FIANDRE OPEN 2009

We are going through a time of great uncertainty and difficulty as the whole world economic system seeks to achieve a new balance. But times of great change can also be times of great opportunity.
The word "crisis" has its roots in the Greek word "chrysalid": just as the chrysalid is the end of the world for the caterpillar, but the beginning of a new life for the butterfly, we hope that the IQ Laying System will mark the start of a new era in the way flooring is laid: a new opportunity to bring end users closer to this extraordinary material.
Our material may have allowed us to complete important, prestigious projects the world over, but when it comes out of our plants it is in actual fact a semi-product.
Though the material has all the properties required, it still remains to be installed and laid.

Laying requires not only external elements such as water, cement, adhesives and stuccos but, above all, time and skill, which is not always of top quality. IQ has the answer to this problem: an easy, safe, clean, quick laying technique.
The system includes tiles which are in the end ready to be laid: they are pre-grouted on two sides (with an elastic material which may be in the same colour as the Fiandre tile) with more than 100 little cylinders of flexible adhesive material applied to the back.
A small oven provided to the laying team is used to soften the cylinders at a temperature of 180° to permit direct application of the tile to the floor.
Heating the material the cylinders are made of provides the flexibility required to "intelligently read" the surface to be tiled.
This offers numerous benefits:

- Time: much less time is needed than in traditional laying methods. It takes only 2 minutes to heat the cylinders, and there is no need to wait for adhesives or grout to dry
- Cleaning: there are no residues of cement, stucco or adhesive
- Simplicity: the system may be adapted to the substrate and has a flatness tolerance of maximum 3 mm/m2 (a standard that meets the requirements of an ordinary laying substrate)
- Mobility: the whole floor may be removed and taken to a new location
- Adaptability: the system may be laid over an existing flat surface (wood, ceramic, vinyl and floating floors falling within the tolerances mentioned above)

We are confident that the IQ represents a revolutionary new development in construction, a clear break with classical construction, an important new development in laying systems: a new solution offered by Fiandre for its partners.

"We use nature respecting it, and we respect nature reproducing it", in this slogan there’s GranitiFiandre’s philosophy, a company all along attentive to nature and environmental themes, as proofed by the achieved certifications, such as the company’s conformity to the ISO 14001 rules and the adhesion to the EMAS regulation, achieved and maintained since 2000.
Last but not least is the certificate recently issued by the prestigious international board of certification "Bureau Veritas" following the inspective verification accomplished by the company last March, to ensure the conformity of a numerous list of articles to satisfy the LEED criteria in relation to the 4.1 point concerning the contents of recycled material witha percentage over 40%.
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an evaluation system for the energetic – environmental qualities oriented to the realization of high performances “green” buildings, born in the USA in 2000 on hint of the US Green Building Council – that is now obtaining a wide consent on an international level both for new building interventions and for integral restructuring.
LEED is a certification on voluntary base where the designer himself gathers the evaluation's data to transmit to the control board.
The system is based on the attribution of credits for all the requirements that concur to the final score formation to attribute to the building.
Among the many criteria, LEED requires the employment of materials with high recycled content and in this point of view, our researchers have studied proper dough mixtures in which, through appositively dedicated processes, percentages of recycles coming both from the internal production waste materials, and from the transformation of mixture coming from similar productive cycles.
The company's recent appointment to the Italian Section of the Green Building Council further testifies to the company's intention of promoting the evolution of sustainable building using the outstanding products it offers on world markets.
These researches consented in years to appreciably reduce the consumption of natural resources maintaining the same high technical and aesthetical standards which are typical of GranitiFiandre’s materials. GranitiFiandre operates with an ecologic conscience, knowing that only unifying all the efforts and sensitivities we can preserve what’s the most precious thing in the world: our planet.

Fiandre’s new Extreme production line uses a giant press weighing about 7,500 tons.
Extreme is the adjective that best describes what has been done: taking the excellence of Italian technology and Fiandre’s typical product innovation to extremes.
The multi-layered composition of the tiles not only ensures that veins run all the way through the entire thickness of the slab but results in a certain constant percentage of material passing through from the outermost layer to the back of the tiles.
The new production line may be used to create materials which are aesthetically and technologically unique in the revolutionary 150x75 cm format: starting with a modular unit of 1,5 metres and subdividing it as far as 75x75 cm.
Once again Fiandre combines purely aesthetic benefits with the most advanced, innovative technology. The tiles may be used on ventilated walls or to pave large floor surfaces, as an innovative alternative to nature’s own materials.

The high quality of the classic Piasentina has been improved with new chromatic and finishes development.
Piasentina Classic looks like a restyling of the existing one, more elegant in terms of lighter grey shades and narrow veins; Piasentina Extra has a deeper and more intensive color, marked by darkish shadings. The technology used offers high variations in terms of veining and shades allowing the combination of batches and finishes, emphasizing the naturalness in the laying.
In order to use the material in several areas, finishes have been careful developed: from the semi-honed (especially for interiors), to the brushed (a step ahead of the polishing: accentuating the luminosity and the mellowness both in the look and in the touch and improving the cleaning) to the bush-hammered (thanks to the addition of quartzite, the grip has been increased, making this material perfect for exteriors, pools and hospitality).
The recall to the naturalness of the optical effect together with the great variation of finishes and shades reroute the interest to the related mosaics and special pieces, suitable to be used in interiors, exteriors, residential and commercial areas.
Sanpietrino in the tumbled finish, inspired to the Italian traditional laying in the piazzas, gives the possibility of combining one finish with different shades and the Spaccatello, bran new in its design, allows a wide variation in terms of shades, veins and nuances by expanding the surface movements and giving to the floor an even more natural final perception.

The New Ground collection meets the requirements of a more and more demanding and cosmopolitan public: the pureness of its nuances and the naturalness of its finishes make this collection the ideal product to be used for every kind of architecture, from the residential to different public places.
Selected by the most preeminent worldwide final clients, the New Ground is one of the collection better fulfilling the modern design needs.
The 3 colors of the collection, Anthracite, Silver and White symbol of the current metropolitan minimalism are introduced in 120x60: a solution to the demand coming from the most important worldwide architects and designers.
A big size remembering even more and more monolithic slabs following the space in its length and returning a big dynamic perception: floors and coverings loose the board lines and merge together in accordance with it.
Ideal for facades as well for big areas floors, the big size makes wide and well-lit even small spaces: residential, retailer and the traditional hospitality places too.
A sign of elegant sobriety satisfying the requests and wishes of the most innovative architectural concepts.