Jason Vivash’s Wood Floor of the Year began with the idea of displaying a live edge medallion for the centerpiece of his showroom’s floor. He had just opened a new section of his building and had a wide-open pallet to work with.
The result was a flower-shaped design featuring wood that he had been keeping to himself for a special occasion.
“I was holding onto this special 1” curly walnut live edge that I had found at my exotic wood supplier. I didn’t know what I would do with it, but I knew I had to have it,” explains Vivash. “I had five. To get enough yield to complete, I ripped the walnut in half on the band saw and laminated it to birch plywood.”
Vivash took the ripped pieces and flipped them over so he had a book-matched pattern, almost like a flower petal, keeping the beautiful live edge.
“I couldn’t decide if it was a star or a flower, but I went with the idea that it was a flower. So, I now had eight petal points in the design, and the floor grew from there. I inlaid leopard wood in the center for contrast, which is one of my favorite woods,” says Vivash. “Then I carefully fein-tooled this design along the bark outer edge into the installed wood floor.”
Vivash then paused for several weeks, trying to determine what he would do for the center portion of the design.
“I sat with the floor for weeks, trying to figure out how I was going to finish it. I wanted to animate a subtle petal design, so I CAD designed the holly petals with little wenge features to give the appearance of curves, cut on my CNC bed, then inlayed them into the design using the Shaper Origin,” says Vivash. “For the center, I cut and book-matched a large walnut burl. This was another piece that I had purchased at my supplier, not knowing what I would do with it. It was so large I had to take my band saw apart so that I could slice it in half properly to book match it.”
Detail of Finish Process: “I’m someone who loves to use a lot of different finishes. For this floor, the inlay and border were finished with a neutral oil, and the other areas were finished with a custom creamy/neutral mix, which gives an almost invisible finish that doesn’t yellow up with the whites and the browns,” says Vivash.
Featured Category: Best in Circular/Curved Application
Category Details: Entries in this category include any hand-cut circular shape within a flooring system, such as circles, ovals, curves, or bent material.
Installation Type: Nail Down
Flooring Type: Engineers, Reclaimed, Plank, End Grain, Other
Flooring Finish: Vesting LED, Osmo, Ciranova
Flooring Sheen: Matte
Species: Curly Walnut, Walnut Burl, Leopard Wood, Holly, Wenge, White Oak, Figured Maple
Square Feet: 500
