As the new year began, the staff of WFB looked back at 2019 to share their favorite magazine articles from the year:
Kendra Griffin, National Account Manager:
My pick is Outstanding Retail Excellence: Winners of the first WFB Outstanding Retailer Awards. There are some extremely inspiring stories and business practices outlined that will help any business succeed. As someone who didn't necessarily grow up dreaming about working in the industry we all know and love, I always enjoy learning how people initially got into the wood flooring business. This feature highlights something I hold near and dear: There are a lot of genuine, hard-working, intelligent wood flooring pros we are lucky to work with on a daily basis. People in our industry are very willing to share their trials and triumphs, and we can all learn so much from one another.
Justin Eccles, Art Director:
My pick is The Next Generation: How I Got Here. This is a beautiful story of redemption and how perseverance can lead you to success. I got to meet Ethan and his mentor Peter on the photo shoot for this article. It was wonderful to see how much they care for each other; this is the kind of bond working together for years can create.
Kim Wahlgren, Editor:
Asking an editor to choose her favorite article is like asking a parent to pick their favorite child. But since that’s my assignment, I’m going with How I Did This Floor: Recreating History After a Fire. The best part of my job is working with people who have true passion for their craft, and author Jason Vivash demonstrated that with every aspect of this job. I’m thankful we have the capability to take a deep dive into stories like this, getting into the technical details as well as the narrative behind the project. Another cool aspect of this story was that we were able to create a video with Jason where he gave us a walking tour of his process at his shop and on the job site.
Ryan Kushner, Assistant Editor:
We covered some awesome international projects in 2019, and Belgian pro Filip Redant’s museum floor featured in Duplicating a Bomb-Damaged 19th Century Parquet was one of my favorites. Learning from Redant’s hard-earned expertise and passion for the craft (as well as picking up a few new Dutch words) made this one a definite highlight.
