La Triennale of Milan displays Italy’s design and architectural richness, filtered through an industrial sensibility, and artist Francesco Maria Bandini took the floor in April 2011 with a labyrinth installation featuring carpet tiles. Visitors guide themselves through a forest of prism shapes, each topped with colorful carpet tiles from InterfaceFLOR’s World Textiles, Ambiance and Design Unlimited collections. A mirrored ceiling reflects the carpet tiles’ colors, textures and patterns, making them seem part of the ceiling itself. The reflected tiles help people entering the maze to orient themselves in space.
InterfaceFLOR LLC, La Grange, Ga., manufactures modular flooring and carpet tiles (some of recycled carpeting or carpet tiles) and has set a company goal to achieve a zero environmental footprint by 2020. Bandini’s installation, titled “The positive floor,” draws attention to the sustainable product while it also aims to “take people’s perception of flooring and turn it on its head,” says Michele Iacovitti, vice president of marketing at InterfaceFLOR.