OfficeRetail

A sleek showroom made of decorative MDF puts flooring specialist WAW on the map in Paris

15 April 2022 • 5 min read

For the Paris showroom of WAW, a specialist in vinyl and parquet flooring, Belgian architect and designer Bjorn Verlinde truly gave free rein to his creativity. He transformed 300 square metres of office space into an inspiring headquarters.

Using mood boards, colour schemes and an elegant corporate identity by Stockholm Design Lab, he designed 8 offices, 2 meeting rooms and a showroom. In the showroom, which Bjorn himself constructed with a Belgian team, WAW's customers can consult hundreds of flooring samples.

Project details

Location: Paris
Country: France
Sector: Office, Retail
Architect: Bjorn Verlinde
Contractor: Contractor lighting DARK
Installer: Goethals Guido Interieur Tielt
Design: Meteor Grey Photographer: Miguel De Groote 

Showroom with cabinets entirely made of grey decorative MDF from Unilin Panels
Showroom with cabinets entirely made of grey decorative MDF from Unilin Panels

Entrance with veneer wall and grid ceiling made of Unilin Panels decorative MDF.
Entrance with veneer wall and grid ceiling made of Unilin Panels decorative MDF.

Bjorn worked with Unilin Panels, more specifically with the light grey (Meteor Grey) in core-coloured decorative MDF of our decorative MDF range. 78 panels were delivered almost immediately. This allowed him to construct the entire room at a record speed, from the walls to the ceilings. In this coronavirus period, product availability and delivery reliability were important elements when it came to completing the project on time.

Bjorn and the owner chose a Belgian product that is not only original and high-quality, but also affordable and versatile. Cabinets, walls and doors were made entirely of Fibralux, with extra attention for storage drawers and cabinets. Some cabinets are up to 11 metres long, with hundreds of drawers, to hold all the samples in the WAW showroom.


The wood of the desks matches the panels in Meteor Grey perfectly.
The wood of the desks matches the panels in Meteor Grey perfectly.

Sober entrance hall with Fibralux walls
Sober entrance hall with Fibralux walls

“The colour of the panelsdecorative MDF was the decisive factor,” says Bjorn. “The Meteor Grey shade in a super matt finish was exactly what I was looking for to give the office a hyper-sleek, stylish look. This was combined with wood, for a warm setting.”

Bjorn is delighted with how smoothly the project ran. “I had only just come across the product in a newsletter, and very quickly received a professional explanation from Unilin. The fact that the product did not need to be painted or varnished was important to me, as this allowed us to start building faster. We made the entire showroom in Belgium and then transported it to Paris for the installation.”

For showrooms such as these, where people spend a lot of time handling samples, the scratch resistance of the decorative MDF range is an extra asset. From Super Matt to Silk Gloss: 

Check out our range of core-coloured MDF panels

Panels used in this project:

  • Meteor Grey super matt

  • 0L101 Super matt

  • Decorative-Fibralux MR Grey

  • This moisture-resistant MDF panel with a grey-coloured core is finished with a transparent lacquer coating of incomparable quality. The natural fibres are nicely visible on the surface of the panel. Choose from 2 shades: Meteor Grey or Mercury Grey.
Kitchenette with walls and ceilings of decorative MDF meteor grey by Unilin PanelsLong corridor with veneer floor, walls and ceiling in decorative Meteor grey MDFcabinets and ceiling built up with Unilin panels in Meteor GreyMeeting rooms finished entirely in grey decorative MDF panels by Unilin Panels.Showroom with grey Fibralux sample cabinetsContrasting grey-black combination with MDF panels in the toilet.