Vitalize the beauty of wood

Zukunftsinstitut, the German futurist think tank, reported that interest in high-quality home furnishings and decorations is higher than ever. They call this trend ‘Corona-hygge’ and explain: “The more uncontrollable life outside your own four walls becomes, the more important the personal place of retreat becomes.”

Thus, natural materials like wooden surfaces are experiencing a revival. On top of wood’s organic nature, there is its outstanding beauty: starkly contrasting light and dark colours enhanced by a deep, clearly visible grain. This aesthetic does not occur entirely by accident. The right wood coating can accentuate the detail of the wood, making it look even more beautiful than its original form. But of course, it has to do this on top of protecting wood from scratches, chemical abrasion and degradation. And sustainability features such as low VOC content would also be very nice. A lot of roles for a single treatment.

What a difference a dispersion makes

This is where BASF has risen to the challenge with Joncryl^® 953X portfolio: a series of five straight acrylic dispersions designed for water-based 1K systems. “The interest in a water-based coating for wood warming and improved grain enhancement was great from the beginning,” said Birgit Wirth, Technical Manager Resins for Furniture & Flooring at BASF. “But for many of our customers, the most important question was whether we could achieve the ‘solvent look’ with a water-based system.” Additionally, important coating properties such as scratch resistance, chemical resistance and block resistance are needed to protect the natural beauty of the wood. So, the BASF team set out to find a solution. The resulting portfolio offers the right choice for almost every aspect of grain enhancement combined with great performance and allows customers to meet low VOC levels and satisfy environmentally conscious consumers.

The Phoenix rises

The new Joncryl^® 953X portfolio is highly versatile – that is why the series is represented by the Phoenix icon. When treated with a formulation based on the Joncryl^® 953X portfolio, wooden surfaces get “vitalized” and become more beautiful and more resistant than ever before – like a Phoenix rising from the ashes. This variety is also reflected by a flexible product portfolio, including five tailor-made dispersions that exactly meet individual customer needs.