Typically, the Stockholm Furniture Fair is thought of as a hotbed for new design, a place where young Nordic designers go to launch their brands. But this year, tried-and-true international furniture purveyors flocked to the Venice of the North to exhibit new pieces and installations—a combination of pleasantly unexpected forms and materials—that would otherwise be held back for Salone del Mobile Milano (or the Milan Furniture Fair). French multi-national floor and wall covering brand Tarkett collaborated with local, multi-disciplinary Note Design Studio on an installation called The Lookout. In the pairing, Note Design Studio’s furniture and light fixtures were showcased with the flooring from a three-dimensional vantage point—possibly the coolest way to display product from a vinyl flooring company.

(Courtesy Note Design Studio)

Aptly dubbed, The Lookout is a synthesis of color, dimension, and texture across a multitude of interior surfaces, and obviously, the floor. A terrazzo vinyl flooring called iQ Megalit was paired with Tarkett’s wood, linoleum, and textile surfaces. These tactile coverings were employed across geometric compositions of space, including a zigzagging staircase that leads up to an elevated point to view the fair, stadium-style seating swathed in terrazzo flooring, wall coverings fashioned from oak wood squares, and other furniture outfitted by Tarkett’s floor and wall coverings.

In a landscape of obsidian, emerald, mint, and charcoal, a stunning shade of apricot (not to be confused with millennial pink) complemented the sea of terrazzo. New designs by the studio were showcased across the marbled topography. The seemingly uncool material, vinyl flooring, was placed in the foreground in line with lighting, sofas, and tables, making it feel more like a well-thought-out interior than an ordinary showroom. The full effect was created with 3,000 square feet of flooring in eight different materials and eight colors at the same time. Ooh la la!