Brand Profile | Where carpet meets rocket science

In the late 1960's, Ray Anderson, a young American engineer and entrepreneur, sensed the need for flexible floorcovering for the growing modern office market and responded by creating a company called Interface Flooring Systems. It was an enterprise focused on reinventing the way business considered floorcovering. Ray's original group of collaborators was a group of investors, engineers and "mad scientists." They signed up for the satisfaction of collaborating on something profoundly unique that would also prove to be a significant unmet need in the office furnishings market.

In 1973, the group imported a concept for carpet modules from Europe, that, at the time of import, only possessed remote potential for commercial viability, and created a legitimate "free lay" carpet tile. The stable face cloth was a non-sewn textile created by directly adhering fibers to a patented backing system. The resultant product category was extremely stable and dense, allowing it to be installed with a minimum of adhesive and perform - a prerequisite for truly sustainable floorcovering. Because contemporary competitive products had been designed as carpet and cut into squares, they were very susceptible to growth, shrinkage and other weirdness in application.

Interface Flooring Systems' tile products delivered true flexibility under open plan office systems and access to flat wire and Walker duct systems, which were the state of the art infrastructure of the day. Because of their unique construction these first carpet tile products were extremely dense and outperformed any traditional carpet solution. They weren't the least expensive solution in the market but it did ask owners of businesses to consider costs beyond the original cost of material. The original carpet tile products were strong on technical benefits but weak on aesthetics. Over the past thirty years, Interface Flooring has consistently led in innovations of carpet and modular systems. The stuff even looks good. In fact, never the fashionmongers, we have been acknowledged many times for our excellence in aesthetics in the last decade.

Our focus on sustainable product development has been an enriching addition to a product philosophy that is concentrated on pushing the envelope on how a product is made and what it is made from. We are inspired to provide flooring material that behaves more like furniture and less like paint, giving customers choices about how to use, reuse and ultimately dispose of our products.

Interface Flooring Systems has a history of setting industry standards for innovation in product design and engineering. With the aid of David Oakey and his team at Pond Studios, located near one of Interface Flooring Systems' manufacturing facility, Interface introduced the first carpet tile to be made with 100% recycled face fiber and a layer of 100% recycled vinyl in the backing. Today, Interface is setting the pace for development of modular carpet by using materials and processes that take less from the environment while delivering improved performance. That obsession for pushing the envelope translates into tangible customer value, which is why architects, designers and facilities professionals consistently rate Interface Flooring Systems as the best of the best in both design and performance.