Karndean Designflooring Marks 40th Anniversary With Promise to Give Back
(PRWEB UK) 9 October 2013 -- With the celebrations focused on giving back, the family-owned British company is launching a year-long campaign looking at where it all began and its position today as a globally recognised brand.
In honour of its success creating realistic wood and stone effect luxury vinyl flooring, Karndean will look to help local charities and organisations in the UK, USA, Australia and New Zealand.
To kick-start the celebrations, Karndean is launching its ‘40 Free Floors for 40 Good Causes’ campaign on Facebook from October 2013. The international appeal is calling on the public to nominate individuals, families, businesses and other worthy causes they think deserve to win a free Karndean floor.
There will be 15 worthy winners chosen from the UK in total, with five handpicked by Karndean and ten selected from Facebook nominations. The first three floors will be donated to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, Dogs Trust and Worcestershire based Pitmaston Primary School.
The 40 good causes will also feature 15 winners from the USA and 10 from Australia and New Zealand.
And the giving doesn’t stop there. Inspired by Smokey the dog, the Great Dane who is still present on Karndean’s logo today, Karndean is showing its support for the Dogs Trust by donating £1 for every Facebook ‘like’ pledging to raise £5,000 by the end of the year.
“As a brand we have always aimed to make stunningly beautiful and authentic floors,” explains Paul Barratt, managing director of Karndean Designflooring.
He said: “With an uncompromising approach to quality and performance, Karndean has pushed the boundaries of what is possible in Designflooring.
“Our 40th anniversary is a massive achievement and we’re extremely proud of where we started and where we are today. And what better way to celebrate than by giving back to our customers and helping a variety of excellent causes.”
Founded in 1973 by young entrepreneur Michael ‘Mike’ Walker, Karndean Designflooring now employs more than 300 people globally.
Based at its impressive 500 square-metre showroom and headquarters on the Vale Business Park in Evesham, Karndean continues to expand and invest in the development of designflooring products.
For more information visit http://www.karndean.com.
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Pic captions:
Paul Barratt, managing director of Karndean Designflooring.
Group shot taken in 1983 outside the black and white house in Offenham with Mike Walker and Smokey the dog (front).
For press enquiries and to request high res images, please contact Claire Ryan, PR Executive at Karndean Designflooring, email: claire.ryan(at)karndean(dot)co.uk, Tel: 01386 820185, Mobile: 07808 772660.
Notes to editor:
About Karndean Designflooring:
Karndean Designflooring is a global leader in flooring design with operations in the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand. By offering a wide range of colours, textures and finishes, our products allow you to create looks that are unique to your home or business and are guaranteed to last. With a passion for creating floors which are both stylish and practical, we're here to help customers find the right floor for their space, needs and unique style.
For more information about the company, and to view its full range of flooring products, please visit: http://www.karndean.com, or follow us on our Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/KarndeanDesignflooring), Twitter Residential (http://www.twitter.com/KarndeanFloors) or Twitter Commercial (http://www.twitter.com/KarndeanComm).
40th Anniversary Campaign - our story
It all started in the summer of ’73 when young entrepreneur Michael “Mike” Walker began looking for a way to make it on his own. Although successful, he quickly became bored with selling other peoples’ designs, and in a moment of inspiration, decided it was time to introduce something completely new and different to the vinyl flooring industry.
In his eyes, a floor shouldn’t just be practical, it needed to be beautiful as well. Travelling the world seeking inspiration for what are now the most realistic luxury vinyl flooring products on the market, Mike found a way to create more than just a floor – he created a flooring concept. With endless combinations of planks, tiles, borders and design strips – not to mention the ability to cut the product into pretty much anything required – his idea meant people were no longer just getting a floor. They were getting a Design Floor. A floor that was unique, a floor that was bespoke and personal - a Karndean floor.
In 1992 Karndean moved out of Mike’s car boot and into a little black-and-white house in Offenham. The Karndean team worked out of that house for several years with only a handful of employees and the family’s trusty dog, Smokey. Yes, the Great Dane who is still present on Karndean’s logo today.
In the 90’s, Mike’s daughter Fleur took over the reins of the business with her brother Chris out on the road selling. Building relationships with flooring retailers around the UK who were just as excited as they were to welcome this new customisable flooring product, these were the founding years of our company.
For the family and Karndean’s early employees - many who are still with us today - these years bring back many fond memories. Memories of working together to come up with exciting new designs, product photo shoots staged in the family’s Birmingham home, a certain business meeting when 130-pound Smokey ran across the board room table, and so many more. All of these memories have woven together the past 40 years and brought us to where we are today.
Claire Ryan, Karndean Designflooring, http://www.karndean.com, +44 1386820185, [email protected]
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