Delivering a quality finish with low environmental impact.

What innovations are you most excited about in the furniture industry right now?

When I look at the furniture industry today, I’m excited by the huge opportunities available to adapt and meet the evolving needs of consumers. Over the past few years, we’ve noticed a growing demand for furniture and flooring products with low environmental impact, alongside high-quality and aesthetically pleasing designs. 

Manufacturers like us are responding to this by adopting different coatings systems. In particular, waterborne coatings are becoming more widely used due to their lower or zero VOC levels compared to traditional solvent-borne options. These more sustainable solutions are often produced using renewable energy sources, making them especially appealing.

Plus, we see a trend towards customization, with manufacturers focusing on tailored solutions that still maintain productivity and performance. Current priorities include deep matt finishes and coatings with anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint properties. Waterborne systems, such as  Bayhydur® quix ultra from Covestro, can help companies achieve these goals while supporting fast drying for efficient production. In fact, we’ve successfully implemented this solution for a new lacquer that is now being used in FINVER’s custom kitchen furniture panels.

What are the key challenges faced by furniture and flooring producers?

Furniture and flooring manufacturers want to produce more sustainable solutions to increase market share and attract more customers. The challenge for many is that they believe it’s too difficult to combine low-carbon and lower-VOC systems with high productivity (such as fast-drying and minimal-layer systems), customizability, cost-efficiency, and technical performance (durability, finish, anti-scratch, etc.). In many ways, the overarching challenge is simply striking the right balance for all these requirements. 

We have found through our use of waterborne coatings systems, that cost, environmental sustainability, high productivity and varied technical capabilities can be achieved simultaneously — and other industry leaders are catching on to this, too. 

In addition, many manufacturers also face the challenge of understanding which formulations and systems truly deliver lower environmental impact. That’s why manufacturers like us are prioritizing partnerships with chemicals manufacturers that offer products sourced from certified natural carbon materials, or who can prove full traceability on mass-balanced options.  In our recent partnership with Covestro, we found precisely the level of transparency and accreditation that we required.

How can industry players work together to turn challenges into opportunities?

Collaboration between coatings manufacturers, materials suppliers, and product manufacturers is absolutely key to driving future innovations. As coatings manufacturers, we need to stop expecting clients to trust lab-developed solutions instantly. Instead, we must go the extra mile to prove that the systems and coatings we develop actually perform as advertised in real-world manufacturing scenarios. 

If all stakeholders can improve dialogue and deepen partnerships, we will be much better placed to develop coatings systems that truly deliver on customer expectations and technical requirements—and create them fast enough to keep up with market demand. Of course, Sirca and Covestro will always work on research and development, but it is when we align with our peers in the industry that we can accelerate time-to-market on new coatings that add value for our clients.