Editor’s Note: The following is one in a series of profiles highlighting the winners of this year’s NFT Styling Excellence Awards. Entries were judged earlier this year by showgoers at Surfaces and by readers online.


Armstrong earned top Styling Excellence Awards for its New England Long Plank laminate collection and Duality fiberglass sheet vinyl line. According to Allen Cubell, vp residential product management, winning the awards is an affirmation for the design team.

“To the designers it’s an incredible honor,” he said. “They’re taking gambles, and taking advantage of some new, maybe untested technology. Our design objective for New England Long Plank was to make the most realistic, oil-finished solid hardwood look in a laminate product. It took some work, but obviously it paid off.”

The Duality line was a challenge in a different way, as it was tied to the company’s Lancaster, Pa., facility that was converted from a felt vinyl to a fiberglass cushioned vinyl plant last winter. According to Cubell, the designers had to work on the product even before the plant came online. “Our designers were working on creating products with a three-dimensional, natural look to them. At the time, they wondered if what they were developing could be replicated once the line started up.”

He said Duality’s slate looks are full of “big, rich color, with a 3d look that’s really convincing both far away and right up close.”