Hicksville, N.Y.—When most people think of cork, they picture the stopper that keeps wine in the bottle, even though cork flooring has been around for about a century now. While that may be understandable, considering the product the cork in the bottle is preserving, more consumers, specifiers and designers are learning about cork flooring and its different applications and sales have increased strongly if not steadily in recent years.

“We have been fortunate to have experienced very strong growth over the last few years, and that hasn’t slowed down for us this year as we’ve experienced very good growth as well,” said Philippe Erramuzpe, president of Natural Cork. “We are seeing a very strong reception on the end user side as the orders seem to be getting larger and larger for the different applications.”

And nowadays, according to Erramuzpe, those applications include more than just the kitchen. “Certainly, what we saw first with cork was it being used in kitchen environments. What we see now, people are discovering more applications and, while I wouldn’t say they are using cork throughout the house yet, as the kitchen is still probably the number one application, we’re seeing it being used in the den, the family room and playroom.

“I believe this has a lot to do with indoor air quality and the fact it’s a soft, warm floor,” he explained, “but also it is a floor that is easy to maintain, therefore it is a good alternative to carpet for a playroom for kids. We see it more and more going into bedrooms as well.” One of the reasons for the increase in applications, noted Ann Wicander, president of WE Cork, is the technology involved.

“We’ve had our best year so far. While we sell to different segments in the cork industry, and on the flooring side, clearly our floating floor sales have been phenomenal recently. We have seen a real strength in the floating floor over our traditional glue down product, this year in particular. It’s always been kind of head-to-head for the last five years, but now it has clearly taken over very strongly. Like laminate, it uses a click system.

“Because we do a lot of commercial jobs with glue down, what we call our Classic Collection, they are larger volume projects. You may have a 100,000-sq.-ft. job in commercial, but that certainly doesn’t replace many dealer sales. Those have always been somewhat neck-and-neck, but now our residential sales have clearly grown stronger.”

Again, Education Key Wicander also noted, people are getting more educated as to what is available. “Some people have discovered it as a new floor, finally, although it has been around for over 100 years. Mechanics are more comfortable installing it. It’s easier to sell to the dealers. There are all these attributes that are natural to cork. It’s easy to walk on and it’s a beautiful floor—all that is being recognized on different levels for different reasons.”

Cork has a very distinct look, noted Erramuzpe, which, you basically like it or you don’t. “It has a very natural appeal and it’s kind of a trendy thing today. In our case, we have been developing a collection of very deep, rich fun colors. While our company hasn’t really focused on commercial applications, we’ve done some this year, mostly libraries and churches. We do have big plans next year to get into the commercial arena.

Erramuzpe noted, the time is right for Natural Cork to get into the commercial arena. “What we see now, the trend today is ‘green’ and LEED projects and we feel our product will fit perfectly for that type of demand. That is why we figure now is the right moment to get into the commercial arena.”

“Cork floors are definitely going into different areas of the home,” said Wicander. “It used to just go in the kitchen and now we see it going into living areas and, in some cases, the whole house, even the bathroom. We’ve definitely seen an increase in the square footage that is sold per house, such as dens and family rooms.”