Tin-plated. Planed. Award-winning.
How our “Flagstaff Oak” decor, which was awarded for innovation and quality, was created
Our rustic-modern flagstaff oak reclaimed wood decor was recognized at Interzum 2021 for its innovative strength and high quality. The award in the “intelligent material & design 2021” category is a gratifying success for Schattdecor and an occasion to look back at the creation of the decor and a strong team effort.
The Interzum winning decor, Flagstaff Oak, sets highlights on furniture and floors. With it, the classic oak material suddenly has a spirited, modern look and re-interprets the topic of “rusticality”. Striking cracks filled with silver, bronze or copper emphasize the characteristics of planed scrap wood.
How beautiful old wood really is
Flagstaff Oak is part of a trend towards authentic, natural wood looks. What was considered a quality flaw a few decades ago is now increasingly perceived by more and more people as attractive, as having a strong character: The visualization of cracks, knots, traces of processing or even small wormholes is therefore enjoying increasing popularity.
“Flagstaff Oak is a clear statement - and the result of a great team effort. This oak is unfolding as a surprisingly new, independent look. Their metallic, shimmering, detailed cracks reveal an unmistakably strong character."
– Christian Zaha, Head of Decormanagement at Schattdecor
Flagstaff Oak now even highlights the cracks in the wood with pewter colors, thereby giving the idiosyncratic beauty of scrap wood an innovative boost.
How Flagstaff Oak was born
The initial impetus for the development of our Flagstaff Oak came directly from the market: We were inspired by a piece of furniture from the high-quality real wood segment. Its material immediately won us over and we decided to recreate its surface in a deceptively real way.
In February 2020, our Schattdecor team began to concentrate the experience it had gathered on a new old wood decor, “Flagstaff Oak”. The result was a balanced design that, to our great delight, also convinced the Interzum jury in 2021.
Strong team performance
Many steps and good teamwork are required for a winning decor like Flagstaff Oak to be awarded at Interzum. Craftsmanship and creative expertise made it possible for the decor development teams to recognize and realize the success of such wood reproductions. Flagstaff Oak is therefore the result of experience and team spirit, paired with the courage to experiment.
Conceiving a decor idea
In order to be able to develop Flagstaff Oak, the teams at the Thansau site first went in search of beautiful old wood materials including rustic details, cracks and knots.
The planed gaps in the original Flagstaff Oak wood were leveled with filler and sanded. Our pewter filling replaces this filler filling and visually emphasizes the cracks and knots.
Creating a surface
In order to be able to create a manual layout later, Frank Krämer (surface processing, layout, repro) first determined which raw material would have what it takes to make a successful decor. He selected the original templates for Flagstaff Oak, tested different surfaces, determined a test board to see which surface would really work in the scan, and finally determined the ideal processing steps and the optics.
Creating the scan
This test board was scanned and digitized by scan operator Helmut Demegni; he checked the generated data for scan or color errors. With this check, he also confirmed the later separation and processing capability of the scan. He selected the ideal optics from all the scan tests, prepared the entire fundus with this surface, and scanned it through with the selected setting. He then printed out the scans 1: 1 in their original size.
Creating the hand layout
A lot of creativity was also required in the next step. The printed individual Flagstaff Oak planks were reported and put together to form a layout concept.
Setting the hand layout (digital)
The special plank contrast of Flagstaff Oak was the result of the interplay of high-quality craftsmanship and a lot of experience: For this, operator Stefan Puppe put the layout together digitally and reported the individual planks. He adjusted the RGB layout until after a few change loops and optimizations, the final proof could be printed out and approved.
Decor development
In decor development, Thomas Pfluger worked out the first stage of development: he developed the individual colors, adjusted the coloring and was responsible for the process from elaboration to approval. In the next step, the design team selected the collection colors that were subsequently approved by the decor group.
Flagstaff Oak is ready for production
Now the team around Christof Tielemann (Head of Printing Form Production) created the printing forms and implemented Flagstaff Oak in a version with a four-color decor and effect cylinder with the help of some special structuring settings on the engraving machines.
Award ceremony
The result of this team effort is the robust plank character and the reliable, solid look of Flagstaff Oak. Special features are its creative sanding and planing marks on metal. Bleeding black discoloration around the cracks we worked out separately by hand. The planed surfaces allow the structure of Flagstaff Oak to come to the forefront.
Thanks to products such as Smartfoil Nature or Smartflex Nature, the Flagstaff Oak decor can also be refined to create surfaces that can hardly be distinguished from solid wood or veneer.
In May 2021 we were able to submit Flagstaff Oak for the Interzum Award - the rest is history.
