The beauty of the perfect surface

In 1984, Kährs was the first flooring manufacturer in the world to have an entirely solvent-free production process. As a result, there are no chemical odours at our factory.

Colouring our lives

Staining brings out the colour of a wood floor. There are various different dark and pale stains used for different kinds of wood.

“Staining is the best job in the world – to take this living, natural material and turn it into something modern and on-trend. It’s a fabulous job!” says Katarina Andersson with enthusiasm.

“Our new Oak Nouveau Snow, in the Classic Nouveau Collection, is the most beautiful thing, it really is! First, we add a stain to the grain, then we sand it and apply a white lacquer. This creates a beautifully lye-washed floor, but with white reinforcement of the colour. Snow is absolutely fantastic!”

Wood sections for emphasis

Katarina explains how they work to bring out the dark areas of the annual rings and the grain, making them gleam and look larger. She also explains how different wood species have to be dealt with differently. For instance, the colour of oak isn’t really brown, as many people believe, but green. To assist them in their job, they have what are known as “standards”; samples of deviations that are acceptable.

“This is really important when we mix the lacquer. Depending on the character of the wood, we have to adjust the amount of lacquer and stain that we use.”

The soft and pale wood species are the hardest to work with. Maple and beech are particularly unforgiving. Any streaks would shine through. The slightest little colour variation can be seen clearly on the smooth surface of maple.

“Oak is the easiest wood to work with; 1-strip flooring made from bronze oak is absolutely stunning. When you design that, you have to lose yourself entirely in the task. But the result is breathtakingly beautiful.”

The teams that carry out refining and surface treatments work closely together, along with those working on the final inspection of the boards.

“We see each other all the time. Colleagues come to me and show me their boards, then we carry on refining the parameters until the process is able to flow smoothly and the end result is perfect.”