“Ceilings will no longer have that banal or plain-vanilla look with Euroceil in place; the stretch ceilings with multiple designs and shades with backlit feature are being increasingly sought to improve the ambient quality thereby ushering in a silent revolution in the ceiling domain. Floors and walls have invariably cornered all the focus and attention of architects and interior designers – to make them look beautiful and appealing; and this despite the obstructions in their free viewing due to furniture, light fittings, switches, gadgets, decorative exhibits, etc., while the ceilings that provide a vast expanse of uninterrupted view, a blank canvass with immense design possibilities, relegated to the backseat. Well, all these conventional approaches are going thro’ a sea change with the introduction of Euroceil stretch ceiling concept”, says an exuberant Mr. Umesh Badri, Marketing Executive, and son of Mr. N. Badri Narayanan, Managing Director Sinex Systems Private Ltd., Chennai (Sinex), India’s largest manufacturer of displays and signage, Euroceil being its brand, when we met him for a tête-à-tête at their Chennai office – read on for the interactions.
Euroceil stretch ceiling was launched during 2010 with the technology from Europe. Sinex thro’ a separate division marketed a European stretch ceiling brand since 2006; and with the experience gained thro’ sales and installation for varied applications, launched its own brand Euroceil, after four years. Euroceil is the only brand of stretch ceiling having its own fully integrated manufacturing facility with dedicated sales and installation teams to service pan India, points out Mr. Badri. “We have our own teams to undertake the challenging assignments, be it in corporate, retail, hospitality, residential or automotive sectors. We work closely with architects and interior designers to position the Euroceil concept solutions and the results in our endeavours have been encouraging. From executing 100,000 sq.ft. of Euroceil in the first three years of operation, we expect to clock 100,000 sq.ft. and more in one year, by the fiscal year ending 2015. The growth has been accelerated by expanding our business reach, with offices currently in Chennai, Delhi and Bangalore; franchisees in cities like Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Qatar, UAE in the Gulf region”, indicates Mr. Badri.
Stretch ceiling solution
What is the speciality of stretch ceiling and its advantages/USPs over other solutions like plaster of paris (POP), a quick-setting gypsum plaster) and other popular false ceilings? Mr. Badri explains: “Euroceil is basically a special PVC membrane or film that is stretched and fixed on preformed aluminium profile sections to maintain the desired shape. The aluminium profile sections are anchored to the wooden supports and for stretching the PVC membrane, hot air blowers are used; and to fix it on the profile sections, special tools are utilised. As the membrane can be stretched to any shape, viz., pyramid, triangle, curvilinear wave, pillar, doughnut, etc., as per profile form, the design possibilities are increased multifold. The USPs are the ceiling can be backlit thro’ tubelight, LEDs and LED modules – this means lighting fixtures can be eliminated; film can be plain lacquer to reflect light or mat finish; and also printed in varied standard or exquisite tailor-made designs providing the flexibility and a new dimension to indulge in creative designs. The other benefits include faster installation time, no need for finishing touches, ease in transportation, maintenance and also the option to easily change over to new designs with minimal changes at a future date”.
The tech specs of the film include thickness ranging from 0.15 to 0.20 mm, weight about 200 gms/sq.mtr., breaking strength 185 kg/sq.cm, elongation lengthwise 210% without memory loss and dimensional stability between -5 to +55 deg. C; the salient resistive properties are anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti static; and the membrane is flame retardant and non-flammable. Installation time for a typical 1,000 sq.ft. area with back light would take about four to five days and life span for indoors is more than 15 years, remarks Mr. Badri.
Application segments
Euroceil applications started essentially from the corporate sector – for their reception, common area, conference and director rooms. With several advantages like the printed, thematic and shaped ceilings and the possibility of varying the back light intensity from dim to bright mode, the concept has caught on in hospitality, retail and automotive sectors, says Mr. Badri. “We have recently completed the display area for the second Audi showroom, following the one at Delhi finished about two months back. We have also executed a similar assignment for Mercedes Benz showroom in Bangalore; curvilinear shaped custom layout for TVS, Hyundai, Maruti at their Auto Expo stalls in 2010 and 2014; ‘pillar type’ for hospitality domain and a ‘spatial type conference room’ complete with windows and doors for Saint Gobain, Mumbai office. The boundaries and application segments are expanding at a rapid pace than we have ever imagined”, opines Mr. Badri.
How does Euroceil position its products and designs to the varied customer segments? Mr. Badri elaborates: “Our main customers are the architects, interior designers and the project promoters/developers. We work closely with them to provide the Euroceil possibilities and the basic designs are invariably given by them as they are the contact points for most of the customers. We also have an in-house design team that can provide the themes and layouts for corporate customers who directly approach us. In such cases we make our presentation to the company’s corporate/ marketing team, understand their branding strategy and accordingly provide the solutions. The conceptual and innovative design process has been done by us for some of the leading auto companies and the results have been appreciated”.
Road ahead
What about the competition from varied stretch film brands and other types ceiling solution providers?; and how does Euroceil compete to increase its market share? “There are dealers for stretch films representing various overseas companies and meeting the customer requirements but as indicated earlier, our comprehensive in-house facilities gives us the price advantage in raw material procurement, faster execution and response times to customer demands including changes if any in design/layout at the site conditions. Also the superior technical features/advantages vis-à-vis the competition from other solution providers gives us the winning edge despite the higher price. Euroceil is a niche product and we do not want to compete for plain flat ceiling, though it can still be done; to be honest, I have not come across any solution that comes close to the stretch ceiling solution as of now”, responds Mr. Badri.
He states: “Having started of with ceilings and walls, we have now realised Euroceil is much more than that and in the developed countries, stretch ceilings used almost in every conceivable area and application; and often intertwined with other types of false ceilings and interior solutions, in a complementing pattern. Such a trend is bound to percolate here and we are getting geared up for the anticipated paradigm shift in the domain”. For the industrial and automotive sectors, our appeal would be “Analyse as to what your brand stands for and how best you can communicate it to the customers in your showroom – all the rest we can take care of from conceptualisation to installation. We shall be your partner in the interactive and iterative design evolvement; and if you can think of communicating effectively thro’ the ambient quality in the retail environment, the same can definitely result in improving the sales figures. The methodology has been successfully followed in the past thro’ solutions like posters and spot lights and with Euroceil in its arsenal the company is only taking the approach to the next level”. One cannot but totally agree with the above stated and the stretch film solution is bound to make a significant impact like never before – by elevating the customer experience to a totally new plane thro’ an alluring ambience.