Wilsonart Offers Laminate Designs Inspired by Endangered Wood Species

Midnight Ebony

Wilsonart has created a collection of 16 laminate designs to capture the unique beauty of some of the world’s most exotic wood species. The Nature Undisturbed collection allows architects and designers the opportunity to specify designs that incorporate the look of threatened wood species without further endangering the forests.

Celebrating and preserving nature’s beauty, Wilsonart addresses exotic woods and regionally-inspired patterns through its Virtual Design Library (VDL) of laminate surfaces:

Vulnerable Wood Species

  • Umber Makore duplicates an endangered wood from West Africa where overexploitation is leading to serious population declines, notably in Ghana and in Liberia, where there is a possibility of the species becoming extinct. This medium-sized straight grained wood is a mid-tone warm brown with subtle firings throughout.
  • Indonesian Rosewood is an endangered wood. Its timber is of high commercial value and wild subpopulations are widely overexploited with illegal felling, placing considerable pressure on this species.This VDL laminate design is a fawn brown exotic wood with full cathedrals in a deeper brown found throughout this stunning large-scale woodgrain.
  • Mahogany from Central and South America is a vulnerable species and is the most commercially important of the mahoganies. Exhaustion of the species is especially hard in the northern regions of its growth. Harvesting and processing of these trees is only 50 percent efficient. Java Mahogany is a rich wood design in a deep coffee / java brown, full of soft delicate graining and some firing. Autumn Mahogany is a rich golden brown with subtle planking and full of firing.
  • Heartwood Cocobolo is a rich deep brown exotic wood pattern with black graining and pale sap lines that are found throughout the large-scale woodgrain. Cocobolo is a vulnerable species intensely exploited as a timber. Areas where the species was formerly widespread are almost completely exhausted, most notably in Costa Rica. The habitat has been exploited for 400 years and continuing reductions are caused through cattle ranching and fires.
  • Midnight Ebony mirrors African black wood, a near threatened wood from South Africa, which also is considered the first Ebony. Levels of exploitation are very high and larger or suitably exploitable trees are becoming increasingly scarce, causing concern over genetic erosion in many populations. The laminate is full of rich browns and ebony color with full featured unique cathedrals and bold graining.
  • Quartered Koa replicates the elegant straight grain wood from Hawaii. This highly desirable premium species is not considered vulnerable. However, due to land clearing and invasive species, these trees are not growing to maturity. The species is not found below 600 M elevation, but can be located only in high altitudes in remote areas of the island. The woodgrain design is full of beautiful flaming.
  • With its characteristic bold dark down wood graining found throughout, Zebrawood is a vulnerable species from West Africa. It is listed as vulnerable due to a population reduction of more than 20 percent in the past three generations caused by a decline in its natural range. Natural Zebrawood is a beautiful natural color with bold ebony straight graining.
  • Eucalyptus, though not vulnerable, is included into this exotic wood collection based on its unique graining and coloring. Red River Gum Eucalyptus is offered in 3 colorways: Sienna Eucalyptus is a large-scale dark warm brown wood with charcoal graining running throughout. Fawn Eucalyptus is warm café au lait coloration with some deep golden and brown graining running throughout. Raw Eucalyptus is a natural coloration of the eucalyptus full of golden tones with warm grey and dark brown graining.

Regionally-Inspired Patterns

  • Ikat is a dyeing technique used to pattern textiles which employs resist dyeing on the yarns prior to dyeing and weaving the fabric. Artisans from Central Asia created this weaving method with cultures across the world creating their own versions. Traditional Ikat weaving requires the artisan to dye the pattern into the weft thread using a method similar to tie dying. When the artisan is stringing the weft onto the loom, it is very difficult to get the pattern on the threads to line up. This is how the blurring effect that Ikats are known for happens. After the warp is attached to the loom, a solid colored warp is woven into the weft. Shadow Ikat is a dark charcoal large-scale chevron pattern in an Ikat style. Fog Ikat is a large-scale warm mid-tone grey pattern inspired by Ikats in a chevron pattern. Baltic Blue Ikat is a stunning cobalt blue large-scale chevron pattern inspired by the Ikat weaving tradition.
  • Kilim is a flat woven rug from Central Asia. Skilled artisans weave the rugs together using the same technique as tapestry weaving. Tarnished Kilim is a dark monochromatic steel grey color in a medium-scale modern interpretation of the Kilim rug. This medium allover-scale pattern has a distressed texture adding visual interest. Indigo Kilim is a medium-scale design, inspired by Kilim rugs that have a modern feel with monochromatic indigo blues and a distressed texture.
You many also be interested in this video about choosing countertops.