Mannington’s
Inverness hardwood flooring in Nottingham Maple.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is the second in a series of profiles highlighting the winners of the 2007NFTStyling Excellence Awards. Entries were judged earlier this year by showgoers at Surfaces as well as by readers online. For a complete list of winners, see the April issue.
Winning first place honors in four categories and runner-up in two more, it’s safe to say that Mannington came out on top in this year’s Styling Excellence Awards. The impressive number of wins covers a wide range of flooring, including resilient, hardwood, laminate, ceramic and even a display unit. NFT spoke with Mannington’s vp of residential styling Joe Amato to see how he accounts for the tremendous show of support from retailers, designers and distributors.
“I’ll be honest, a lot of work goes into these products from several different departments,” he says. “Styling, marketing and manufacturing all work together. But we find winning these awards very rewarding, and we don’t take it for granted. It just makes us want to do it again.”
He says one trait that all the winning products share lies in their design. They were all created to complement the latest home furnishings trends. “Product development starts with us doing our homework, staying in tune with home fashions and creating products that can coordinate with those styles,” Amato notes.
Of the winning entries, one of his favorites is the company’s Inverness hardwood in Nottingham Maple. “We created a warm, rich, aged, distressed look with a staining glaze look inspired by cabinetry,” he says.
Mannington also received awards for its Monterey ceramic tile, Heritage Cherry laminate, Stainmaster LVT, Sobella glass-backed resilient and the Sobella merchandising display.
