Armed with a business plan and a dream, Carlos Soares established Divine Flooring in 1999 in Calgary, Canada, as a company dedicated to forward-thinking ideas about craftsmanship and design. The company’s name was inspired by the most beautiful hardwood flooring installation Soares had ever seen, located in St. John Cantius Church in Chicago. His vision, as a flooring supplier and installer, was the same then as it is today—to bring that level of beauty and originality into the home by creating unique, custom hardwood flooring.
He opened his first store with a focus on hard surfaces such as hardwood, laminate and luxury vinyl tile. He expanded his business model over the years, shifting from retail to working with the architecture and design community, along with other retailers. He also created his own brand of hard-surface flooring and began carrying a limited selection of soft surfaces.