Formica Celebrates 100 Years, Adds 12 New Colors

Formica Group, the inventor of laminate, marks 100 years of invention, innovation and design leadership in 2013 and enters a year-long global celebration of its past, present and future impact on residential and commercial design.

“For 100 years, Formica® brand products have touched every aspect of our lives, each and every day, by surfacing millions of spaces in which we gather, work, learn, heal, shop, eat and play,” said Mark Adamson, former CEO of Formica Group and current CEO of its parent company, Fletcher Building. “The world has grown up with Formica brand laminate. We look forward to topping millions more surfaces for generations to come.”

Formica Group partnered with world-renowned design consultancy Pentagram to create an 2013 anniversary campaign for its iconic brand, including:

  • “Formica Forever” 100-year logos and supporting brand elements to be used throughout 2013
  • A Formica Laminate Anniversary Collection, featuring 12 new graphic patterns based on the brand and its history; unveiled around the world in 2013
  • A celebratory book, Formica Forever, that chronicles 100 years of history, design, cultural impact and business expansion; available mid-year 2013

“All elements of our anniversary celebration pay homage to the making of an iconic brand,” shared Paul Zuckerman, president of Fletcher Building’s Laminates & Panels Division, which includes Formica Group.  “As the brand turns 100, we’re looking back on a century of invention, business endurance and achievement. It’s quite a story.”

The 12 new patterns are in four collections: Ellipse, Endless, Dotscreen and Halftone.

Ellipse and Endless play off the anniversary theme “Formica Forever” by utilizing innovative printing techniques that allow independent layers of pattern to randomly interact during the course of printing. The method creates seemingly infinite patterns that appear consistent due to the fluidity of the overlapping elements. Unlike most patterns that repeat every 50 inches, the pattern repeat of Ellipse and Endless only occur every 500 to 700 sheets, the equivalent to more than a mile in length.

Ellipse uses the “hidden oval” in the iconic Formica brand logo to create a series of layered strands that ripple across the surface.
• White Ellipse – a tonal non-color
• Gray Ellipse – a classic gray
• Red Ellipse – a strong red (The signature color of Formica Group features 1913, the year the company was founded, as its product code.)

Endless creates a digital grain from bars that alternately layer and punch through a colored base. The result is a continuous tone-on-tone, architectural pattern that provides visual interest at close range and, from a distance, provides a geometric texture.
• Endless Graytone – a versatile gray-on-gray
• Endless Smoke – an ebony that recalls carbon and mica
• Endless Indigo – a deep inky blue

Dotscreen and Halftone celebrate Formica  history of exuberant color and printing technology. Both Dotscreen and Halftone feature “solid patterns” of bright and saturated colors made more complex by undercurrents of detailed patterning. Fine dot motifs provide a second scale of interest within the optimistic hues.

Dotscreen features luminous colors with extremely fine micro-dots in continuous ribbons.
• Aqua Dotscreen – a distinctive sky blue
• Mint Dotscreen – a vegetal green
• Tangelo Dotscreen – a soft orange

Halftone features “near-bright” colors patterned with various sizes of toned dots, reminiscent of halftone printing screens.
• Blueberry Halftone – a medium-toned blue
• Citrus Halftone – a bright lemon yellow
• Tangelo Halftone – a soft orange

Each Anniversary Collection pattern contains a subtle, tone-on-tone Formica brand watermark embedded into the design on every sheet.