Coverings 2012 part 2 - The Panels

Our booth at Coverings was a great success thanks to all the hard work put in by the awesome team in our factory. They managed to take care of all our crazy and last minute requests (5 foot long tile anyone?!) as well as making sure all the day to day operations and orders were processed on time. We showcased 10 panels (but we made quite a few more!) using some new tile, some new glazes and a lot of new ideas. These panels are heading back to us from Florida and if you're in the area they'll be going up on display in our Portland showroom. We are also working on smaller concept boards so our dealers can add them to their displays in showrooms across the country. 

The first panel introduces our newest line, Motif  using the new Watercolor grays. The Arabesque is a new shape for us, available in large and small sizes, shown here in some of our new Satin glazes and a new Craftsman gray.

The white panel (so hard to photograph!) has some great examples of our new large format sizes in smooth field and in Intaglio textures. The panel on the right shows off a great customization of our Elongated Ogee shape with a fun oval cut-out, in some of our new Satin glazes. 

These panels use some Bas Relief and decorative tiles that aren't new but are shown in our new Duochrome hand-painting technique. The mosaic on the bottom right uses a new shape we're calling the Fancy Hexagon.

The new Motif line will also be available using R-Gloss glazes and along with the 6x6 patterns there are a number of borders and liners. The Starry Sky panel is an older mosaic pattern that we brought out of the archives and added some sparkle to with a sprinkling of Metallic glazed stars in a Watercolor night sky. 

Our 4 most popular Intaglio textures (A,B,C &K) are now available on any of our field and mosaic shapes and sizes. They are shown here on the Elongated Hexagon and a 1/2 x 4 mosaic liner.  Another  addition to our mosaic collection is a small star and cross. We used just the cross with a 1/2 x 1/2  for this metallic panel, creating yet another new mosaic pattern! 

We'll be promoting all kinds of new looks over the course of the year as well as revisiting some great pieces from our past. It's our 30th anniversary and we'll be celebrating our history as well as looking to the designs of the future. 

Coverings 2012

Coverings 2012 was a great success! After 30 years in the industry this was our first time on the show floor and we had a blast. Our booth arrived in Florida without a hitch, the set up went incredibly smoothly and we were very well received. 

Starting with an empty slate we designed our booth from the support structure on up. It was a great team effort. We crated it up and sent it off to Florida. A few weeks later Tim & Anthony arrived in Orlando and put it together in just three days.

The rest of our team showed up on Sunday and  Monday - 

And the booth was packed for the next four days!

Friday night the guys started pulling it all down and shipping it home.

The response was overwhelming and we're buried in work! 

We had a great time talking with old friends and meeting new ones. Many thanks to everyone for all the wonderful feedback. 

Stay Tuned! Next up i'll post some pictures of the beautiful panels we brought to the show. 

The new entry is complete!

The new entry to our showroom is complete. I'm sure there will be a bit more fussing and fine tuning but it's really beautiful. Bright and inspiring! Maybe the best part of the new entry is that the panels are easily removed, which means we can keep it updated, exciting and new.

On the right side we are showcasing our newest line - Motif. There are 3 large panels to give you a sense of how it might be used in your home and 9 concept boards to show you all the pattern options.

The other side has a Northwest feel, and highlights the fact that we make our tile right here in Portland, Oregon. There is a wall of great shots from our factory so you can see just how we make all these beautiful tiles (but you should still take the tour!)  

There are 4 panels showing  new contemporary takes on some of our favorite Craftsman style pieces, and a fantastic Craftsman glazed floor in our new Arabesque shape. 

 As always, it's even better in person. Come in and tell us what you think! 

Look out Florida, here we come!

Our booth for Coverings is finished, packed and on the road! 

We've been frantically working away at it for weeks and weeks and seeing it packed up and loaded on the truck is both a relief and a little scary!

Ron closing up the last crate

Coverings is the big tile trade show attended by tile makers, importers and showrooms from all around the world. This is the first time we are going to the show as exhibitors and needless to say we want to make a big impact for our first show. We had a great team working on the new tile designs and concepts and it was a lot of fun.

These crates are gigantic! Thousands of pounds of tile and all the trappings to display it. 

 I don't want to give away any surprises so that everyone who comes to the show will see all our new products for the first time. If you're in town for the show stop by to see us - we're booth 3211.

Find us at Booth 3211!

If you aren't going to make it to Florida for the show keep an eye on the blog - I'll post photos of all our new displays and some pictures from the show floor as soon as the show starts. That's April 17th.  Stay tuned or see you in Florida!

Loading it on to the truck

Happy Valentines's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone - Hope you all had a lovely day with your loved ones. These fun red circles came through the mosaic department and seemed just right for a Valentine.

New Letoon Installation

Here's the showroom's newest installation, Lycian Letoon Marble from Richards & Sterling. It's a beautiful wash of gray and white with a bit of warmth.

Richards & Sterling offers a great selection of shapes and patterns in their stones. I'm particularly fond of the diamond with the tiny black dot and it's beautifully set off by the slender subway pattern at the top with a band of tiny mosaic bricks to separate the two. Finish it off with matching architectural trim and you have a classic look that will never go out of style.
As always, our installations are best seen in person so come in and see what else is new!

Hello 2012, Happy New Year!

Well, 2012 is off to a running start and I'm racing to keep up!  We've been busy over the holiday break and the big news is that we tore down the iconic bathroom installation in the entrance to our showroom.

Those heron panels had been welcoming shoppers for years. How many Portland kids played in that tub while they waited for their parents to choose tile? We've heard some mixed feelings about it's demolition but everyone is eager to see what will go up in it's place.

 

It's quite the blank slate - like an art gallery awaiting the next show. The new ideas being proposed for the space are all very exciting, I'm sure you won't be disappointed. Come in and see all the  changes for yourself - or stay tuned! I'll post new pictures as soon as the new display is ready.

Best Wishes for the New Year from all of us at Pratt & Larson. We are looking forward to working with you on all the new projects 2012 has in store.  

Happy Holidays!

We've been hard at work getting ready for the holiday season and the coming New Year. We are all excited about the new products to be released this coming year and we're busy assembling new displays and designing new concepts and we are sure you will love them! Keep an eye on the blog for some upcoming "sneak peeks" of all our new ideas. The factory and showroom will be closed from Sat. Dec 24th to Tues. Jan 3rd. so everyone can have a much deserved holiday break.

Every year we make a holiday ornament to send out to our friends and associates.

 Here's a few photos to show you how we do it. 

Every year Vance creates the original sculpture

It's carved in Plasticine

Then we make a plaster mold for the Ram press

We spend a few days stamping them out and cleaning them up!

We hope you have a wonderful holiday and we look forward to working with you in 2012! Seasons Greetings from all of us at Pratt & Larson!

Tile Counter and Copper Sinks

We finished the new display and sample area behind the kitchen, which involved moving all kinds of shelving that had been blocking the windows, relocating some samples to fill the shelves in this room and bringing up our collection of copper sinks from the warehouse. 

The rich dark color of the copper looks so dramatic against the clean lines of the Ivory Simple Solutions counter. It's a huge improvement over the cluttered storage room it had become back there!

I know solid surface counters are popular, but the 4x12 tile on this counter has such a great clean look without feeling too cold, maybe its time to give tile counters a second thought?

Come in and tell us what you think.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

The turkey fog is lifting and its time to get back to work - It's been busy in the showroom while I was out this past week and there are lots of new displays. Time to get blogging! 

Stay tuned for new installations, new giant display boards, a blog all about Fireplaces and an introduction to our newest employee!