NEWH - Spring 2020 - 104

PARTNER PROFILES

Durkan, the hospitality flooring division of Mohawk Group, celebrated another full
year in 2019. Among the highlights was the launch of Spirit Moderne, the second
installation of the manufacturer's award-winning collaboration with the Museum
of New Mexico Foundation, this time with the Museum of International Folk Art
in Santa Fe. On the heels of its launch, the first component of collaboration, the
Crafted Convergence carpet collection, was recognized with the HD Award for
Flooring. Also, at HD Expo was the launch of Sakiori, Durkan's first woven enhanced resilient tile collection, which references the
craft of hand stitching and weaving and pays homage to the makers of yesterday and today.
In addition to introducing its latest designs and concepts there at HD Expo, Durkan and NEWH named Utah State
University's Elizabeth Hadden as the first-place winner of the 2019 dscvr Student Design Competition for her original design,
Impressions of Safavid. Her patterns and themes took inspiration from the murals and mosaics of the Safavid era, which gloried
in Persia's ancient tradition of glazed ceramic art. Hadden was awarded a trip to Las Vegas to attend HD Expo and honored
onsite, where she received a $2,500 NEWH scholarship from Durkan. Entering its 10th year, the hospitality design contest is
now accepting artwork submissions at durkan.com/dscvr. The program is open to NEWH student members who will ultimately
compete for scholarship money, exclusive networking opportunities, and exposure to the realm of hospitality design by
submitting original concepts for flooring design based on prompts provided by Durkan's design team.
Last fall saw another successful showing at BDNY, highlighted by the launch of the Free Play collection, developed by the inhouse design team using fundamental elements of the cadavre exquis technique created by the Surrealists. Throughout the year,
Durkan launched enhanced soft flooring manufacturing capabilities designed to push the boundaries of design, including a new
PDI (Precision Dye Injection) tile program and pattern-perfect broadloom and tile designed specifically for hospitality.

Lily Jack's products were featured in numerous exciting projects last year, including guestrooms
at the Encore at Wynn Macau, the Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, Four Seasons Hotel Westlake Village,
and Hilton Americas-Houston; as well as public spaces at the Equinox Hotels Hudson Yards, RitzCarlton St. Louis, JW Marriott Savannah Plant Riverside, and Fairmont Scottsdale Princess.
Lily Jack has multiple owned and operated factories with teams in Los Angeles, Mexico,
Vietnam, and China. It allows it to provide beautiful, high-quality furniture at a competitive price
point and the opportunity to bring designers and clients into the factories to collaborate through
every stage of the process. The company knows that the industry has a huge opportunity to
move towards more socially responsible practices, particularly in the area of environmental
sustainability. From re-examining its supply chain to the packaging it uses to ship product, Lily
Jack is committed to reducing its waste and carbon footprint significantly in 2020. To this end, it's also been moving towards
using solid materials like stainless steel or brass, and processes such as PVD plating to create extremely durable and eco-friendly
pieces of furniture.
Lily Jack's longstanding partnership with NEWH is also still vital for its success. "From when I first founded Lily Jack in 2000,
we've always felt that partnerships that foster learning and growth within the industry are important," says the company's founder
and CEO Lisa Villarreal. "NEWH allows us to network with and learn from our peers, while also supporting industry growth through
scholarships and education."

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NEWH - Spring 2020

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