phenomenon that produces the so-called ‘paradox of choice’, according to which the multiplication of options leads to growing indecision and fear of making mistakes, with a sense of dissatisfaction with the choice made.
How to get out of the paradox within the paradox?
With one word: support. Someone who, faced with a kaleidoscopic crossroads, can identify the most suitable solution for every need. Laminam has wholeheartedly embraced this concept and for this reason created the Project Engineering division: a company department consisting of a team of experienced engineers to provide each customer with customised specialist advice. While Laminam’s catalogue is wide-ranging enough to meet any architectural and design need, Project Engineering provides its in-depth knowledge of the materials and application possibilities of large slabs so that the final project represents the meeting point between a wide offer and the satisfaction of having made the best choice.
When choice meets innovation
An innovative product such as Laminam’s large ceramic surfaces makes it necessary to provide the project designer with qualified professional support to enable him to get to know and make the most of all the features of these slabs with their exceptional quality and performance.
“Laminam’s Project Engineering guarantees customer support from design to final implementation” says Simone Ferrari, Laminam Project Engineer.
Nobody knows the product better than the company that designed it, but the effort here has gone further: Laminam’s Project Engineering can in fact count on many years of collaboration with universities, laboratories, external bodies and professionals for the characterisation and certification of the slabs. “This activity,” explains Ferrari, “enabled us to obtain a large amount of scientific data that now allows us to know the material’s characteristics and predict its behaviour in various applications.”
In other words: comprehensive knowledge, still in progress, made available to the customer for a “tailor-made” service. Today, Laminam’s Project Engineering is able to engineer the application of the slab in both building and furnishing applications with dedicated tests: e.g. wind and impact resistance tests for slabs intended for ventilated façades, or fire reaction or food contact suitability tests for slabs intended for kitchen tops.
All the value of a choice … of substance!
The support offered by Laminam’s Project Engineering is all the more strategic as the material’s application possibilities have become more articulated over time. We are no longer talking about simple surfaces, but real materials for building and furnishing. From the very first 1000×3000 mm slab with Laminam 3+ thickness, there are now four thicknesses available to designers – Laminam 3, 5,12 and 20 – also available with glass fibre applied to the back of the slab (Laminam 3+, 5+, 12+, 20+) – for three different sizes: 1000×3000, 1200×3000 and 1620×3240 mm. “Once the finish of interest has been identified,” explains Ferrari, “the designer is guided to the choice of the slab with the most suitable thickness for the intended use: floor, wall, kitchen top, external façade… with the possibility of also creating a Total Look – our Laminam Effect – by declining the same collection and finish in different thicknesses”.
A guide that accompanies the designer along the entire route
Project Engineering is not limited to being a simplifier and choice orientator; its role is that of a true travelling companion, accompanying the designers if necessary along the design path. Identifying the perfect slab requires consideration of the type of building and the desired layout, as well as installation patterns to identify the size that will ensure less waste and thus lower costs. For this reason, assistance is offered not only to the designer, but also to the installer, processor and façade installer for the optimal processing and installation of the product. And if in the end you need support in obtaining local certifications for the use of the material in various areas: Laminam is there too.
Our Project Engineering is proof of how innovation, to be effective, must also be holistic and integrated: it concerns not only the material itself as it is developed in the production plants, but also the way it is concretely used in buildings and furnishings elements. A continuous dialectic between interior and exterior, between manufacturers and designers, between research and application in real contexts is what defines Laminam’s efforts and its orientation towards excellence at the service of the world of living.
