The North American offices of Schattdecor presented new decors with a Western Flair at the Flooring Show in Las Vegas.

The St. Louis based office of Schattdecor AG, the world leader of printed paper for decorative surfaces, took the lead at this year’s Surfaces Tradeshow February 1-3 in Las Vegas/USA. The North American representatives made presentations to Schattdecor laminate flooring customers with a Western Flair in their hotel suite turned showroom.
US colleagues combined with their counterparts from Europe, South America, and Asia to present the trends and Schattdecor’s response to those trends for the flooring market. During the three days of the show all of the key flooring marketers in the USA and Canada had the chance to see the new ideas.
Tom Drazen summarized, “Our customers have become accustomed to this style of presentation, and as a result we made more presentations this year than ever before. The best part is that we now have the experience to look at customers lines and make specific recommendations where we see opportunities to help them increase their sales.”
Mark Smith, designer for the North American Schattdecor contingent, developed a special Western Design/Trend Concept for this year’s Surfaces. He divided the market opportunities into 4 segments; Classic West, Urban West, Wild West, and Exotic West. The presentation was enthusiastically received by the customers as reflected by the increased number of samples requested this year.
Classic West featured updated versions of current bestselling decors. Urban West decors and colors reflect the taste of younger consumers. The Wild West is for those customers interested in unique wood structures as well as the new finishes that enhance that wood. The Exotic West shows world-wide influences on floors that originate in vacation destination countries.
Both on the floor at Surfaces and in the Schattdecor suite, dark colors and Chocolate colortones were popular. Designs featuring hand scraped looks and having in register embossing continue to grow. “Schattdecor continues to provide essential assistance to the plate producers that provide these popular surface charac-teristics for laminate flooring customers” says Bill Schmittgens, laminate flooring specialist for Schattdecor in North America.
The most requested decors were Oak and Nut Tree decors especially Walnut and on the exotic side Panga Panga and Hawaiian Mahogany proved popular exotic destinations.
Daniele Merla, designer and product development manager for Schattdecor in Germany, supported the US colleagues, providing valuable technical advice.  But he also took a number of good ideas for new developments home with him as well. Merla says, “Consulting with the customers directly as we do at Surfaces is the key to getting a design that maximizes its popularity, and ultimately its sales at our customer.”
Schattdecor has been more than satisfied with this current approach to the American market as it has led to 50 new developments both for general consumption and for customers on an exclusive basis since they began this type of presentation in 2001. Schattdecor customers can all look forward next year to another exciting Surfaces presentation in 2007.

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In the case of any questions, please contact:

Schattdecor AG
Tom Drazen
Sales Manager for North America
Tel.: 001 314 - 209 16 55
Fax: 001 314 - 209 16 56
Email: TDrazen@decorusa.net

or:

Schattdecor AG
Corporate Communications
Michael Meister
Tel.: +49 8031 - 275 189
Fax: +49 8031 - 275 2200
Email: m.meister@schattdecor.de

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