When last I checked my radar for what the Swedes had been up to lately, I encountered last week’s Swedese Libri, which reminded me, of course, of the Swedish behemoth known as Bolon. Bolon recently won accolades for their “Twilight” line, a collection of woven vinyl flooring with “the feeling of textile, but with the benefits of vinyl flooring: durability and simplicity of maintenance and installation.” I’m all about that, and I also recognize the cultural panache of the aesthetic of this particular line–which features “deep, rich hues like chocolate, merlot, and teal, along with lighter tones of sand and smoke.”

Botanic. Designed by Bolon.

That said, I’m less enthusiastic about certain of Twilight’s components, especially the PVC within the flooring’s backing. Fear not, however, for Bolon’s complicity in the further “PVCification” of the world–their Botanic Collection contains “a new plasticizer based on renewable raw materials from the vegetable kingdom,” and, very fittingly and much in keeping with the natural theme, Botanic “reflects nature’s variety of organic architecture and wealth of detail.. nature photography and handicraft have inspired reflections of flowers, herbs and plants in woven vinyl.”

In addition to banishing PVC, Botanic presents a bold new aesthetic. With styles like “Iris,” “Ivy,” and “Lotus,” the line deftly fuses the raw organicism of flora and fauna with the strong lines and deep saturation of a contemporary aesthetic. Each of the styles features a somewhat muted shade modeled on nature’s palette, yet some–like the aforementioned Ivy–are solid colors, while others–Pyrus, for instance–feature a trio of shades in lines of different widths. The variety facilitates customized applications, which could come in handy to break-up the monochromatic doldrums of large public spaces like airports, or to tone down private spaces that otherwise might display a might too much whimsy. And Botanic comes standard in rolls or tiles, which easily enables both large-scale and smallish installations.

For Bolon, Botanic represents a giant leap forward in the company’s long-term environmental vision, Bolon Green: “a strategic objective aimed at being able to offer a completely environmentally adapted and climate neutral product.” Thus, the new “plasticizer” (which I’d prefer to call “vegetabilicizer”), joins the lengthy list of eco-savvy initiatives such as augmenting on-site recycling, increasing purchases of surplus material from other producers, incorporating renewable energy into manufacturing processes, and switching to ground water (rather than the pollutive freon) to power factory cooling systems. All of these efforts give substantial street cred to the new collection while supporting Bolon’s contention that Botanic, though “inspired by nature’s pluralism” is “just as much a tribute to simplicity and resource efficiency.”

Via Cool Hunting.