-- Award Bestowed on Wilsonart's Evolv Collection by Prestigious Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design --

TEMPLE, Texas, March 13, 2003 - Wilsonart International proudly announces that its evolv Collection of laminate has won a GOOD DESIGN™ Award for 2002. The GOOD DESIGN Awards are one of the world's oldest and most prestigious design competitions and are hosted by the Chicago Athenaeum, the distinguished cultural institution and the only museum of architecture and design in the United States. Award winners will be displayed at the Chicago Athenaeum in the GOOD DESIGN Show, the annual exhibition of the Awards, beginning in June or July.

“We are very pleased that the evolv Collection has been recognized with this honor,” says Ron Gagnon, Wilsonart's director of design and marketing. “When we conceptualized this collection, we strove to bring together organic references with an industrial edge to convey color, texture and dimension in a series of complex yet understated patterns that are reminiscent of nature without attempting to imitate it. We've dubbed this new hybrid grouping 'man-made natural.' ”

Evolv's small-scale design appears to be a simple neutral background from a distance, but upon closer inspection, a compressed, material-like pattern that resembles paper fibers, glass filaments and metallic flecks is apparent. There are 12 colors in the evolv Collection that are grouped into four thematic families. They are as follows:

evolv light. Oxygen EV, Titanium EV and Silicon EV comprise the color basics with refined neutrals and tinted whites that carry subtle splashes of warm and cool accent colors.

• evolv glow. Radium EV, Nickel EV and Tungsten EV combine subdued, greyed-off tones in green, gold, brown and bronze, providing a backdrop for designs that use bolder accent colors. The influence of low-luster metallics that is seen through evolv makes a strong appearance here.

• evolv accent. Copper EV, Lithium EV, and Carbon EV are warm, lively urban metallics, influenced by stronger tones: red, orange and black. Brighter metallics appear here: copper, bronze and iron ore.

• evolv bright. Krypton EV, Cesium EV and Gold EV are the visionary colors of the risk-taking 21st century. Green, blue, purple and yellow figure strongly in reflective, translucent layers of color.

GOOD DESIGN bestows international recognition upon designers and manufacturers for advancing new and innovative product concepts and originality and for pushing the envelope beyond what is considered standard product and consumer design. The jury granted GOOD DESIGN Awards to more than 180 industrial design projects and 14 graphic designs from hundreds of applicants from 40 countries.

The concept of the awards was conceived in 1950 by Edgar J. Kaufman, Jr., with the participation of some of America's most important designers: Earo Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, George Nelson, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Finn Juhl and Russel Wright - pioneers of 20th century American and modern design.

Among the international manufacturers also honored were Polaroid Corporation, Gillette Oral-B, IBM, Nike, Brookstone, Inc., and Whirlpool Corporation.

Wilsonart International, based in Temple, Texas, is a leading manufacturer of decorative surfacing products, including Wilsonart® Laminate, Wilsonart Gibraltar, Wilsonart® Decorative Metals, Wilsonart® Custom Edges and Wilsonart® Flooring.

For more information about the newest additions to Wilsonart Laminate or any other Wilsonart products, please call the Customer Service Hotline at 800-433-3222, or visit the Wilsonart Web site at www.wilsonart.com.

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LHA022803

	This collection of 12 small-scale patterns features “manmade-natural” looks with an industrial edge that conveys both color and texture.