The Decorative Panels Group is proud to be Europe’s leading supplier of decorative faced sheet materials, panel components and flat pack furniture. Julian, who heads the group design team has always been focused on designing and selecting products that can adapt to the varied needs of today’s consumers. Keeping an eye on trends ensure that products, from surface coverings to furniture ranges, meet the quality and style demanded by their customers for the retail market. Generating fresh and exciting product design, specifying what processes are required, suggesting easier solutions for furniture assembly, or recommending different substrates or surface finishes – these are all part of the design department service offering.
What makes The Decorative Panels Group unique as a business?
Vertical integrations across all three of our businesses enables us to supply the most flexible and cost effective solutions to our customers. Our integrated approach allows us to manage design, production, and logistics at every point of the process. This along with our diverse stock of surface materials from economical options to high end, exclusive surfaces, mean we are able to supply the many different market areas from manufacturers to retailers.
What surface trends are you seeing in Kitchens, Bedrooms & Bathrooms?
Matt Metallics within kitchens have been gaining ground and now feature among the top-selling décors. It has always been difficult to achieve consistency within the colour for metallics but one of our recent collection launches, Fineflex metallic surfaces do just that. We are also seeing even more surface textures coming through including woodgrains and more sculptural designs, perfect for bedroom furniture. Continuing the trend for matt unicolours we are introducing even more warm tonal palettes rather than the cool greys which have dominated for years.
What are your retail customers asking/ looking for?
With growing awareness and an increased drive to supply sustainable options for their own customers, we are seeing preferences for more environmentally friendly product solutions. As a fully certified FSC and PEFC business, raw materials such as board substrates and foil laminates are only sourced from responsible suppliers ensuring they are as environmentally conscious as possible. Our furniture business has recently achieved certification to the environmental standard ISO 14001. Showing that we are committed to continually improving our environmental footprint is an essential for us as a business and of course for future generations. This is a process that started in June 2022, and is the first step in our 3 stage Group Certification.
What are the latest advancements in surface technology and what are the benefits to your customers?
Paper foil technology has come a long way particularly digital technology used in the creation of the artwork and the engraving of the printing cylinders, this combined with developments in lacquering technology have contributed to both the visual appeal of designs and the tactile quality of the surface. The surface resistance of paper foils has also increased with the majority of designs from our dp-decor range now being able to meet the FIRA 6250 and BS6222 severe use categories for kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms- suitable for all applications except worktops.
We are currently investigating options into digital printing for paper foils. This would give us more design scope and the possibility of unique surface patterns for customers with the added benefit of market testing new designs without committing to significant volumes of stock.
What introductions to the range of surface finishes can customers expect to see now and over the coming months?
As already mentioned, we have recently introduced a collection of Fineflex Metallic designs to our dp-specialist range. The PET surface is made with a percentage of recycled PET and the iridescent shimmer is visible throughout the pigment creating a luxurious finish to both the eye and the touch.
To meet the demand for matt unicolours our Serica Collection is constantly evolving with brand-new colours being introduced all the time. These are following the trend for warmer shades bringing a new energy to the collection.
Within our dp-limitless range of specialised and high-performance surfaces we have partnered with Rehau to offer their RAUVISIO Crystal and Noble Matt collections. Surfaces like these add a special touch of luxury to any interior. Look out for new colour introductions soon. All of these products and more are on display in our Group Marketing Suite.
