Being at cutting edge of the wood flooring business for over 10 years, I thought I had seen it all. We were working with the best of the best cos. globally, had the best of their best collections in stock.. What more could I see..To put it honestly, it was getting a little too routine, too expected, if you know what I mean..
And then I come across this co. while googling one day.. I just clicked on the site and saw some stuff that was WOW!!! I had never seen something like this in wood floors and I promptly sent a mail to them to send more information. I was extremely surprised as I had never seen this co. at the top international fairs which I routinely visit or ever heard about them.
As it turned out, this co. was an offshoot of a industry leader making display stands for the tile industry (The stands we see in the showrooms on which they display flooring tiles) and had just introduced their wood floors in the market. They were very new and apparently they saw potential in the wood flooring business and wanted to get into it but they did not see sense in offering more of the same (Thank God for it J)
So as the requested information arrived, I was even more pleasantly surprised. It looked much better than on the net. What these non wood flooring industry guys had created was a fabulous Lego type format in wood flooring with understated yet a very sexy elegance! And not only the format (Squares, Hexagons etc) but a fantastic interlocking system which allows a Designer to mix the various to create a truly unique floor. Hats off to them!
Well.. I was very excited to immediately start working with them. However, commercial considerations were to be seen too! The prices were at the real top end (floors starting from 900/- per sft onwards) and I wanted to be sure if the Designers, Architects felt the same. So we did a survey with some of the leading Designers in Delhi who were gracious enough with their extremely positive opinions.
Fortified with their support, I fixed an appointment with the concerned people at their showroom in Italy. What I saw was even beyond my imagination. The way they had the floors displayed (they are the industry leaders in display systems, remember..) was a big WOW again.. I just fell in love with wood floors, all over again!
Now came the time to close the agreements which I thought would just be a formality. I mean they were looking for someone to work with in India and we considered ourselves as a suitable and eligible partner.. So what could be the issue? Wrong! There were issues.. As it turned out, they had a couple of suitors already wooing them from India. And apparently, the owners wanted to weigh their options carefully before deciding on one.. So we then went on at length to discuss the bare essentials of this business in India and how our focus on Designer wood floors makes for a perfect match between us and them.
After a couple of hours (over a hot chocolate snack and a wonderful lunch at a local restaurant) we wrapped it up with a promise from them to give our proposal a careful consideration.
I came back giving it my best shot, satisfied that I had done what I could. A few days passed and I get a call from this gentleman (The owner) saying that he had thought about it carefully and they think Span floors was the way forward for them in India.. I was delighted to say the least.
What they liked was our focus on nothing else but top of the line wood floors and our technical expertise in handling installations and post installation customer service thru our In house well trained teams.
The joy of working with Excellence (You have to see the product to believe it) is a different realm of existence itself! So off I sent our first order after discussing with my team. We carefully thought it over and what we ordered was the best of the lot. Three unique woods to start with which can be combined together to make over 10 different patterns, each giving a fantastic new way to look at wood floors!
First shipments are expected soon and we are busy making presentations to our valued Specifiers and the response has made us more and more confident that we took the right call. I think there is an inherent need in each of us to do something new, to create something different that we can be known for! The Designers we work with are really a creative lot and we very well understand their need for materials which can fulfil their imaginations and help them realize their visualizations on the physical plane..
So I would end by offering them our latest collection in an humble effort to help let their imaginations keep flying and realize projects like no one has ever before!!
Au Revoir
Satinder Chawla