Release Date: November 16, 2016
San Francisco, CA – Pioneering bamboo interior finishes manufacturer Smith & Fong has relaunched its Durapalm.com website dedicated to growing range of premium flooring, paneling and plywood products manufactured from reclaimed palm wood.
The website showcases new offerings in flooring and panel designs, including new colors, textures and finishes. “We are really excited about what we have to offer in this new line of palm products,” said Smith & Fong CEO Dan Smith, who is heading up the company’s palm program.
“Our first range of palm flooring included a coconut palm in flat grain and later we added the edge-grain, which is a linear look,” Smith said. “Since then we have expanded to other species of palm, lamination orientations, texturing, stains and finishes.”
As depicted on the new site, the Durapalm line has added new carved designs adapted from the Plyboo Reveal Collection. In addition to playing with the Reveal designs, Smith said the company is exploring different core options, including coconut palm, sugar palm and bamboo that will add variety and excitement to the new panel line.
The company first began exploring palm as a resource 15 years ago. Since then it has refined its sourcing and processing of this vibrant, sustainable wood. “We have learned a great deal these past few years and we are ready to roll up our sleeves and get some great new looks to market,” Smith said. “We continue to believe palm and the palm aesthetic has a lot to offer the design world and beyond. There will be a demand for this underutilized and bountiful global resource.”
Although there is a wide range of locations globally where palm can be sourced, Smith & Fong has focused its recent efforts on India. “We started with a branch office in Bangalore last year and have expanded from there. India is a great place to do business and we are having a lot of fun,” Smith said.
Palm is different from woods like oak and maple in a few important ways: It does not project growth rings like a tree and is soft and pulpy at its core, and moisture and nutrients are drawn up through the soft core to feed the palm and to produce fruit. “The hardwood-like material in fact comes from the perimeter of the stem and requires special equipment and rendering techniques to extract the best wood,” Smith said.
Palm has a unique grain and texture that can vary depending on what section of the palm stem the material is cut. Geography, soil and weather conditions can also play a factor.
“For this reason, palm offers a wide palette to work from and we find this both intriguing and inspiring from a design perspective,” Smith said. “Look for some great new colors and textures in palm for the new year.”
Founded in 1989 and headquartered in San Francisco, Smith & Fong Co. was the first U.S. company to manufacture bamboo flooring for sale in North America, offering its initial product under the brand name Plyboo® in 1993. In 1996 the firm began producing bamboo plywood, followed by coconut palm flooring and plywood products in 2000. Today, the company’s products are distributed and sold throughout North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Smith & Fong is committed to sustainability through innovation. For further information call 866-835-9859 or visit http://plyboo.com.
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