Crucial Trading at Ledbury Carpets and Interiors

Supplying Crucial Trading carpets and flooring to Ledbury, Hereford, Malvern and beyond

Crucial Trading manufacture stunning Natural Flooring. Based in the UK, Ledbury Carpets and Interiors are proud to stock this design and trend wise company’s products.

Natural floorcoverings by Crucial Trading are made from plant fibres such as wool, coir, jute, sisal, seagrass, paper and bamboo provide the perfect base for creating the most beautiful and inviting rooms. Each of these natural and sustainable materials has its own unique properties, which this guide sets out to explain.

Jute flooring from Crucial Trading

Jute is a bast fibre which comes from the inner bark of plants of the genus Cochorous. The plant is a herbaceous annual which flourishes in hot damp regions of Asia. The main producing countries are Bangladesh and India. The plant grows to a height of over 3m with a stalk diameter of 3cm.

After harvesting, usually by cutting with a hand sickle, the stalks are retted by being steeped in a sluggish moving stream of water until the fibre can easily be removed from the stalk. In recent years a considerable amount of research has been carried out on mechanical techniques in retting tanks.

The removed strands of fibre, up to 2m long, are washed and dried in the sun and then baled and sent to the spinning mills where they are spun into yarns for use in a variety of products including floorcoverings. Jute has a silky lustre and varies in colour in a wide range of natural shades.

Sisal flooring from Crucial Trading

Sisal is a leaf fibre obtained from the plant Agave Sisalana of which there are many varieties. The plant is grown in a number of countries including East Africa, Brazil and China.

The fibres are removed from the leaf by a process of decortication after which they are washed, dried and graded before being spun into a yarn suitable for use in a variety of end-uses, including floorcoverings

Coir flooring from Crucial Trading

Coir (Cocos nucifera) fibre is obtained from the husk of the nut which is the fruit of the coconut plant. The fibre is removed from the husk either by hand or mechanical processes.

In the former, the coconut husks are softened in water and then pounded with stones to remove the woody portions, after which the fibres are hackled with a steel comb and dried.

In the mechanical system, the husks are quartered and placed in large water tanks to soften the husks. They are then passed through a breaker which crushes them before passing them into the next machine, the drum, where the woody part is torn out by a series of spikes leaving the long coarse fibres.

The fibres are then washed, cleaned and dried and hackled before being spun into a yarn suitable for use in a variety of products including floorcoverings.

Paper flooring from Crucial Trading

Paper yarns were first produced from finished paper claimed Emil Claviez, who in 1885-97 took out patents for producing yarn from paper strips and for a spindle for twisting them.

The development of paper yarns has continued and as far back as World War II paper yarns have been used for a variety of textile uses including carpets. Practically all paper yarns are made from kraft (meaning strong) paper.

Weight-for-weight bamboo is stronger than steel and is one of the toughest and fastest growing plants on the planet. Technically, bamboo is a grass, but some varieties, such as the Giant Timber Bamboo, can grow as high as 30m.

With thousands of uses around the world, including food, paper, construction material and medicines, bamboo truly is an amazing plant. In fact, ancient Chinese people used to say that a life spent mastering bamboo is a good life!

Wool Carpet from Crucial Trading

Wool, a fibre from animal origins, has been used for making carpets as far back as 3000BC.

The many advantages of wool for use in floorcoverings are the direct result of its naturalness. Wool is soft, warm and luxurious with properties imparting fine appearance, comfort and durability.

One of the most important requirements of a floorcovering is appearance retention. Wool is a superb choice for the face fibre with its easy care, natural resiliency, soil resistance, ease of maintenance and flame retardancy. This combined with its inherent anti-static properties makes wool a perfect choice for a luxury floorcovering

Seagrass flooring from Crucial trading

As its name implies seagrass is a grass which is grown in China and Vietnam in paddy-like fields. During the growing cycle the paddy fields are flooded with sea water.

After harvesting, seagrass is dried and converted into a yarn which is suitable for weaving into a variety of designs. The product is then backed with a latex compound to produce a hard-wearing natural floorcovering.