Forbo Flotex & Tibor
Pioneering textile designer Tibor Reich - creator of Tibor - was one of the most prominent figures in the British post-war textile industry. Forbo has teamed up with this British design legend on an exciting new range for Flotex. Most of the designs are derived from Tibor’s ground-breaking Fotexur collection, launched in 1957. Printed on Forbo Flotex in vibrant colours, Tibor’s innovative Fotexur designs have a timeless feel, despite dating back 70 years.
Forbo Flooring has teamed up with this British design legend to create an exciting new range for Flotex. Most of the designs selected by Forbo are from Tibor’s ground-breaking Fotexur collection, launched in 1957, winner of the Council of Industrial Design’s inaugural Design Centre Award.
Had he been alive today, Tibor would have relished working with Forbo. Thankfully his creativity lives on through his internationally recognized archives, housed at the Victoria & Albert Museum and University of Leeds International Textile Archive.
Flotex provides the perfect medium for Tibor’s dynamic graphic designs. The cutting-edge technology of digital printing gives a new lease of life to his arresting patterns.
Tibor & The Art of Fotexur
Hungarian émigré Tibor Reich (1916-1996) was one of the most prominent figures in the British post-war textile industry. A multi faceted artist, who designed carpets, wallpapers, ceramics, tiles and vinyl flooring, all in his distinctive co-ordinated style.
A gifted artist and dynamic entrepreneur, he moved to the UK in 1937 to study at Leeds University. Tibor Ltd, the company he established in 1946 he at Clifford Mill near Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, was a leading brand throughout the 1950s and 60s.
Texture was the defining feature of Tibor’s textiles. As well as his celebrated Deep Texture weaves, he produced arresting screen-printed curtain fabrics, known as Texture Prints.
Most of the designs selected by Forbo are from Tibor’s ground-breaking Fotexur collection, launched in 1957, winner of the Council of Industrial Design’s inaugural Design Centre Award. The ‘Fo’ refers to photography, while ‘Texur’ evokes texture, both key aspects of these designs.
Close-up photographs of organic materials, such as straw and bark, provided the starting point for Tibor’s intriguing Fotexur patterns. A keen photographer, he drew inspiration from the natural world.
His eye was attracted to relief patterns and tonal contrasts in unusual places, such as fissures in a dried up river bed. Tibor also photographed his own weaves and used these images in his designs.
The Fotexur process began by screen-printing the photograph on paper, before isolating a section of the image and cutting it into squares or strips. Patterns were created by rotating and re-arranging these repeated motifs in different formations to create energetic and rhythmic compositions. Tibor’s bold choice of colour variations provided the final ingredient to these stimulating and eye-catching designs.
Printed on Forbo Flotex in vibrant colours, Tibor’s innovative Fotexur designs have a timeless feel, despite dating back 70 years.
About Flotex flocked flooring Flotex flocked flooring combines the hard-wearing and durable characteristics of a resilient floor with the warmth and comfort of carpet. Slip resistant, sound absorbent and easy to clean, it is digitally printed in an infinite number of colours and designs, from abstracts to 3D patterns and trompe l’oeil effects.
• Flotex is a hard-wearing, heavy-duty floor covering suitable for a wide range of contract uses. • Flotex combines the durability and resilience of hard flooring with the warmth and comfort of textile floor covering. • 70 million fibres per m² provide a slip- resistant surface in both wet and dry conditions. • The density of fibres make Flotex sound absorbent, resulting in a quiet flooring material. • Flotex is an Allergy UK approved floor covering: the fibres trap allergens until easily releasing them on vacuuming. • Digital printing offers innumerable design options and intricate colour combinations across the colour spectrum. • Digital printing is ideal for detailed designs and complex visual effects that are difficult to achieve through conventional print.
