Hardwood Floors Follow Trees' Natural Shape, Getting More From Less

Bolefloor offers floorboards, cut using custom algorithms, that follow the natural warp and weft of trees.

 

"Life is not a straight line," says Bolefloor's website. Cheesy, yes, but also true -- literally: trees don't naturally grow in ruler-straight lines, so why should the wooden floorboards that we hew out of them? Slashing all the natural curves, knots, and imperfections out of the wood means waste; Bolefloor uses custom software to scan the wood and take its natural forms into account when cutting the boards. Which means, in Bolefloor's words, "more floors per forest." Plus, they look amazing:

Bolefloor's "optimization" process uses CAD/CAM systems and custom algorithms devised with the help of the Institute of Cybernetics at Tallinn University of Technology. The software scans lumber for natural edges and takes imperfections into account so that boards can be cut to fit together naturally like jigsaw pieces. They claim the process follows each board from the raw-lumber stage all the way to installation in your home, office, or anywhere else you want to show off your commitment to haute naturel interior design.

Not content just to display their ingenious hardwood floor designs, Bolefloor kicks it up a notch and compares their technology to the invention of the printing press. "Just as Gutenberg’s invention literally freed the book from monastic confines, Bolefloor technology makes natural curved-length flooring available at a price not considerably more than today’s fine wood flooring," they crow.
[Read more at Bolefloor | via Springwise]