Unveiling at Forbo Flooring ’s designEX stand (#1100) is Flotex Sottsass, a unique series of contemporary, daring flooring designs in high definition from the late Ettore Sottsass and his creative partner Christopher Redfern of Sottsass Associati Milan.

All four flooring ranges are now available in Australia and together offer 53 colour options. The Bacteria design optically challenges, Terrazzo is a witty twist on its namesake, Wool offers depth and warmth with a linear pattern that can dramatically shift perspective, and Kasuri uses the digital pixel in a fusion of contemporary and traditional references.

Boasting the same long list of features and benefits as Flotex sheet, Flotex Sottsass flooring is hard-wearing, easy to clean and constantly anti-microbial and anti-bacterial. This resilient flooring also has acoustic dampening properties of up to 20dB and is 100 percent waterproof for easy, efficient cleaning. It has a texture similar to carpet but without the drawbacks.

Tom Bourne, editor of UK magazine Contract Floors, commented, "Every once in a while there comes a product that is set to transform the way we think. Ground breaking in its approach, the Sottsass Collection could change the way the specification industry looks at flooring.”

The Forbo Flotex Sottsass resilient flooring collection includes:

Bacteria. Here Redfern has taken one of Ettore Sottsass’ signature designs, created in the late 1970’s. The design is optically challenging and is open to wide interpretation, close up amoebic forms sway and shift yet from afar it appears as a constellation of distant stars. Bacteria is available in 20 colourways.

Terrazzo by Sottsass is a witty twist on the concept of Italian Terrazzo (a traditional flooring created several hundred years ago when Venetian workers found a use for discarded marble remnants). Sottsass Associati developed this idea to offer the impression of a beautifully laid Mediterranean terrazzo floor. However, on closer inspection, the “chips” in Terrazzo are revealed as pieces of torn paper, each holding its own story – a shredded love letter or a business document. It's left to the individual to decide and to create their own narrative. Terrazzo is available in 13 colourways.

The Wool design was conceived by Ettore Sottsass when he laid filaments of wool yarns, collected from numerous countries, onto a flat, coloured surface. It plays on the textures of the individual strands of the natural fibres, offering a sense of depth and warmth to the floor along with a defined linear pattern that can dramatically shift the perspective of interior spaces. Wool is available in 12 colourways.

Kasuri draws its inspiration from the traditional Japanese woven textile technique used to create the eponymous fabric. Redfern uses the digital pixel in the fusion of contemporary and traditional references inherent in this design. Kasuri is available in two scales of design, each in 8 colourways.

Flotex production facilities are ISO 14001:2004 certified.

More information on this range of flooring is available from Forbo Flooring.