Tactile By Nature – Forté Flooring Showroom and Experience Centre by The Wonder Group

Words by Thida Sachathep
Architecture by The Wonder Group
Photography by Jono Parker

Forté Flooring have teamed up with The Wonder Group to create truly holistic timber experience showroom in Auckland where the material speaks for itself.

Stepping into the new Forté Flooring Showroom and Experience Centre in Auckland’s inner-city suburb Grey Lynn, you’re immediately embraced by the natural elegance of timber in all its forms. High contrasts from the blackened steel and cooling notes from the cement showcase the timber’s beauty as a living material in an otherwise neutral and moody palette.

The full range of products on display at Forté’s showroom encourages everyone to step inside and browse, aided by a simple layout.

Cut from a living tree before being finished with colours, dyes and tints, people do not always associate timber with the forests it comes from. But in this space, timber is honoured with a minimal palette injected with 3D sculptural concrete and the softness of linen and jute, recapturing that connection between the final product and its origins.

The full range of products on display at Forté’s showroom encourages everyone to step inside and browse, aided by a simple layout. Celebrating the intricacies and simplicities of timber, pieces can be removed from the display to trial walking on, and larger samples boast pattern, grain and precision, enabling clients to easily visualise the effect of the flooring en masse.

Stepping into the new Forté Flooring Showroom and Experience Centre in Auckland’s inner-city suburb Grey Lynn, you’re immediately embraced by the natural elegance of timber in all its forms.

The Wonder Group has stripped everything else back, leaving the experience of the touch and feel of the timber panels to take centre stage. Celebrating these tactile, experiential qualities of wood, the Forté Flooring Showroom and Experience Centre is a commemoration of materiality and an ode to the simple beauty of timber.