FSorb Wood Grains and Their Natural Benefits
- FSorb
- Jul 22
- 5 min read
Long before people walked the planet, there were trees. Maybe that’s why interior designers who want to achieve a timeless look have been returning to wood grain finishes.
FSorb sound panels that feature wood grain finishes combine this timeless, peaceful visual appeal with the best sound absorption available in today’s market.
A Brief History of Wood Grain Finishes
A half-century ago, faux wood paneling was a common design choice, especially for the dens and hallways of middle-class homes. Faux wood grain started appearing in other places, too, like on station wagons, stereo components, and even kitchen and laundry appliances.
By the 1990s, the world had moved on to black electronics, stainless steel appliances, and solid-colored cars. By the 2000s, faux wood grain seemed mostly like a cliche that had been overused by a previous generation.
But that’s not the whole story. In reality, faux wood grain predates the products we see in thrift stores, on retro TV shows, and in homes that need updating. As early as the 1800s, elite homes featured faux wood grain painted onto walls and columns. This method imitated the look of wood so closely that visitors often confused plaster walls for pristine lumber.
Today’s Wood Grains Recapture More Ancient Methods
What was their secret? Imitating nature’s randomness. Artists who painted wood grains never simply repeated the same or similar patterns. Painting with this attention to detail was a painstaking task that required true skill.
The mass-produced wood grain design options our parents and grandparents favored didn’t replicate this ancient standard of excellence. Instead, they relied on repeating the same handful of patterns. Since our brains excel at picking out patterns, we immediately get distracted by the “fauxness” of the faux wood grain.
Today’s wood grain finishes, such as the wood grain finish options for FSorb panels, recapture the authenticity of the ancient methods — not through human skill but through the attention to detail that 21st century computer processing can deliver.
Modern algorithms create unique wood grain patterns, much like nature itself does in every tree that’s ever existed. Also, today’s designers know how to use wood grains in more subtle, less distracting ways.
How Wood Grain Sound Panels Create More Peaceful Spaces
FSorb sound panels and wood grain work together in harmony. Reclaiming wood grain finishes has helped designers create more peaceful and welcoming gathering spaces and offices—and that’s also the goal of proper sound absorption.
After all, research shows people feel more at ease amidst the natural world than they feel in buildings with strictly industrial designs. A Yale School of the Environment study connects spending time in nature with better health outcomes.
But designers have to use natural elements properly to tap into their restorative power. Encasing an entire room in wood grain, for example, may feel too restrictive. In reality, wood grain often serves spaces best as backgrounds and accents and when blended with other colors and materials.
This is why sound panels provide a perfect way to incorporate this design technique. Since sound panels are often installed around the periphery of a room, they offer a perfect way to accent a wall or ceiling while also improving the room’s acoustic atmosphere.
Wood Grain Sound Panels Multiply Peace
No matter how they look, FSorb panels help create a more peaceful environment by shaping the soundscape of a gathering space. FSorb’s simple and durable design filters unnatural or unwanted frequencies while enhancing the frequencies people want to hear—like the frequency ranges where conversations happen.
When FSorb sound panels also enhance the visual experience in a space, they can multiply the effect they deliver for visitors—still while using only one design element. Ultimately, this is why our FSorb product line offers so much flexibility for designers. Along with our wood grain options, we offer 24 premium colors, a variety of patterns, and the ability for the designer to create their own customized colors and patterns.
Standard FSorb Wood Grain Options
FSorb’s standard panels offer eight different wood grain finishes:
This isn’t the limit to a designer’s choices. We can blend wood grain patterns onto any of our standard colors, creating unique moods and effects. Or, designers can send us a high-resolution image of any wood grain design, and we can match the shade, printing it on ½-inch panels.
Choices and combinations give designers exponentially more options, helping us fulfill our goal of providing the best sound absorption systems without limiting a building’s design choices.
The Value of FSorb: It’s More than Surface Deep
We took our cues from the natural world when we created FSorb’s design choices. But much of our inspiration for how to make sound panels came from the building industry.
FSorb’s founder, Doug Bixel, worked as a building contractor before starting FSorb in 2009. Doug’s vision, from the beginning of FSorb, was to provide builders a sound absorption system with the greatest value.
Design choices represent just part of this value, and our systems also benefit builders because:
FSorb is easy to install
FSorb panels adhere to local building codes, which simplifies their installation. Our panels can also be cut just like Drywall or other building materials. FSorb is solid, so there’s no substructure to accommodate, meaning our panels can be anchored from any point.
These features add value by reducing installation times and allowing installers to fulfill a designer’s vision without changing the building plan.
FSorb is environmentally friendly
By making FSorb out of recycled plastic bottles and other simple plastics, we keep plastic out of landfills — and we provide a material that’s durable enough to last decades without being replaced. When a panel is no longer needed, it can be recycled, just like a water bottle.
FSorb is durable
After installation, their durable materials and simple design help FSorb withstand temperature and humidity fluctuations without affecting their performance. Traditional panels, which include fabrics, filler material, and wooden substructures, tend to degrade faster in these types of conditions.
Its solid construction also makes FSorb a perfect fit for athletic venues and training facilities.
FSorb releases no VOCs
Since our panels consist of one, durable material, the FSorb manufacturing process requires no binders or adhesives to hold the panels together. No binders means no volatile organic compounds (VOCs) will be released into the air. This creates a healthier environment with better breathable air.
FSorb is easy to buy
We manufacture FSorb products in our Woodinville, WA factory, and we stock our standard products in distribution centers around the nation. This means contractors can expect fast delivery, avoiding the types of delays that contractors hate.
Orders of customized colors and designs will take extra time, but we also offer expert guidance to help this process go smoothly.
Bring the Natural World Back Inside with FSorb
In nature, calm and serene spaces seem, well, natural. Inside buildings, these types of spaces must be created through expert, thoughtful design.
Our FSorb panels absorb and shape sound waves to help dissolve the unnatural effects of excessive or distracting noise, restoring the natural effect of balanced sound to a room.
By coupling this performance with the natural look of wood grain panels, designers can bring even more of the natural world to indoor spaces to help design places where visitors want to return.
These thoughtful tools can help enhance your next project. Contact the FSorb expert in your area to get started.
At FSorb, we are motivated by improving human health and do so by creating eco-friendly acoustic products. Our mission is to help designers build beautiful spaces that reduce excess ambient noise while calming the human nervous system. With over 25 years in the acoustic business we stand behind FSorb as a durable, environmentally friendly, and low-cost product. If you want an acoustic solution that is safe to human health at an affordable price, then we are your resource.
(844) 313-7672
