoke human elements and
solutions to the everyday needs that flooring
satisfies. I'm excited to lead a studio that
influences so many areas of design and positively
impacts the people in these kinds of spaces.
http://www.hospitalitydesign.com
Hospitality Design - November 2017

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