WOW Factor: Alfatherm's SERICA Offers New Standard for Super Matte Finish

SERICA is an innovative, silky matt surface finish launched by Alfatherm at interzum 2017 in Cologne.

Incorporating anti-scratch and anti-fingerprint technology, SERICA is designed to cover all types of furnishings in homes, offices and stores and is an excellent choice for exhibition contractors and specialized projects.

“We have come a long way from the time when foils used in the furniture industry looked and felt like inferior imitations,” said Barry Berman, Alfatherm’s marketing manager.

“One of the major developments has been in the area of surface textures and lacquering in order to make this new generation of foils appear so authentic and true to life with the added benefits of durability and modern demands,” Berman said.

Haptic feel and sensory perceptions affect what people like and buy today. Alfatherm has always paid attention to these elements, providing its customers with a wide range of choices of surfaces and textures. SERICA represents another step.

"Matt surfaces have been gaining in popularity for some time now," Berman said. “But we were looking for something more. We wanted to impress the mass market with a kind of ‘Wow’ factor, and that is what SERICA does. It encourages customers to feel and touch the surface while providing a premium product at a realistic and commercial price.”

SERICA’s development was possible thanks to a substantial investment by Alfatherm in its lacquering line after a review of the market by Giuseppe Cerizza, general manager of Alfatherm’s furniture division. SERICA is a leap forward in super matt technology, which until now has been focused purely on solid colors.

“SERICA is the best performing super matt on the market,” said Carlo Bortolussi, product manager L.I.C.A.R. International. “We conducted our own internal testing, which led us to this conclusion. As a result, it has been added to our stock line. Five-piece door production with SERICA can go through all production processes without the need of a protective masking, dramatically reducing our overall scrap rate.”

L.I.C.A.R. International is part of ILCAM Group based in Italy and is one of the leading European manufacturers of furniture frontals.

Besides being available in solid colors, SERICA surfaces are offered in a variety of heartwood and sapwood tones, allowing unlimited combinations. This year, nine colors were developed expressly for SERICA, covering a wide range from warm and cool grays to reddish-browns.

“Our aim at Alfatherm is to continue to offer our customers the opportunity to make available to the consumer a greater choice and the chance for them to create their own individual style to reflect their personalities,” Cerizza said. “That’s also why we started to set up exclusive collaborations with primary board firms and decorative printing companies such as Confalonieri, Egger, Lamigraf, Tafisa, Uniboard, Arauco, Interprint and Schattdecor, which resulted in unique and amazing decors.”

SERICA foils are available in 2D and 3D.

Especially studied for flat and postforming applications, with high impact resistance, SERICA embossed-finish 2D foils are produced in a wide range of solid colors—matt and super matt—to fulfill any need in terms of fashion and design. Originally only produced in PVC, SERICA 2D foils are now available also in PET. The new PET surfaces, like those made in PVC, are robust.

“The main advantage of the PET surface is in fact the possibility of widening the span of thicknesses, together with the added advantage of matching edgebanding material,” Cerizza said. “In addition, PET industrial wastes are easy to recover, thus reducing the overall environmental impact of its production.”

SERICA 3D foils are most often used to produce kitchen doors and drawer fronts, bathroom furniture, bedroom doors, living room furniture and—thanks to new technological developments—passage doors. Because of the thermoformability of its polymeric foils, SERICA offers greater freedom of design, both in terms of surfaces (color and printed decoration) and in a three-dimensional sense.

SERICA 3D foils present a wide range of new wood grain embossing colors and designs, made possible by exclusive and innovative EIR (embossed-in-register) technology, which enhances the wood effect. A pioneer of this technological breakthrough, Alfatherm boasts more than five years of experience in developing exclusive décors that led one major printing company to declare: “This is the most realistic thermoplastic foil we have ever seen.”

“Thanks to the recent formation of Alfatherm North America,” added Dustin Smith, commercial manager North America, “Alfatherm will now be directly present in the North American market, responding to the growing interest for its industry-leading in-register synchronized embossing technology (EIR), currently available in 40 different décors, and for SERICA.”