When Somerset House Studios based artist and researcher Phoebe Davies needed a design-orientated flooring that would also help highlight the sport aspects of her first solo show ‘Points of Rupture’ she turned to leading, International sport and vinyl flooring specialist, Gerflor.
Commissioned by Site Gallery in Sheffield, ‘Points of Rupture’ uses video, sound and installation to explore themes of tactility, training and recovery of athletes engaged in contact sports. The concept arose from Davies’ own on-going recovery from a basketball injury in parallel with her research work into contact-based sport with a group of teenage, female wrestlers in Norway.
A fitting flooring was needed to cover the 18m x 12m gallery floor space in a design which was inspired by Davies’ personal physio recovery drill.
Davies therefore approached Gerflor who are renowned for their sports floorings, which help to protect athletes from injury, and vinyl flooring design collections. Consequently, Gerflor’s design-led flooring, Taralay, was used in the execution of the design, which references court structures, agility and plyometric drills, alongside return-to-play training.
The design also includes line court markings developed and mapped with the Physiotherapy Department at Lewisham University Hospital and sports medicine specialist, Dr Alex Bowmer.
“I looked at Gerflor’s products as I needed a wide selection of suitable material to select from and I wanted to use a provider that specialised in design led flooring but also is world renowned in the world of indoor sports. The colour palette was key, as colour was integral to my design and its references to a variety of sport court themes including basketball, wrestling and multi-use gyms. In selecting Taralay Uni in colours including Turquoise, Sun and Ottawa Poplar wood effect, the shades were also of great significance as we use light effects in our sound module,” said Davies.
The product supplied Taralay Uni, is 2mm thick heterogeneous, durable, vinyl flooring and one of Gerflor’s outstanding Taralay ranges in a vast choice of designs, colours and textures. The Tara

lay product collection offers unique features and differing construction benefits like easy-maintenance, patented surface treatments, high indentation resistance and acoustic and slip resistant properties to suit multiple contract applications.
However, when it comes to indoor sport surfaces, Gerflor is synonymous with its Taraflex® Brand, which is a renowned sport flooring solution underpinned by innovation and approved by many National and International governing bodies of sport. Gerflor invented the synthetic sports floor in 1947 which has been used at the Olympic Games since 1976.

Taraflex® is also fully compliant with EN14904 and there is a Taraflex playing surface suitable for all levels of sport. By providing the right amount of shock absorbency with impact resistance, together with the perfect balance of co-efficient of friction movement, it can help prevent both short and long-term impact injury.
“It was a pleasure to support Phoebe Davies’ show ‘Points of Rupture’ at Site Gallery. It was a welcome opportunity for us, as safety flooring experts, to showcase how important it is for people to feel safe when playing sport. People can engage more safely and confidently in sport if the playing surface offers appropriate levels of protection from impact injuries and falls,” said David Carter, Sports Specialist, Gerflor.
For more information about Gerflor solutions, order a free sample or to speak to a specialist call 01926 622600 / email: contractuk@gerflor.com or visit www.gerflor.co.uk