Mannington Commercial is inviting the public to vote for the grand prize winners in the Tx:Style Design Challenge 2010. The interiors industry’s product development and social networking contest –- which garnered half a million votes last year –- is featuring six proposed designs for hard and soft surface flooring created by young designers, each with less than seven years of experience.

“The process of taking a single design concept and translating it into two vastly different flooring mediums has been fascinating,” said Natalie Jones, vp, commercial brand development and creative product. “These young designers work with a real understanding of materials and their impact on a space. Their ability to interpret a design into LVT or rubber tile, as well as a more subjective representation in tufted carpet, has been wonderful to see.”

In the two months since announcing the finalists, Mannington’s design development team has worked closely with all six designers to develop patterns, manufacture product samples and create coordinated colorways. The designs are: Blue Matrix by Athena Abrol of Los Angeles; Gus by Bethany Burton of Minneapolis; Rainfall by Laurel Harrison of Los Angeles; Throw Caution to the Wind by Heather Miller of Charlotte, N.C.; Thirds by Joanne Titcomb of Bethlehem, Pa.; and Tracks, by Samantha Gotta and Jenny Song of Los Angeles.

The winner in each category will earn $7,500 and the launch of a full production line of commercial carpet or hard surface flooring. Voting will take place entirely online, and close at noon Central Standard Time on June 15, in time for the winner to be announced during NeoCon.

“Social networking platforms are often used for customer engagement, but also have potential to add value beyond brand building,” Jones noted. “Tx:style applies the networking effect of the Internet around customer care and feedback during product development –- not technology for technology’s sake, but making customers into true partners in the creative process.”

Vote at:manningtoncommercial.com/txstyle.