Ask anyone East of the Sacramento River or West of the Hudson (or perhaps I should say “St. Lawrence,” we are in Toronto now after all…) how they feel about recent innovations in carpet tiles and you’re likely to get an incredulous “Huh?” in response. As is quite often the case with innovation, these “modular floors” have entered the lexicon through the coasts.

TacTiles, adhesive-free carpet tiles. Manufactured by InterfaceFLOR.

No one knows this better than Ontario-based (and Georgia, stateside) InterfaceFLOR. The world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet systems, InterfaceFLOR has a missionary agenda of sorts, with a goal of “providing you with innovation, beauty, performance, service, value and environmentally responsible products and processes in one 21" X 21" box.” All wonderful attributes to be sure, but the kicker is the business about “making your life easier.” Compared to traditional carpet, carpet tiles are easier to install, longer-lived, more versatile, and more varied. A quick look at InterfaceFLOR’s product listings will serve to educate in this last regard. And a quick appeal to logic will do so in the others: since individual tiles can easily be removed and replaced, modular carpets offer ease of access to underfloor plumbing or wiring (see Dirtt), as well as ease of replacement (torn or stained tiles can just be swapped out).

Apart from their thirty years of experience, InterfaceFLOR brings all sorts of innovations to the modular carpet arena: they’ve recently introduced “TacTiles.” An adhesive-free modular system, TacTiles adhere to each other but not to the floor, thus creating a dimensionally stable “floating floor” that’s easy to alter and VOC-free to boot. TacTiles also give you the option of creating your own area rugs. Tiles can be joined and removed in perpetuity, so-especially in light of InterfaceFLOR’s variety of colors, patterns, weaves, and textures-you can reconfigure to your heart’s content, changing wall-to-wall schemes or stand alone rugs in accordance with altered walls or furnishings. And if the savings on transportation costs of a “floor-in-a-box” isn’t environmentally-sensitive enough for you, there’s also “Mission Zero”-InterfaceFLOR’s ambitious program to eliminate all harmful environment effects of manufacture and distribution by 2020. From zero waste to zero emissions to zero net energy use, InterfaceFLOR is serious about sustainability.

Check out InterfaceFLOR’s TacTiles system at IIDEX NeoCon in Toronto on September 25 and 26. They just might sustain your desire for an evolution in modular flooring.