Breaking News: Formica’s 100th Anniversary designs include retro style counter top patterns and colors — hurray for color and pattern!

“The patterns and colors… acknowledge the brand’s past – especially with designers such as Brooks Stevens
and Raymond Loewy – but without delving into nostalgia…
— Designer Abbott Miller

Yup, the day is finally here — Formica is announcing its much anticipated 100th Anniversary Collection. One minute after launch, we have all the new patterns ready to show to you. And, yes: Hurray! for color and pattern! — We have some great new Formica patterns for your kitchen counter tops and bathroom counter tops to add to our archive of retro-worthy laminate options. What do I like about these new designs:

• Homeowners wanting classic cherry red counter tops will most likely be happy to see Formica’s new Ellipse design in red. It’s nice to have a tone-on-tone red again that doesn’t cost a small fortune (our current “reds” of choice are Arborite Xania, which is not tone-on-tone… and crackle ice laminate, with is highly pixelated and expensive.)
• The patterns on the Halftone and Dotscreen designs are downright fun — and that orange in the Halftone is downright Brady Bunch. However, these are more so 1970s colors, rather than immediate postwar colors. Not that I mind, of course, but folks wanting aqua and coral and baby blue didn’ get ’em’. Note — I’m declaring the orange is the same as my 2011 color of the year… the blue the same as my 2012 color of the year and the green, not too far off my 2013 color of the year. Let me say it again: Hurray for real color and pattern!
• Yes, Formica gave us some real colors… not just gray. Of course, there still are lots of grays. Grays are “in” today, and to be sure, offer a neutral alternative. (If you want retro grays, there are numerous additional alternatives from Formica, and other manufacturers.) Even so, it seems like Formica is banking on the appeal of its retro heritage with all these designs — these new designs offer edgy, FUN, graphic patterns, not stone or granite, like the mass of new laminate patterns today. Hurray!

Nicely done, Formica. Not to appear immediately ungrateful but now, can you give us some more!? xoxo

Details on how much, where to get, and when:

• Same pricing as standard laminate.
• Not promoted in the big box stores initially but if a consumer asked for it they would be able to order it from them.
• Available January 31st.

Read on for the complete news release from Formica, along with ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHY from the announcement AND a slide show with the images bigger, too:

Formica Group Celebrates 100 Years in 2013
with the Formica® Brand Laminate Anniversary Collection

Exclusively designed by world-renowned design firm Pentagram

Cincinnati (Jan. 22, 2013) — Formica Group, the original inventor of laminate, celebrates 100 years with a fresh take on its iconic Formica® brand laminate. The 2013 Anniversary Collection features 12 new patterns that reflect the Formica® brand and its history.

“While Formica Group invented laminate, designers are credited with realizing its full potential as a stylish and desirable surfacing material,” said Renee Hytry Derrington, Group VP of Design for Fletcher Building’s Laminates & Panels Division, which includes Formica Group. “The Anniversary Collection is just one example of our commitment to continue the joint exploration with the design community to define the future of Formica Group in the next 100 years.”

Collaboration with World-Renowned Design Firm Pentagram

Pentagram, the world’s largest independent design consultancy, created the collection exclusively for Formica Group. Pentagram partner Abbott Miller designed the anniversary patterns, introducing characteristics and colors that are new to the range.

“Developing this iconic brand’s 100-year Anniversary Collection was inspiring,” Miller shared. “Formica laminate is extraordinary because of its Zelig-like nature, blurring the past, present and future while completely crossing all social and economic categories. It’s a material with distinctive tactility, a warmth and domesticity; it’s man-made, yet has attained a natural quality in our lives.”

Miller’s vision for the Formica® Laminate Anniversary Collection underscores the material’s limitless design potential. “The heart and soul of Formica laminate is a printed sheet. Pattern and color are intrinsic to the culture of the company, so exploring the translucency of ink and the interaction of pattern and color was a natural area for me.”

Twelve New Patterns in Four Collections:  Ellipse™ Collection, Endless™ Collection, Dotscreen™ Collection and Halftone™ Collection.

Ellipse™ and Endless™ play off the anniversary theme “Formica Forever” by utilizing innovative printing techniques that allow independent layers of pattern to randomly interact during the course of printing. The method creates seemingly infinite patterns that appear consistent due to the fluidity of the overlapping elements. Unlike most patterns that repeat every 50 inches, the pattern repeat of Ellipse™ and Endless™ only occur every 500 to 700 sheets, the equivalent to more than a mile in length.

• Ellipse™ uses the “hidden oval” in the iconic Formica® brand logo to create a series of layered strands that ripple across the surface.
  • 6613 White Ellipse – a tonal non-color
  • 6614 Gray Ellipse – a classic gray
  • 1913 Red Ellipse – a strong red (The signature color of Formica Group features 1913, the year the company was founded, as its product code.)

• Endless™ creates a digital grain from bars that alternately layer and punch through a colored base. The result is a continuous tone-on-tone, architectural pattern that provides visual interest at close range and, from a distance, provides a geometric texture.
  • 6610 Endless Graytone – a versatile gray-on-gray
  • 6611 Endless Smoke – an ebony that recalls carbon and mica
  • 6612 Endless Indigo – a deep inky blue

Dotscreen™and Halftone™celebrate Formica Group’s history of exuberant color and printing technology. Both Dotscreen™ and Halftone™ feature “solid patterns” of bright and saturated colors made more complex by undercurrents of detailed patterning. Fine dot motifs provide a second scale of interest within the optimistic hues.

• Dotscreen™ features luminous colors with extremely fine micro-dots in continuous ribbons.
  • 6615 Aqua Dotscreen – a distinctive sky blue
  • 6616 Mint Dotscreen – a vegetal green
  • 6617 Tangelo Dotscreen – a soft orange

• Halftone™ features “near-bright” colors patterned with various sizes of toned dots, reminiscent of halftone printing screens.
  • 6618 Blueberry Halftone – a medium-toned blue
  • 6619 Citrus Halftone – a bright lemon yellow
  • 6620 Tangelo Halftone – a soft orange

Each Anniversary Collection pattern contains a subtle, tone-on-tone Formica® brand watermark embedded into the design on every sheet.

“The patterns and colors of the Anniversary Collection acknowledge the brand’s past – especially with designers such as Brooks Stevens and Raymond Loewy – but without delving into nostalgia,” Miller said. “While the collection aligns with the brand’s heritage, it offers surfacing design that is unique in the market. It also was satisfying to know that we were pushing the technical boundaries of print.”

In addition to the Anniversary Collection, Pentagram’s Miller and partners Michael Bierut and Daniel Weil collaborated on Formica Group’s anniversary brand elements, Formica Forever book and display concept.

About Pentagram & Abbott Miller

Pentagram is the world’s largest independent design consultancy with offices in London, New York City, San Francisco, Berlin and Austin. A partner in Pentagram’s New York City office since 1999, Abbott Miller has designed award-winning identities, exhibitions, environmental graphics and multi-media projects. He has received numerous design honors and his work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, SFMoMA, and the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum. He is the author of several books and numerous essays on design.

About Formica Group

Formica Group globally leads the industry in the design, manufacture and distribution of surfacing materials. Part of Fletcher Building’s Laminates & Panels Division, Formica Group is global group of companies consisting of Formica Canada, Inc., Formica Corporation, Formica de Mexico S.A. de C.V., Formica IKI Oy, Formica Limited, Formica S.A., Formica S.A.S., Formica Taiwan Corporation, Formica (Thailand) Co., Ltd., and Formica (Asia) Ltd., Homapal GmbH, among others.

 Please Note: Formica® and the Formica® Anvil Logo are registered trademarks and Formica Forever™, the Formica® Anvil Logo Forever, the Formica Forever™ ellipse logo, Ellipse™, Endless™, Dotscreen™ and Halftone™ are the trademarks of The Diller Corporation.  Ellipse and Endless designs are the protected designs of The Diller Corporation.  ©2013 The Diller Corporation.  All Rights Reserved.

A Fletcher Building Company

And: You can see all the images double size in this gallery: