Axminster Walk of Fame
WALK OF FAME = TOP AXMINSTER
1. Walk of Fame presentation.
The Walk of Fame service takes care of large carpet contracts from start to finish, covering every aspect of project management for the customer.
Encompassing both creative and technical aspects, it includes design, quantification, production, installation and maintenance as well as all the planning phases required.
Benefits of the package include:
- Control of the carpet contract from specifying to installation
- Cost-efficiency through management of resources
- Cost-efficiency through careful planning
- Co-ordination and communication between the various role players
- Quality installation with minimum wastage and joins
2. Walk of Fame specifying.
The process begins with choosing the correct product for each installation.
It is important that the colour, design and carpet specifications are chosen to suit the traffic conditions and room use. Lano can supply expert advise on appropriate carpet qualities using international specifications.
3. Walk of Fame conceptual design.
Working from initial sketches and images, the designer recreates concepts on the computer. The Walk of Fame system is capable of producing large repeats and elaborate patterning.
Designs are forwarded to the customer as printouts or electronic proofs. Different colourways can be provided. Before commencing weaving, samples of approx. 45 x 45 cm are produced with a computerized Kibby machine using either standard or custom coloured yarns. And sent to the customer no later than a week after designs and colours have been approved.
4. Walk of Fame project planning.
Project planning is at the heart of Lano’s Walk of Fame package. The architect, interior designer or installer supplies floor plans. Lano’s design team then develops creative solutions to fit the approved design concept into designated areas.
5. Walk of Fame quality assurance.
Lano is accredited in accordance with the ISO 9001-2000 Quality Management System, thus ensuring that careful attention is paid to the quality of the carpet (See Lano’s certificates). In addition to checks through each production phase, the carpet passes through a missing tuft detector, and is subjected to a final visual inspection.
For the Walk of Fame projects, this involves checking the first carpet modules off the loom against the dimensions of the CAD drawings and the Kibby samples. This ‘virtual installation’ ensures that all material leaving the factory is woven to specification, avoiding further potential problems.
CONSTRUCTION OF AXMINSTER
1. Weaving.
Carpets fall into two types: woven and tufted.
The fundamental difference between them is that in the case of woven (Axminster and Wilton) the pile and the backing are manufactured simultaneously. With tufted, yarn is fed into a primary backing; an anchor coat is applied to hold the tufts in place, and then a secondary backing is added for stability.
A woven carpet physically cannot delaminate, as the warp and weft strands holding the pile yarn in place combine to create a 3-dimensional structure. This is important for high traffic areas.
2. Axminster weaving process.
Tuft yarn is inserted during the weaving of the backing, which generally consists of polyolefin wefts (running left tot right across the loom) and polyester warp (threads running along the length). Axminster always has a velvet surface finish. Each tuft is in the shape of a “U”, and is held in place by the weft.
The pile yarns are fed from bobbins into carriers, one for each lengthwise course of tufts. Each carrier, consisting of a thin carbon fibre strip, has 16 holes through which the ends of the individual coloured yarns project. The carriers are moved back and forth by means of a computerized servomotor to align all the yarns for a particular row at the same level at the same time. At this point they are seized by the “grippers”, cut to length, and inserted through the warp to be secured by the weft.
Carpets have a coat of latex applied to the backing during finishing, which increases tuft anchorage and dimensional stability.
3. High tech Axminster weaving.
The weaving technology underwent in 2005 revolutionary development by Vande Wiele of Belgium, with particular emphasis on computerisation which allows for virtually unlimited design repeats, along with increased loom widths (up to 4 m) and increased weaving speeds (up to 150 rpm) and increased colour use (16 colours) .
On each loom, Lano has a creel of 18.000 bobbins with up to 2 kg for each bobbin. That means that each loom could make 20.000 sqm without changing colour.
This set-up allows Lano to weave motifs of virtually any length. The system also enables Lano to weave four-meter-wide sections incorporating the entire design – body, modules, border and outfill – as a continuous unit. This process minimizes the number of joins required.
MATERIALS USED IN AXMINSTER
1. Pile yarns of Axminster.
1.1. 80% Wool/20% Nylon.
The typical Axminster fibre blend is 80% wool/20% nylon. The advantage of 80/20 is that it provides the acknowledged advantages of wool fibres in tandem with the superior abrasion resistance of nylon. Adding 20% nylon to wool increases its abrasion resistance by up to 4 times providing the optimum performance of both fibres.
1.2. Synthetic alternatives.
Many synthetic fibre types are available as an alternative to wool. However, wool is the standard against which all synthetics fibres used in carpet production are judged, and none has wool’s wide-ranging advantages.
Polypropylene is a low cost alternative, but provides such inadequate levels of performance in the areas of abrasion resistance, soil-hiding, clean-ability and flame retardancy (untreated), that it is not alternative to wool in the demanding contract market.
Nylon offers exceptional abrasion resistance, but is seen to have problems in areas like handle, soiling, fibre surface damage.
2. Characteristics of wool yarns.
2.1. Wool retains its shape.
A wool fibre has natural crimp and elasticity that allows it to stretch up to 40% beyond its original length and then bounce back. Again and again. Therefore, wool retains its shape and is extremely resilient, even under heavy traffic. This elasticity also helps wool carpet resist furniture crush marks.
2.2. Wool repels stains.
Wool naturally repels stains, thanks to a membrane that covers the fibre’s core. Consider that over 80% of all stains are water based. Wool’s natural membrane ensures that stains won’t soak into the fibre. Rather, stains remain on a wool carpet’s surface allowing for them to be wiped off.
2.3. Wool is easy to clean.
Wool fibres are composed of a scale-type structure, covered by a natural membrane. Dirt does not have the opportunity to sink in, so regular vacuuming keeps wool carpets looking clean and new.
2.4. Wool is flame resistant.
Wool is naturally flame retardant, is difficult to ignite, has a low flame spread and low head release properties. Burning wool releases low levels of toxic fumes and smoke. A lit cigarette dropped on a wool carpet will form a slight char mark, which can be easily rubbed off the carpet’s surface, leaving no permanent marking. Because of its natural fire-safe characteristics, wool carpet is specified for installations with the most stringent flammability regulations, such as passenger aircraft and cruise liners.
2.5. Wool resists static, mildew.
Wool naturally resists static and mildew. Static is reduces by wool’s ability to retain up to 30% of its weight in moisture vapour. So, at times of high humidity, wool absorbs moisture and then releases this moisture again when the atmosphere is dry. As static build-up occurs in atmospheres lacking humidity, wool acts as an atmospheric buffer, helping to eliminate this problem. And because wool has a naturally low pH, wool resists mildew, mould, and fungal attack in virtually all climates.
2.6. Wool colour absorption.
Wool dyes penetrate to the fibre’s core. Dyes are actually “locked in” by a molecular bonding process that occurs inside the fibre. Colour can’t get out. So wool resists fading and retains its original colours for years.
2.7. Wool is a renewable resource.
It’s quite simple: most wool used in carpet production comes from sheep, whose lives are led grazing naturally in the field of New-Zealand and the United Kingdom. Synthetic carpet fibres are produced from refined fossil fuels. In a world sorely troubled by the issue of man’s inability to ensure a healthy environment for future generations, biodegradable wool is as earth-friendly a resource as exists.
2.8. Wool breath easy.
Wool carpets are good for the indoor environment, as wool, unlike synthetic fibres, rapidly absorbs common contaminants in indoor air such as formaldehyde, nitrogen dioxide and sulphur dioxide. Not only does wool keep the air free of many harmful pollutants, it will not re-emit them, even when heated.
2.9. Wool carpets, dust mites and asthma.
Dust mites feed on human skin, and so live mainly in mattresses and similar warm dark places. To the dust mite, carpets are hostile environment : too cold, too dry, too exposed to light and too regularly cleaned. The most common single cause of asthma is sensitivity to house dust, or more precisely to the dust mite and its waste products. However, this should not preclude asthma sufferers from enjoying the benefits of wool carpets.
Wool carpets are particularly inhospitable to dust mites, as noted in research carried out by the German Applied and Experimental Allergy Research Association (GAF). Their findings were that when wool and nylon carpets (even nylon treated with an ant-microbial finish) were compared for dust mite populations, the wool carpeting performed best in resisting dust mite infestation.
Research by Sweden’s Central Statistics Bureau, Army, and Flooring Association shows that over the past 20 years, while the installation of carpet declined in Swedish homes, and installation of hard floorcoverings increased, the number of allergy sufferers increased dramatically over the same period.
3. Backing materials of Axminster.
3.1. Weft.
Running left to right across the face of the woven carpet, locking in the pile yarn, are weft strands. Traditionally jute was used for this purpose, but jute has its limitations.
Polypropylene is a modern alternative weft material to jute. It is a synthetic fibre, unaffected by moisture, so it will not shrink or mildew.
3.2. Warp.
Polyester is the standard warp material, having replaced the traditional cotton, owing to higher tensile strength, and being more chemical and moisture resistant.
3.3. Coating.
The final process in Axminster production is the application of a light coating of SBR (Styrene Butadiene rubber) Latex to the backing of the carpet. This enhances tuft anchorage and adds to the dimensional stability of the product. SBR is a synthetic product, and is engineered to be soft and compliant upon application, so as not to interfere with Axminster’s superior handle and the flexibility required by installers.
PERFORMANCE VARIABLES OF AXMINSTER.
1. Factors affecting performance.
Carpet performance is associated, in large part, with pile density, i..e. the amount of pile yarn in a given volume of carpet face. Because pile yarn is the major cost element in carpet production, heavier, denser carpets costs more. It is therefore crucial that a carpet’s specification, which is largely reflected in its density, be appropriate for the expected traffic it will be subjected to when installed. Although density and pile weight are very closely related, they are not the same thing. For a given carpet weight, lower pile height and higher density will give the most performance for money.
The fixed characteristic in Axminster production is the “pitch”, which represents the number of pile tufts per inch running left to right across the face of the carpet. The usual pitch is 7 per inch.
In order to weave Axminster carpets of differing specifications and densities, one looks to the variable components, which are rows per inch, pile height and yarn count.
2. Rows per inch affects performance.
One often sees Axminster specified as 7 x 9.
This indicates that the specification is 7-pitch and 9 rows of pile tufts per inch lengthwise. Often the specification simple calls for 9-row, as the fixed pitch number of 7 is a given.
The typical spread in contract Axminster production is from 7 x 7 row up to 7 x 11 row.
The number of rows per inch affects the final pile density of the carpet. For example, 7 x 7 row with 49 tufts/inch² is seen to have a much lower density than a 7 x 11 row with 77 tufts/inch². This affects the wearability of the final product, as well as the price one might expect to pay.
3. Pile height affects performance.
Pile height is the most often varied element in Axminster specification, after rows per inch.
The most typical Axminster pile heights are 7,1 mm.
A 7 x 9 row with a 7,1 mm pile height will have a lower density that a 7 x 9 row with a 9 mm pile height.
A 7 x 9 row at 7,1 mm pile height will have virtually the same pile weight as a 7 x 10 row with a 6,9 mm pile height, but the 7 x 10 row will be denser and perform better.
4. Yarn count affects performance.
The yarn count refers to the specifications of the yarn used. Lano’s typical Axminster yarn count is 4/3 nm. This means that the pile yarn is made up of 3 individual strands of yarns twisted, or plied, together to form 1 strand.
3-ply yarns have the potential to produce bulkier yarn than 2-ply.
Yarn count tends to have a greater effect on pile weight than on density and thoroughly offers a superior appearance retention. It will also offer a better pattern definition due to the higher number of tufts used to achieve the same face weight.
5. Contract specifications for performance.
The most oft-used carpet “quality index” is pile weight.
However, when one is aware of the many different component elements, which can be adjusted to achieve a similar Axminster pile weight, one must be careful to look further for value in Axminster specifications.
One eight row woven with three-ply yarns on a modern Vande Wiele loom may weight more and have a greater density than a two-ply nine row woven on an old machine.
DESIGN AND AESTHETICS OF AXMINSTER
1. Design of Axminster.
Lano uses Nedgraphics design software. Building up a carpet design on the computer screen is achieved by filling colours into individual boxes within a grid representing the specification of the carpet in question. Therefore, if the design is for a 9-row product, the grid represents 7 boxes across (the pitch), by 9 boxes down. This allows for 63 individual colour tufts per inch². The higher the specification, then the greater the detail that can be achieved in the design.
This potential for design detail is unmatched by any alternative production method. In fact, much as wool sets an unachievable standard for synthetic fibres, woven carpet sets an unachievable standard in the area of pattern definition for aspiring rival technologies such as printed tuft.
As noted earlier, the designer can use a palette of up to 16 colours when designing. With a modern computerized loom, repeat is effectively a non-issue, as carpets can be designed and woven to mirror the characteristics of odd-shaped areas or one-off designs where no repeat actually exists. More typically this application is used to weave field, border and out fill designs integrally for areas such as ballrooms and corridors, which adds aesthetic value through the designer being able to resolve awkward corner mitres and ensure that all repeats match correctly, prior to weaving. Another major benefit is that the carpet is supplies as sheets, which simply require seaming side-to-side, as opposed to an installer having to fabricate the entire layout on-site, which is an added expense, and increased the chances of seam failure over time.
Lano calls its computerized design/weaving process DesignCom. In the manufacture of Designcom projects, design information is fed directly from the design studio server to a computer at the front of the loom, directing yarn placement to produce the finished design.
2. Aesthetics of Axminster.
Lano has a standard set of 16 colours. And a pom box of 320 colours. When there is a need to match a particular colour, which is not in the pom box, custom dyeing is undertaken. Lano has a lab equipped with the latest equipment. Any colour is matched within 24 hours by a fully computerized data colour machine.
Poms are also held in the design studio representing the eight hundred of colours which have already been custom-dyed, and these are reviewed when matching non-standard requests, as the dye-house records their colour recipe, ensuring that they can be quickly replicated.
Lano offers an interactive “CarpetPro” website for interior designers wishing to access our archive from their own location. This facility offers remote custom colouring of Lano designs, mixing and matching of patterns, including borders, the ability to print designs as worked, and a link enabling transmission of requests for strike-offs to the mill. Lano also maintains a Design Portfolio, containing images of a broad range of designs.
3. Sampling.
At the design development stage, the customer is provided with printed copies of all designs, along with strike-offs representing how the design will appear in carpet form. Designs are e-mailed for quick review prior to producing strike-offs. Strike-offs are made by a computerized Kibby machine. They should mainly be used to judge design and colour issues but they do not represent the final quality of the carpet to be produced. The maximum available size of a Kibby sample is 50 x 50 m.
3D Composer.
Lano has an extensive 3D Composer layout package available to illustrate how designs will work together in their intended location. To produce these drawings we require architectural blueprints, which are scanned into the system, and then overlaid with design information for review by the client. This is an invaluable tool, as there is no better way to highlight inconsistencies which may exist between the floor-space and the design being developed. These drawings also denote seam locations, which are another important concern for all parties, particularly the installer. This process also allows us to provide detailed volume breakdown information, which is important for budgeting purposes.
4. Design studio.
Lano’s design studio is staffed by a group of highly experienced and creative design professionals. We encourage any design firm with whom we are working to feel free to communicate with us as frequently and directly. In order to derive maximum value from the design development process, and ensure a satisfactory outcome.
QUALITY OF AXMINSTER
1. Fire certificate.
Lano’s Axminster achieves a Class 1 fire rating, and Lano has all appropriate fire certificates (see Lano’s certificates).
2. Marine certificates.
Lano’s Axminster achieves IMO and wheelmark certificate (see Lano’s certificates).
3. Quality controls.
Specification sheets are available for all qualities manufactured, and random production samples are tested for compliance in our own lab on a monthly basis. Additionally we test all yarn and backing materials, upon receipt, for compliance with established guidelines for moisture content, tensile strength and weight.
Prior to shipping the carpet is measured to ensure design repeat matching from roll to roll. Large modules are laid out and inspected to ensure matching. These are also digitally photographed and held in our records for documentary purposes.
INSTALLATION OF AXMINSTER
Lano’s “Guidelines for the Installation of Axminster Carpet” exists as an individual location on this website.
Of particular interest are our recommendations in the area of how cross-seams should be fabricated, and the steps to be taken when bowing is encountered.
Mentioned earlier was the fact that Lano photographs the majority of its carpets prior to shipping. Occasionally we encounter a situation where an end-user is dissatisfied with the installed appearance of one of our carpets. The most common reason is that patterns are mismatched or that there are “waves” in the design from roll to roll. We go to great lengths to ensure that any carpet we ship is of top quality, and no matter how detailed and demanding the design elements involved, can be satisfactorily fitted by a competent installer with experience in Axminster installation techniques.
MAINTENANCE OF AXMINSTER
Lano’s “Guidelines for the Protection of Your Axminster Carpet” maintenance recommendations exist as a separate location on this website.
The key issues are the extent to which walk-off mats should be employed to minimize soiling in the first place, and the fact that wool carpets should preferably be cleaned through use to chemicals which bear the “WOOLSAFE APPROVED” logo.
It should be further noted that the current trend toward increased use of pastel shades in hospitality floor covering has seen a dramatic increase in the number of soiling-related complaints among all carpet manufacturers. Whilst it is impossible to allow that all carpets should only comprise dark, soil-hiding shades, it is important to take account of the prevailing environment when choosing colour schemes.
