Interface aims to inspire beautiful thinking in the workplace with Human Nature, a new, global collection of carpet tile. (PRNewsFoto/Interface)

CHICAGO, June 9, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Workplace interiors inspired by nature can inspire beautiful thinking.

That is the premise behind Human Nature, a new carpet tile collection from Interface which debuts globally this month. The innate connection humans have to the earth informs the collection, and it takes its cues from the visual, tactile textures found in the most elemental of floor coverings forest floors, grassy fields and pebbled garden paths. Human Nature also embodies Interface's 20-year history as a sustainability pioneer. Made with 100 percent recycled content nylon yarn, it will be manufactured on 4 continents in 6 Interface factories that are, on average, 39% more energy efficient and consume 83% less water than when the company began to rethink its impact on the environment two decades ago. Additionally, these manufacturing facilities now receive an average 35% of their energy from renewable sources.

"The more we learn about our natural world, the more we're inspired to change the way we approach design," said Interface executive creative director Chip DeGrace. "This collection has both brains and beauty, and we'd like to believe Mother Nature would be both flattered and impressed with what Interface has producedwhat architects and interior designers can create with itand what beautiful thinking those creations can inspire in the workplace."

Designed by David Oakey, Interface's longtime collaborator, Human Nature features five 25cm x 1m skinny plank carpet tile patterns that evoke a variety of earthly textures, from tumbled pebbles to freshly cut grass, all the while offering smooth transitions to surfaces that mimic traditional hard flooring, like well-worn wood and polished stone. The skinny plank format is one that naturally encourages design diversity.

"Scientists have found that humans crave sensory change and variation, though our work environments are often flat, unnatural places," Oakey said. "And though there's no doubt that the design community is drawn to the aesthetics of concrete, stone, and wood, the physical and acoustical benefits of soft surfaces are impossible to ignore. In Human Nature we've combined the best of both worlds the hard surface look of planks with the benefits of soft, textured carpet tile that feels comfortable and natural underfoot."

The skinny planks flow fluidly from one tile to the next, creating a seamless broadloom look in linear installations. They also pair perfectly with 50cm and 1m square carpet tiles, and they are ideal for composing imaginative floor designs herringbone patterns, inset area rugs, and directional patterns for way-finding. The mix of textures can also be configured to help in delineating spaces that are intended for private work and those for collaboration. Additionally, the format offers another important advantage over hard surface flooring: Carpet tile has been shown to absorb sound more effectively than many hard surfaces and thus allows for the inclusion of zones with improved acoustics, creating more comfortable, productive work environments.

Each of Human Nature's five skinny plank styles is unique, with a dramatically different feel and texture. HN820 is the simplest tile, providing a neutral ground for its more textured companions. A near twin, HN810 is defined by added volume and dimension. Both feature a multi-tonal, lightly distressed look that echoes distressed wood or worn limestone. A distinctive polished-pebble look and feel dominates HN840, while HN850 is a transition tile that bridges between these three Human Nature siblings, appearing to be the pebbly surface but with a random wearing away. HN810, HN820, HN840 and HN850, which share a unified palette of warm grays, buttery neutrals and browns, are all Interface i2 products, a design platform based in biomimicry that allows for selective replacement thanks to varying patterning and mergeable dye lots. Lastly, with its shaggy texture HN830 injects a grass-like look and pop of color into borders, insets and accents, with a palette of orange, red, yellow, blue and green.

About InterfaceInterface, Inc. is the world's largest manufacturer of commercial carpet tile. For 41 years, the company has consistently led the industry through innovation, and now leads the industry in environmental sustainability. It is setting the pace for development of modular carpet using materials and processes that take less from the environment, and is well along the path to "Mission Zero," a 20-year-old company-wide promise to eliminate any negative impact it has on the environment by the year 2020. Interface's worldwide carpet manufacturing facilities maintain third party registration to the ISO 14001 Environmental Management System standard, and the company obtained the first-ever Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) for the commercial floor covering industry in North America. The company is recognized globally for its commitment to build environmental considerations into its business decisions. For additional information: interface.com and blog.interface.com .

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Inspiring Beautiful Thinking From The Ground Up: Human Nature Is The Latest Global Collection From Interface

A Fort Worth artists work will help teach ex-offenders a skill and a sensibility.

With the help of 10 former jail inmates, Fort Worth artist Pamela Summers is getting ready to install a 240-foot mosaic ribbon for the city of Grand Prairie. It wont be her first time working with those who have been through the criminal justice system, but it will be the biggest public art piece of her career.

Summers, whose mosaics can be seen in Fort Worth parks and along the Trinity Trails, is teaming up with participants in Grand Prairies Weed-N-Seed job-training program. The group of ex-offenders will install the mosaic that Summers designed along a concrete retaining wall on Northeast 15th Street off I-30.

As part of the program, participants receive tile work training and basic art education. The aim is to weed out crime and seed in beneficial practices to help ex-offenders gain job skills. Besides tile skills, the nonviolent offenders will learn about bringing an artistic design to life.

Were not trying to turn them into artists were trying to turn them into someone who can install art, said Tammy Chan, special projects manager in the city managers office.

Chan has managed the Weed-N-Seed program since 2002. She also works with the public streetscaping coordinator and the Keep Grand Prairie Beautiful program. I try to merge all three whenever possible, and this project represents that, she said.

A $50,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and donations from local sponsors are funding the $185,000 project.

The Grand Prairie Sports Facilities Development Corporation is matching the NEA grant. The corporation, which operates Lone Star Park horse track, promotes city projects that reduce unemployment. Local commercial tiling companies Five Star Flooring and ARDEX Americas hosted grant-funded workshops on grout and mortar and how to prepare the wall for the mosaic. Grant money is also paying for online courses from the University of Ceramic Tile and Stone, in which participants will earn certifications to help them find future jobs.

The Weed-N-Seed re-entry program is about to shrink. In the future, it will be open only to Grand Prairie residents and will serve half as many people per year about 60 rather than the current 120, said Andy White, assistant to the city manager.

White said no final decisions have been made. Currently, only 25 to 30 percent of participants find full-time work because many dont have the needed documents, like a state-issued identification card, he said.

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Prairie Mosaic

Jurors at the inquest into Lloyd Butler, 39 from Tile Cross, also criticised West Midlands Police for failing to follow rousing procedures.

A jury has said a Birmingham dad who died in police custody would have survived if he had been in hospital.

Jurors at the inquest into Lloyd Butler, 39 from Tile Cross, also criticised West Midlands Police for failing to follow rousing procedures.

Louise Hunt coroner for Birmingham is now issuing a report to the force and said a 'change of culture' was needed.

She said: "I remain concerned about the conduct in custody suites. I appreciate a custody suite is a very difficult environment to work in but you have very vulnerable people coming in."

Mr Butler, from Tile Cross, was taken to Stechford police station on August 4, 2010 after his mother Janet dialled 999 when she couldnt remove him from her husband Ralphs car.

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Birmingham dad who died in police custody would have survived if in hospital, says jury

NEW GLASGOW New Glasgow Junior High student Aaron Day gets ready to put another small glass tile on in place.

New Glasgow Junior High students Max van Zyl, left, Caroline Mahoney and Aaron Day take a break from working on a mosaic that will adorn the floor of the lobby of New Glasgow Academy. Students from Acadia Street, Temperance at Brown and New Glasgow Junior High came in shifts to assemble the culturally inclusive design. JOHN BRANNEN THE NEWS

Gold tiles go where the grid is gold, red where the grid is red and so on.

Its a lot of hard work and patience, he said as he put some white glue on another tile.

Day, along with fellow students Caroline Mahoney and Max van Zyl, had been working all day Wednesday on a large mosaic that will adorn the floor of the foyer at New Glasgow Academy.

Like the many tiles coming together to form a complete picture, students from Acadia Street, Temperance at Brown and New Glasgow Junior High came in shifts to assemble the mosaic. Soon, they will all be students at the new school.

The circular design, created by education assistant Helen Boucher, was meant to include and reflect the diversity of the students who will be attending New Glasgow Academy.

I think that it does a great job of complimenting all the cultures, said Mahoney.

The mosaic includes drums representing African-Nova Scotians, the eagle representing Mikmaq students, the thistle for those of Scottish descent, the New Glasgow flourish sun with the paw print of the schools mascot, the panther. Also included are the Nova Scotia tartan and the schools colours, emerald green and blue.

Boucher noted the circular design denotes unity and coming together as one.

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Students piece together mosaic for New Glasgow Academy

Casual business attire is redefined in the summer frequently to shocking results. But a company has to be careful how it addresses the employee who comes into work in a midriff and flip-flops.

A male employee having a one-on-one consultation involving inappropriate dress with a female employee can easily spin into what is perceived as a harassing conversation, said David Lewis, president and CEO of OperationsInc, a Norwalk, Conn., human resources outsourcing and consulting company.

That doesnt mean a company should avoid a difficult conversation. In fact, confronting dress code rebels quickly is better than letting the problem grow.

The issue that I see most commonly is an inconsistency in the enforcement of the policy that reaches a crescendo before they pick one sacrificial lamb, Mr. Lewis said.

You have a right as a business to essentially sort of randomly sit down and pass judgment but the employee can ask where they can find the standards, he said, which is why he says companies should codify their dress codes to get ahead of the issue.

He recommends that companies put dress code policies in their employee handbooks and update them frequently.

Right at the point where you get your first 60-degree day is the reminder for an update to the policy or for a reminder and a reissuance of the policy, Mr. Lewis said.

Policies like these should be looked at annually. They could be easily out of date because fashion and styles change and attitudes subsequently change.

New employees and summer interns should get a copy of the policy before their start date or at least on their first Monday and then meet with someone in the human resources department at the end of their first week to go over the handbook.

Companies without a written dress code usually do choose not to write one because they believe that people will be aware of their surroundings and will conform. Mr. Lewis said thats a mistake.

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Workzone: Size up the situation if addressing dress code

#Tile work #Kitchens by Mario
Natural tile enhances bathrooms and kitchens. Just installing a tile back splash can do wonders for your kitchen.

By: Kitchens By Mario

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#Tile work #Kitchens by Mario - Video

Summary: After almost a year since it started taking orders, Tile is finally shipping. It's like having 'Find My iPhone' for your keys.

Tile(@TheTileApp)is a small square Bluetooth LE device that can be attached to keys (or just about anything) and be located via Bluetooth when you're close enough, and via a crowdsourced community of users and people that install the app. The use case is attaching the square device to your keyring and using the free iOS app to locate Tile when you misplace your keys.

For background, I recommend that you read my original Tile article (from a year ago)and my follow-up interview(from May 15, 2014)with Tile Co-founder Mike Farley.

I backed Tile on June 21, 2013, received my address confirmation email on May 22, 2014and my Tiles shipped on June 2, 2014. (I alsoreceiveda Tile press unit on May31, 2014.) So it took just under a year to get my Tiles, which is a long time by any standard, but not completely unheard of for a startup.

Tile has shipped over 20,000 units to early backers, but, when will you get yours?Tile has published the followingshipping schedule:

So, how well does Tile work? In about a week of testing my units, I'm comfortable saying that Tile works as advertised. It's pretty simple, really: you activate a Tile by pressing and holding the "e" then pair it to your iPhone via the Tile app (free, App Store), then attach the Tile to your keychain, MacBook or kid and forget about it.

When you inevitablymisplace your keys or MacBook (but hopefully not your kid!) just launch the Tile app and use it to find the missing Tile. Since it's based on Bluetooth 4.0 (a.k.a. Bluetooth LE) you'll need to be within 50-150 feet of the Tile. If you're not within range, the Tile app will display where it was last seen on a map. The app uses a proximity indicator to show when you're getting closer to the Tile. Pressing the "Find" button in app makes your Tile play a little tune that helps to locate it. Some have complained about the volume level of the Find sound, but it hasn't been a problem for me.

You can watch a video demo of the Tile iOS apphere.

Where Tile gets interesting is in its community tracking features. Like other Bluetooth trackers on the market Tile uses a crowdsourced model to help find your Tiles when you're not within range.Each phone running the Tile app is capable of picking up the location of any Tile, regardless of its owner. Tile allows other community members to anonymously and unknowingly report the location of a lost item. For example, if you lose your bike and another Tile user happens to be in the area of the Tile on your bike, that user will anonymously and securely update its location.

My wife and I recently took an overnight trip to Philadelphia to celebrate our wedding anniversary. To test my eight Tiles, I attached two to our keys, two to our bags, two to a pair of MacBooks, and I gave two to our kids. Via the app I'm able to easily track all eight Tiles and see their location at any given time. When I want to know a Tile's exact location I simply touch an icon to see it on a map, and I can use the Find button if it's lost.

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Review: Tile Bluetooth tag (verdict: Great)

OLEAN Almost immediately after graduating from Olean High School in the early 1970s, Kurt Ireland found a decent job working at the former Olean Tile.

I was a laborer there running the different machines, he told the Times Herald. I worked all the shifts they offered there, and it was hard work.

The line work even with its steady pay and regular hours just wasnt enough for him.

I knew that I wanted to have a profession in something and not just a job, he said.

Thats what he ended up finding in law enforcement.

On Friday, Capt. Ireland will retire from the Olean Police Department after 36 years on the force. Hes the departments senior-most officer.

Growing up, Capt. Ireland never had any intentions of becoming a cop. But that changed after a conversation with former Olean Police Officer Joe Connelly during his fifth year at Olean Tile.

He suggested to me that I take the police test and helped me prepare, Capt. Ireland said. So I took it and scored well.

Capt. Ireland was hired along with four other officers in 1977 by former Olean Police Chief Michael Luty. His first day as a cop was Nov. 14 of that year.

He quickly learned police work is complex.

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Olean police Capt. Ireland to retire

CROSSVILLE The Crossville Chronicle brought home a number of awards from the Tennessee Press Association (TPA) Ideas Contest, including sweeps of best self-promotion of a newspaper and best Internet banner or tile ad categories.

Pauline Sherrer, publisher, said, "I am so proud of our entire newspaper staff, from the advertising and composition staff, to the editorial staff, circulation, classified advertising and bookkeeping departments, mail room/inserters and press room, for their hard work and dedication to promoting our local businesses in a first-class newspaper. We are thankful for the support of our local business and retail community for allowing us to serve the Upper Cumberland region both in the newspaper and online."

The TPA contest included more than 820 entries from 30 newspapers and were judged by the Arkansas Press Association.

The Crossville Chronicle took first, second and third place in the best self-promotion of a newspaper in the non-daily newspaper with 5,000 and greater paid circulation for the Spot on Advertising campaign and Readers' Choice publication. Other awards include:

Second place for best sales promotion for a retailer for McCulley Siding and Windows;

First place, best black and white ad, Brownstone Day Spa;

Second place, best feature page or pages, Breast Cancer Awareness;

Third place, best feature page or pages, Spring Cleaning Time;

First place best 1/4-page or smaller ad, Villa Del Funk;

Second place best furniture and/or appliance ad, Mayberry's Home Furnishings;

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Chronicle brings home TPA Ideas awards

These days, tiles come in all different shapes, sizes and styles, so it's easy to find a look you both like and can afford.

Ceramic and porcelain tiles are really popular because they are within most budgets and are easy to lay and care for. Glass tiles are also low-maintenance and look fantastic, but they're usually expensive. Stone tiles, such as slate, marble and limestone, can be costly too, as well as higher maintenance, and they can vary a lot in thickness, colour and texture.

Mosaic tiles are available in lots of different materials and are perfect for creating a feature wall or splashback, but they're rarely cheap. They come in sheets on a mesh (or paper) and the mesh is supposed to keep the individual tiles evenly spaced - but it doesn't, in my experience, work very well. The number of grout lines means mosaics can also be hard to keep looking good too (depending on where they are and the colour of the grout).

If you're buying tiles online and you haven't seen them in person, make sure you get a sample first because you could end up being disappointed. Of course, you may prefer to buy tiles in store, where you can see what you're getting. Another advantage of buying in store is that you can ensure all the tiles come from the same batch (as long as there's a batch number on the boxes), so they're exactly the same colour and finish.

To work out the number of tiles required, multiply the length by the height of each wall (or part wall) to be tiled (minus the area of any doors, windows, etc) and add them together to get the total area - then remember to allow around 10% more for breakages and wastage. Lots of tiles are sold per square metre and even if they're not, it should say what the price is per square metre - this is the easiest way to work out the cost.

Don't forget to factor in the cost of the tile adhesive and grout, tools, spacers and other accessories. Cutting the tiles can be tricky, but using an electric tile cutter with a water-cooled diamond blade makes it much easier.

The adhesive and grout must be suitable for where you're tiling (not all can be used in showers, for example) and the sort of tiles you're using. I find ready-mixed adhesives and grouts easiest to use, as it can be hard to get it right when mixing up powdered products. Combined adhesives and grouts are particularly useful, especially if the adhesive oozes through the gaps between the tiles - it's much easier to use the same product to grout than to clean out the gaps.

Like all DIY, tiling takes some time and patience to get right, but it will save you a lot of money if you can persevere.

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A very versa-tile look