Worldwide-leading partition walls manufacturer, the Netherlands-based Maars Living Walls, rounds out 2016 marking the company’s 70th anniversary. It’s been a milestone year that has included business growth in North America, Europe and Asia; celebrations in the Netherlands and the United States; Best of NeoCon honors earlier this year in Chicago; and the launch of the new design software Maars 4D across the globe.
“Our successes in the United States and worldwide have gone beyond expectations,” Maars CEO Menno de Vries said. “For the USA, we’re on track for 2016 to exceed targets 2.5 times larger than last year and set to double sales growth in the coming year.”
Founded in 1946 by Loet Maars Sr., Maars Living Walls today provides standard and custom wall solutions for offices, airports, factories, cinemas, shops, hotels, hospitals, public institutions, universities and schools. The company has become the worldwide-leading partition walls manufacturer, now active in 45 countries.
Although Maars is market leader and well-established in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and other parts of the world, its foray into North America happened a few years ago with the opening of a U.S. company office in Cranford, New Jersey.
Since then, Maars has expanded across the United States with an extensive dealer network in all quadrants of the country (Maars dealers can be found at https://maarslivingwalls.com/find-your-dealer).
Customers include architects, designers, specifiers, facilities managers, general contractors and end users.
The company hired Robert Craven in April to serve as managing director for Maars US Inc.
“Maars’ sales model here in the States is to partner with our dealers and to display our products in their showrooms. We want people to see, touch and feel our products in order to appreciate their design and performance,” Craven said.
Maars’ standard delivery times are competitive with U.S.-based suppliers.
Craven has plans to expand into four new key cities in 2017: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Craven and his predecessor helped Maars land several new key accounts and installations in the United States, including with Patricia Industries in New York, Dow Jones in Los Angeles and Land O’ Lakes in Minneapolis.
“We’re just at the beginning of what architectural walls can look like in the U.S.,” Craven said.
Award-winning product lines
Maars offers six distinct product lines – lalinea, lineaCube, String², Panorama, Horizon and Metaline.
Enhancing the lineup is Living Options, which features such unique add-ons as walls that literally double as speakers; walls with sound absorption, privacy glass, blinds, and storage capabilities; patented walls that “breathe” with panel seams acting as air vents; magnetized walls; and walls that act as whiteboards.
In addition to a minimalist design aesthetic and the ability to produce incredibly quiet environments, Maars products are known for their durability and configurability as well as fire suppression and environmental features (Maars walls are acoustical up to 55dB; fire resistant up to 120 minutes; and include advantages of steel wall systems such as being environmentally friendly, hygienic and magnetic).
An entire interior office structure can be built from Maars products without the need for drywall or a glass storefront structure.
Maars’ lineaCube and Panoramaproducts swept the movable walls category in the 2016 Best of NeoCon competition, receiving Gold and Silver awards, respectively, during the NeoCon World’s Trade Fair in Chicago in June. lineaCube was a runner-up for Best of Show at NeoCon, placing fourth in a competition that drew more than 400 entries.
Maars products now can be specified with Configura’s CET Designer software; Maars invested in a CET Designer Extension, “Maars 4D,” which will be used in all markets in which Maars sells its products – Europe, North and South America, Africa, Asia, India and the Middle East. The brand-new Maars 4D website can be viewed at https://maarslivingwalls.com/maars-4d.
History in brief; company museum pays homage to past
Maars began in a canal-side house in Amsterdam in 1946, just after the Second World War. Here, Loet Maars Sr. and four employees manufactured and sold fluorescent lighting fixtures. The company soon outgrew the building and, in 1960, moved to Harderwijk.
In the 1960s, Maars expanded the product line to include ceilings, walls, Styleline partition walls and climate-control systems. In 1974, the production of profiles – the basis for walls and ceilings – started in a new production facility and Maars started marketing in European countries beyond the Netherlands.
Loet Maars Jr. became the director-owner in 1979. He expanded the product line and brought production under one roof. In 1992, Maars acquired Intersign to expand its wall-system offerings. Then, in 1995, Maars introduced the Metaline product line.
Other milestones through the years included the String product in 2000, String² in 2005, Glassline in 2008, Panorama in 2009, double-glazed design walls lalinea and the lineaCube in 2014 and, in 2016, the new single-glazed wall Horizon. The company has focused solely on partition walls since 2001.
This fall, the company formally marked its 70th anniversary with a celebration that brought all employees from the Netherlands and across the globe together. During this celebration, the permanent museum located in the Maars showroom dubbed “World of Maars” was officially opened.