Süddekor’s specialist papers are printed with decorative structures for hardwearing surface finishing, printed by rotogravure. The resulting products, such as desktops, floors and modular furniture, can be found in most homes and businesses where the papers are used to finish surfaces such as particleboard and laminate.

The head office of Süddekor GmbH is in Laichingen in the Swabian Alps, where the company was founded in 1974.

Süddekor’s growth path includes two subsidiaries specialising in design development: süddekor Art in Germany was established in 1998 to offer work not only to Süddekor GmbH but also to other printers, especially to manufacturers of vinyl products; while Süddekor LLC, in Massachusetts in the US, began production of printing and engraving in 2000 to develop designs specifically for the US market.

Today, the strong umbrella of 2D Group brings together Dankor in Heroldstatt, Süddekor Art in Willich and Süddekor LLC.

To meet the increased demand in North America for printed papers, the first Süddekor location outside Germany was established in Agawam, Massachusetts, in 2000.

Today, Süddekor LLC is the only US décor company which can offer its customers a complete product service, ranging from scanning a template, through the creation of engraving data for gravure cylinders and the actual engraving, followed by decor printing and processing of the paper on state-of-theart machinery.

The success of Süddekor LLC in the US was so rapid that a second US location was established in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts four years later, in 2004.

In 2008 an additional impregnating plant was acquired in Biscoe, North Carolina, thus enabling süddekor LLC to increase its closeness to those customers in the South of the US.

Overall, this modern, integrated company, with its range of services, says it offers customers a portfolio virtually unique in the US.

The 2D Group is – with its companies Süddekor (decor printing and finish foils), süddekor Art (decor development and cylinder gravure) and Dakor (melamine impregnation) – one of the leading suppliers of surfaces for the furniture and flooring industry.

This year, Süddekor says it once again made a huge impression at Interzum in Cologne. The entire 2D Group presented its decorative surface innovations to an international trade audience in its accustomed trendsetting manner.

Spread over 500m2, the trade fair stand – located within the most highly visited trade fair halls – showcased the latest generation of surface designs.

The structured finishes on flooring and furniture surfaces also formed one of the focal points at Interzum 2011.

Topics such as ‘embossed in register’, real pores for finish foils and release papers, made a profound impression on visitors.

And visitors were treated to the  trailblazing outcome of ‘Perfect Profile’ laser engraving. Here, the group – with its süddekor Art division – unveiled its new decor products, printed using laser-engraved cylinders, the print images of which are said to be even clearer and more defined than ever before.

The trade fair stand was a blend of high-tech and the natural. Lots of plant green created a symbiosis with digital imaging, which also fits in with the trend statement of the designers at Süddekor, who – with the two trend topics ‘stop’ and ‘go’ – are  maintaining the interaction between the emotional and the rational.

“Today, people are confronted with an ever-faster moving digital world, both in their private and work environments. This is contrasted by the desire for a slowing down, for consistency and cocooning,’ explains Heike Schlosser, a designer at Süddekor.

“With the two ‘stop’ and ‘go’ trend topics, we have picked up on this dichotomy that is more or less part of all our lives and translated it into a range of decors.”

To this end the ‘stop’ topic focuses on extremely natural-finish woods, with evidence of the wood’s processing such as the current rough-cut types.

Oak Lafite and Ortega are just two examples of this.

In contrast, the ‘go’ trend topic puts the spotlight on linear wood surfaces such as Elm Gamaret or constructed and sleek decors such as Anubis for the work surface.