Where Innovation Happens: Finding Opportunity in Existing Systems

We talk a lot about innovation at Flora Materials. Usually, that conversation centers around materials and science – what we’re testing and refining in the lab.

But lately some of our most exciting progress has actually been happening in the field. On a recent trip to Michigan, we reached a major milestone. Our residential flooring product is ready to move forward.

After years of development, testing and iteration, we have a bio-based flooring tile we believe has the potential to change the market. On this trip, we finalized a coating system from Sherwin Williams that delivers the durability, UV stability and matte finish we’ve been working toward. It’s a critical step not just for performance, but for bringing the product into real homes.

The second major breakthrough came alongside our finishing partner, Focus Finishing. As we’ve shared before, we’ve already made significant progress working with Michigan-based ESCO on chemistry and equipment design, and with PURforms to translate hand-poured samples into scalable processes. Foam Surface is helping us with precision fabrication and water-jet cutting expertise, transforming large poured sheets into finished, installation-ready tiles.

On this visit, working within Michigan’s manufacturing ecosystem once again led to a breakthrough.

The potential for a roll-on coating system became real when the team at Focus Finishing showed us a piece of equipment that had been sitting idle for nearly two decades: a roll coater left behind as the business shifted toward spray-applied systems.

This was a wheel that didn’t need reinventing. We’re getting the finished product quality and consistency we need from equipment that was never obsolete — just unused. And we get to work with a domestic partner we believe in.

Tom, owner of Focus Finishing, and his son dusted off and revitalized this old roll coater for our R&D. The machine was last used to make puzzle photos for Disneyland 20 years ago.

That moment reframed something for us. Innovation isn’t always about building something new. Sometimes it’s about rediscovering what already exists and applying it in a new way.

When you manufacture close to where you design, you don’t just reduce emissions or support local economies, though those things matter. You gain access to knowledge that doesn’t live in documents or spreadsheets. It lives in people. In shops. In still-useful equipment ready for a new purpose.

Randy from the Sherwin Williams R&D team working to refine the coating process.

And when you’re in the room, those possibilities open up. That’s what happened in Michigan. And it’s happening elsewhere, too – from the partners we’re working with here in Colorado to the broader manufacturing ecosystem that’s ready for a new kind of material innovation.

At Flora, we’re not trying to reinvent everything from scratch. We’re taking lessons from nature, we’re building on what works, collaborating with the people who know how to make things, and pushing the system forward together.

Ultimately the future of materials isn’t just about what we make. It’s about how, and where, we choose to make it.

Collaboration in action, with chemists, designers and manufacturers all working together to develop bio-based materials that balance performance, durability and sustainability.