The world may know us as the brand that brought recycled leather into the architecture of resilient flooring, but our story has never been about novelty alone. It has always been about the proof that surfaces can perform without compromise, and that sustainable flooring can be engineered entirely without plastic.
This year, we delivered yet more proof that design does not have to cost the Earth.
At the 2025 SBID International Design Awards, Karta was awarded the status of Global Winner in the Product Design category for Flooring and Floor Coverings, beating out long-established brands such as Amtico and Floorify.
A Global Win for Material Possibility
The flooring industry is undergoing seismic change. For too long, the default has been inexpensive, petrochemical-derived flooring, laid at mass scale, offering convenience today but environmental harm for generations.
We were founded to challenge that default. Our mission is to pull circular materials back from waste streams and engineer floors that are as durable as they are responsible.
Karta being named Global Winner at the SBID International Design Awards 2025 is a turning point in our industry, and in our story.
Kilos of waste leather re-engineered for decades of use
At the heart of our Recycled Leather Series sits the material everyone else overlooks: leather offcuts from footwear and textiles manufacturing, routinely sent to landfill in the UK by the tonne.
Every Karta plank starts here. These fibres are re-engineered into a dense, exceptionally stable layer inside each board, delivering strength, natural insulation, and tactile warmth you can feel.
At the core is a PEFC-certified wood fibre layer, made from timber offcuts that would otherwise be wasted. Then comes our cork backing, sustainably harvested without felling a single tree – eliminating the need for additional underlay, reducing materials, time, and carbon impact on site.
Patented realism from 30+ years of reclaimed wood archives
Captured in ultra-HD using our patented virtual texture printing process, each design begins as a real floor, sometimes rare, sometimes reclaimed, sometimes pulled from places of profound historical weight, such as planks reclaimed from Winston Churchill’s War Office and Horwich Locomotive Works. This is where our story comes from, building on the heritage and legacy of the Ted Todd and Woodworks archives.
Our patented print technology respects that character. No recolours, only original floors, and no repeats across 20 uniquely-sourced boards. Every design preserves true tonal variation, knots, sap lines, and medullary rays of the original it was inspired by – everything that makes real wood feel alive rather than uniform.
Future-proofed without fossil fuels
Every one of our floors are sealed with Karta Plated®, our plastic-free natural resin finish delivering certified AC5 durability for high-traffic commercial and residential environments alike.
Whether installed in restaurants, hotels, workplaces, retail spaces, or modern homes, your project receives the same performance you expect from plastic-based flooring, but delivered without a single polymer in sight.
Performance sans plastic
Sustainability must extend beyond materials to be meaningful. Our manufacturing is designed to be energy self-sufficient, using locally-sourced raw inputs, lower-emission logistics, and measurable carbon reduction at every stage of the supply chain. Responsible surfaces cannot rely on irresponsible systems to exist.
The SBID Global Winner accolade validated this work. Not one component, not one claim – the whole system.
It recognises a new era for flooring: one where design, performance, and sustainability co-exist, built from circular material streams rather than linear waste economies.
Because beauty should never ask the planet to pay.
Discover the difference firsthand
Seeing is one thing. Feeling is proof.
If you’re working on a commercial or residential project, order our sample box or speak to our specification team. Explore our Recycled Leather collection up close. Understand our construction layer by layer. Experience the difference a plastic-free floor brings to a space.
Begin your sustainable flooring journey with us today.
To book your consultation or send an enquiry, fill out our Contact form here, call us on 0808 501 7321, or email info@kartafloors.com
