Event Highlights
What Is TFL? Arauco’s Designer Explains Thermally Fused Laminate, Arauco at IWF 2026
October 1, 2026 Length: 2 min Watch on YouTube (opens in a new tab)
In this Event Highlights video from the Arauco booth at IWF 2026 in Atlanta, Cathy Hummer, Senior Manager of TFL Development and Design at Arauco North America, explains thermally fused laminate to Stefanie Couch in plain terms. She also walks through the new Quietude collection and its textures.
About This Video.
At the Arauco booth at IWF 2026 in Atlanta, I asked Cathy Hummer to explain TFL in plain terms. Cathy is Senior Manager of TFL Development and Design at Arauco North America, and she gives the clearest definition I have heard. Thermally fused laminate starts as a decorative paper saturated with melamine resin. That treated paper is then thermally fused to a particle board or MDF substrate. What comes out is a flat, durable, decorative surface.
She also walks me through Arauco's new Quietude collection, seven designs that came out of a two-year line review with Arauco's customers. The research pointed one direction: TFL is moving toward a warmer palette. Quietude is the answer to that.
Then we get into texture, which is where this product gets interesting. Suede, Velvet, Boreal, and Madera. Each texture mimics the natural feel of the wood grain. Alderon carries the Madera finish. Emberline, a rift cut white oak, is heavier and stronger, so it needed Boreal to accent the design.
Cathy's answer for why designers specify Prism TFL is four words: durable, repeatable, consistent, available. Repeatable is the one that matters most. A designer can spec it in Atlanta in 2026 and get the same panel in Phoenix in 2030.
Key Takeaways.
- Thermally fused laminate is decorative paper saturated with melamine resin and thermally fused to particle board or MDF, creating a flat, durable, decorative surface.
- Arauco's Quietude collection has seven designs from a two-year line review with customers, answering research that showed TFL moving toward a warmer palette.
- Suede, Velvet, Boreal and Madera textures each mimic the natural feel of wood grain, and Alderon carries the Madera finish.
- Cathy sums up why designers specify Prism TFL in four words: durable, repeatable, consistent and available.
- Repeatable matters most, because a designer can spec a panel in Atlanta in 2026 and get the same one in Phoenix in 2030.
Questions and Answers.
What is thermally fused laminate?
Cathy Hummer, Senior Manager of TFL Development and Design at Arauco North America, explains that TFL starts as decorative paper saturated with melamine resin. The treated paper is thermally fused to a particle board or MDF substrate, creating a flat, durable, decorative surface.
Why do designers specify Prism TFL?
Cathy gives four reasons: durable, repeatable, consistent and available. Repeatable matters most, since a designer can spec it in Atlanta in 2026 and get the same panel in Phoenix in 2030.
What is the Arauco Quietude collection?
Quietude is a collection of seven designs that came out of a two-year line review with Arauco's customers. The research showed TFL moving toward a warmer palette.
Keep Watching.
-
Unmistakable Quality: Deep Dive into Sierra Pacific’s IBS 2026 Booth
October 27, 2026, 10 min -
Inside PumpkinTown: How Allisonville Home & Garden Turns Halloween Into a Tradition
October 22, 2026, 3 min -
How Arauco’s New Line Fits Into Your Next Build
October 8, 2026, 3 min -
What Makes a Great Supplier Partner in Building Materials
October 2, 2026, 3 min -
Arauco’s President on Moving Past Commodity Panels
September 30, 2026, 2 min -
Thermally Fused Laminate Explained: What’s New at IWF 2026
September 29, 2026, 12 min
Book a Call
Pick a time that works for you. We will talk through your event, your audience and your goals, and whether Stefanie is the right fit.