New 'magnetic' glass wall covering

Vitrulan's revolutionary new 'magnetic' wall covering is set to reduce maintenance cycles in public, commercial and domestic buildings across the UK.

Magnet is the latest innovation from Vitrulan, a German company which manufactures fabric wall coverings that are made entirely from glass.

Vitrulan's glass deco fabrics, which are hung in a similar way to traditional wallpaper, have only recently become available in the UK despite being used widely across Europe for more than 20 years.

Unlike wallpaper, the glass wall coverings provide a huge number of benefits in terms of hygiene, cleaning, durability, wall reinforcement and fire safety, as well as being chemical-free and environmentally friendly.

Magnet shares all of these benefits, but with the added benefit that any commercial magnet can be stuck straight onto the wall.

To achieve this, Vitrulan has combined a layer of its textured woven-glass fabric with a compressed glass lining fleece and infused a unique metallic coating between the two.

The development means that entire wall interiors, from floor to ceiling, could be used for displays, presentations or creative workstations - without the need for drawing pins, sticky tape, adhesive putty or expensive notice boards.

Anyone, from architects to teachers, can now replace or rearrange their large format drawings or classroom displays as often as they like in the knowledge that the walls will remain clean and unmarked - thus dramatically reducing the need for ongoing maintenance and redecoration.

Chris Sheppard, UK sales manager for Vitrulan, said: "Magnet would benefit almost any building you could imagine - be it commercial, public or residential.

It not only allows the flexibility of potentially bigger display areas, it also means that displays can be changed as often as you like without the walls becoming damaged or in need of redecoration.

This will have a major knock-on effect in terms of a building's whole-life cost.

"Magnet even presents a challenge to the humble kitchen fridge, which has for years been the 'notice board' of choice for families across the UK.

In fact, traditional notice boards could become a thing of the past in almost every walk of life".

Like Vitrulan's other glass deco fabrics, Magnet comes in rolls similar to traditional wallpaper.

It is installed by first applying adhesive to the wall, rather than requiring a pasting table, and it can be coated in an almost unlimited number of paint colours and finishes.

Magnet can be hung alongside Vitrulan's standard glass deco fabric on the same wall elevation if only a limited magnetic area is required for display purposes.

Vitrulan's glass deco fabrics are ideal in areas which require a high level of cleanliness or experience a high level of human traffic, such as schools, hospitals and hotels.

But almost any commercial office would benefit from the enormous maintenance cost savings it provides.

The glass fabric not only hides cracks in the wall substrate but actually reinforces the wall due to the stability of the glass, which does not shrink or expand when exposed to varying temperature and humidity.

It is extremely impact resistant for the same reason.

It is fire-proof, entirely safe for human health (complete with Oeko-Tex certification), and can be washed and scrubbed for years on end without leading to any surface damage whatsoever.

Also, combined with the fact that, once coated, the seams between adjacent lengths of the glass fabric are completely sealed, they are probably one of the most hygienic wall coverings available in the world.

This is partly borne out by the fact that 95% of hospitals in Germany use glass deco fabrics - even in highly sensitive areas like operating theatres.

Mr Sheppard added: "The concept of woven glass wall coverings in general is still pretty new to the UK, but people are now starting to see beyond the novelty value.".

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