He has had Golden Years aplenty, and his image has undergone many Changes during a career spanning more than 40 years.

And after shying away from the limelight for 10 years, David Bowie is back in the news. Indeed his status as an international superstar well into his 60s was reflected with the coverage and enthusiasm that greeted the news, and subsequent release on March 8 this year, of his 24th studio album, The Next Day.

Bowie fans will argue all day long as to his best ever album. Ziggy Stardust, in 1972, remains one of his most popular, and of course it was famous for a Bowie image and alter-ego of the time. Aladdin Sane - the follow up to that album a year later - will also feature high up in any discussion of Bowie's best work. It was his sixth album, and the cover of it - Bowie's sultry portrait covered in part by a bolt of thunder - remains one of rock music's most iconic images.

Therefore, it will come as now surprise that Evergreens UK used that image to create bespoke vinyl flooring for a prestigious celebration of Bowie's album release at the top London department store, Selfridges.

With a proud reputation for the excellence of their artificial grass products, and the many displays they do, it is sometimes overlooked that the company also specialises in bespoke vinyl flooring, and were proud as punch to be asked to create the flooring for the Bowie celebration - especially with plenty of fans numbered among their staff!

So a labour of love, and the final product - a classic blue, with yellow and sparing bolts of thunder in red and yellow - reflecting that world famous Aladdin Sane cover from the album that featured classic songs such as 'Watch That Man', 'Drive In Saturday', and 'Jean Genie'. It is almost too good to walk on, but it certainly gives a terrific lift, along with a giant poster of the Aladdin Sane cover, to a display honouring a legend, who, it is rumoured, already has plans in place for follow up album soon.

Take a look for yourself at the work of the Evergreens UK team:

http://style.selfridges.com/self-image/album/david-bowie-all-yours-london-concept-store#2663

Or if you are in London, pop into the Oxford Street store yourself.

Oh, and if you are visiting London, why not pop along to David Bowie's dedicated exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in Knightsbridge:

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/david-bowie-is/

A leading synthetic flooring specialist has been selected by the interior designers of fashion house Chloe to design, create and roll out an haute couture carpet for exhibitions celebrating the brand’s 60^th anniversary in London and Japan’s biggest department stores.

Evergreens UK, which specialises in artificial grass, bespoke carpets and vinyl flooring, was hired by luxury label Chloe to make over Selfridges’ prestigious Wonder Room with an eye-catching design.

The French clothing brand was so impressed with the concept put forward by Evergreens UK that it chose the company to install the same design for a one-week installation in one of Tokyo’s most influential department stores, Isetan, within its fashion hub The Stage.

Peter Footitt, Production Director of Evergreens UK, comments: “We discussed the ideas with Chloe’s interior design team and we put forward a bespoke flooring concept with a real wow-factor for its high anticipated 60^th anniversary exhibition in Selfridges.

“The brief we were given was to design a ‘crazy’ floor, so we wanted to create a flooring that would be both original and eye-catching, and presented an idea that would reflect the brand’s forward thinking.

“It was a pleasure to have such an open brief to work with and allowed us to come up with a really special design that created a real talking point.”

Evergreens UK created a stacked cube design using three shades of high grade exhibition carpet – light grey, dark grey and black – which fitted together as a hexagonal and gave it a 3D effect.

Each piece of the carpet, which is 100% polyamide, was individually cut before being fitted on site in the 15 metre by 7.5 metre Wonder Room.

Following the success of the design, Evergreens UK was selected to produce a second tailor-made carpet, measuring 130 square metres,  for the company’s ’60 Years of Chloe’ event in Tokyo and flew Peter out to the Shinjuku region of the city to install the flooring.

Peter adds: “Chloe loved the work we did so much they asked me to reproduce the carpet we made for the London event and invited me to Tokyo to ensure it was correctly installed.

“We used our state-of-the-art CAD cutting beds in our manufacturing warehouse in Rutland to transform a standard carpet material into an exceptional design and an extraordinary piece of flooring that is hard wearing, easily cleaned and low profile.

“We are delighted to have been part of the Chloe’s 60^th anniversary and to have created a flooring concept that echoed their brand ethos.”

For more information on Evergreens UK, which is also the UK’s largest synthetic grass supplier, call 01572 768208. Alternatively, find Evergreens UK on Facebook or follow @evergreensuk on twitter.

As the UK's leading artificial grass supplier we thought it would be fun to look into how synthetic turf has been used in creative and arty ways.  We looked across the pond to see how artists had used this interesting material...

Visit any top quality country garden, and there is a good chance that at some point during your visit you might see a sculpture crafted from, and around, a grassed area.

There is no reason why you cannot make an artistic display with, and around, artificial turf. But spotted outside of the UK, there is a growing popularity for a new form of making good use of an artificial lawn: graffiti!

It is a growing trend, for example, in the United States, as one of our customers brought to our attention. It fascinated us.

In one New York gallery, a huge work of graffiti art, carved out of artificial grass, is on display.

It is a fantastic portrait of a young lady, who is telling visitors (via a quotation bubble) to "be happy", and it graces the courtyard of the gallery.

'Be Happy' uses astro turf to illustrate a photograph of one of many interviews in which the artists asked people shopping in a Russian bookstore to share their American Dream.

The artists - Alina and Jeff Bliumis, originally from Russia, but now based in New York - chose to use artificial grass as "...a metaphor for greener pastures, the search for which entices people to migrate..."

Elsewhere in the USA, in Brooklyn, another new phenomenon of street art using fake grass is the work of an artist called 'Edible Genius'. It involves cutting silhouette portraits from artificial turf, and is used as an overall work of art.

'Edible Genius' refers to his pieces as “topiary garden portraits”, and has recently been installing them in neighborhoods in Brooklyn as a series.

He says they reflect a nostalgia for an era that he never knew, that (to him) looks more genuine and congenial. By putting up Street Art that is simply surreal, he hopes to "...jog perceptions about what is real...."

All in all, you just never know what artificial turf will be used for next! But there really are some creative and talented people using it to the benefit of art.

Back in the real world, you might say, the idea of an imitation lawn is registering with more and more home owners as winter finally, eventually, becomes spring, and the sound of lawn mowers starts to fill the weekend air.

But if you do have one fitted, and start to feel creative this summer, take a look at a growing trend across the Atlantic for ideas...

Not many businesses have offices with a slide between floors, artificial turf instead of carpets, driftwood desks and a gypsy caravan on the office floor. But Mind Candy are no ordinary company.

They are the creators of Moshi Monsters, an online game that has grown to huge popularity. Over 65 million children have joined the site online and Moshi is now expanding successfully offline into books, magazines, trading cards, toys, videos games, music, mobile apps, cartoons and much more.

This spectacular growth has seen Mind Candy expand into new premises in East London, but they haven't forgotten the fun factor in their products. They have created a fun innovative working environment, just right for creating more little monsters online.

And Evergreens UK was the company they turned to in order to make their grown-up play area a reality.

For over a year, Evergreens have been putting down their high-quality LazyLawn imitation grass surfacing on various parts of the Moshi office floor area, helping to create that fun working environment by laying over 400 square metres of their Meadow Twist product (also used on the companies cruise liner projects), so perfect for a vibrant busy London office.

Peter Footitt Production Director for Evergreens UK  said: "It's great fun to work with Mind Candy, but it's a very challenging job for our fitters because of all the different types of cutting that have to be done very precisely. The whole area goes over a couple of floors and you can't use traditional gripper rods on artificial grass indoors, because of the latex backing. If you attach it with gripper rods, the backing will break away, which means it has to be done with a special kind of adhesive."

But Evergreens UK have the specialist knowledge to fit this kind of product and, as Peter explained: "They must be happy with us because they keep having us back! We've been there four times over the last 13 months or so, as their offices have grown."

Holy Ship! The massive Superstar Libra complete with blue fake turf.

After a monumental effort from Evergreens UK's LazyLawn head office team, the Synthetic Grass re-fitting of the Superstar Libra in Singapore was completed in just 3 days!

The Superstar Libra dry dock refit at the Sembawang Shipyard was a multi-million pound project with hundreds of construction workers on-board to help transform the 216 metre long ship into a modernised cruising experience.

The LazyLawn team fitted 2200 sqm’s of Blue Synthetic Grass to the upper deck and sun lounge area of the ship. The Meadow Twist blue artificial turf was selected for it's high density and suitability for a busy high traffic area.

Work had to be completed in challenging extremely hot, humid conditions, and work was often halted by downpours of monsoon rain, but due to time constraints, the installation team had to buckle in and work long through the night and continuously mop the deck to ensure the fitting could continue to the highest standards.

The Superstar Libra complete ship refit can be seen on the video below:

The Superstar Libra is 216m in length and 32m wide weighing over 42,285 tonnes. The Superstar Libra brings you to a world-class exclusive floating resort on the high seas offering you an impressive array of facilities, entertainment, recreational activities and services coupled with warm Asian hospitality, which have become the hallmarks of Star Cruises.

See more pics of the installation team at the Evergreens UK Facebook page (opens in new window/tab).

The New Year starts with our specialist corporate project team from head office jetting out to Singapore, ahead of them a mammoth project on board a major cruise liner.

Removal of 2,200 sqm of existing synthetic grass and reinstalling with our product Meadow twist blue product. A desne pile product ideally suited to the demands of a top cruise ship.

Installation has been projected to take 5-10 days, the only obstacle being the Singapore rainy season!

Evergreens UK jumped into action at late notice during the last days of December 2012, arranging a quotation for:

• Supply & supply/installation
• Delivery quote - air freight
• Confirmation of stock for the relevant product and adhesives.

The team will return at the end of Jan, so check back to see the result!

What do Lionel Messi, Rooney, Ronaldo and Lampard have in common?

Well, they are all world class footballers, for a start.

Because of that, they all have high profile sponsorship contracts, with world renown brands such as Adidas and Nike.

And here’s the rub: during promotional filming and photo shoots for these brands, they will all have trodden artificial grass supplied by Evergreens UK.

It is not just famous footballing stars from the likes of Man Utd and Chelsea. Some of the world’s most glamorous fashion models have also posed for advertising shots on our surfaces, as have film stars and many other famous names from the world of showbiz.

Artificial astro turf is extremely versatile, and it is why top companies and photographers turn to companies like us to give their advertising campaigns a sense of reality.

Our extensive range of fake lawns are used worldwide. It could be promoting an ideal home, a putting lawn, or it might be a glamorous pose for a calendar. It could be for TV and theatre productions, or even window displays in a store.

Or it might well be to promote a new brand of football boots.

But next time you see an advertising photo on the side of the road, a TV campaign such as the high profile ones by sports brands like Nike and Adidas to launch a fresh campaign, or a glossy photo in a magazine, don’t just read the words, look at the grass!

It will be artificial – and it might well have come from Evergreens UK.

One of the highlights of the London Olympic Games has been the excellence of the TV coverage.

If you failed to secure a ticket, then watching on television is a totally acceptable alternative. And that coverage has highlighted the magnificence of the venues - such as Lords, which hosted the archery - which have looked fantastic.

Well, Evergreens UK and it's LazyLawn brand are proud of the part it has played in making it happen for the millions of viewers at home!

Evergreens UK has enjoyed a good Olympics. The company supplied the artificial grass laid throughout the Olympic terminal area at Heathrow Airport where visiting Olympic athletes will be bid farewell when they head for home after the closing ceremony.

But that was just the start. Evergreens UK have also been supplying the artificial grass for events like the archery at Lords. Lords, of course, is an iconic venue, the home of cricket.

And with a Test match on the horizon shortly after the Olympics, keeping the playing surface in good order while 128 archers, judges, officials and others trod the turf, the artificial alternative supplied by Evergreens UK has played a significant role.

They did likewise at the Lee Valley Centre that hosted the Olympic canoe tournament. And at Hampton Court Palace, which hosted the start and finish of the men's and women's Time Trials in the Road Cycling competition.

Obviously, enhancing the general look of of the venues was just one reason behind the decision to call for the expert help and top class (the Olympics expects only the best!) products of Evergreens UK.

And the awful British weather this summer was another factor behind calling on Evergreens UK to produce the goods. The bad weather had effected the look of these venues, and organisers needed them to look in pristine condition. The only way to guarantee that is by laying fake grass - whatever the weather, a synthetic surface always looks green and lush.

But to make the venues look so good on television, the production teams and engineers needed to make sure that the myriad of cables that go with putting on an outside broadcast as big as the Olympics  were out of sight, to make sure that it did not spoil the enjoyment of viewers worldwide, not to say the spectators at the venues as well. And of course  enhancing TV coverage is common ground for the UK's biggest supplier of fake grass, supplying many top shows including Top Gear, Red or Black, DIY SOS and Big Brother.

An artificial lawn is able to make sure that happens. A product called Viva by LazyLawn was used on all projects, with an 18mm pile height, which is made of three colours to closely imitate natural grass. This mid-range product was a perfect choice for these prestigious events, because the product combines quality and value - which met all the criteria the organisers were after.

So an Olympic winning performance by Evergreens UK to enhance the overall look of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Oh - and any grass that is made available by the contractors at the end of the event will be donated to charity or re-cycled locally!

The America’s Cup yachting race is one of the oldest, and highest profile, sporting contests in the World and for the Newport 2012 meet in the USA, Evergreens UK manufactured Logo Mats to enhance the spectacle.

Next year, the 34^th America’s Cup takes place in San Francisco, USA. And as a forerunner to that, the America’s Cup World Series was launched last year, with top sailing teams from around the world preparing for the main event by competing for the inaugural title.

As you would expect from a Blue Riband occasion, the first America’s Cup World Series – which has just finished in Rhode Island, USA – was a glittering occasion, attracting large crowds and big television audiences.

Oracle Racing were the first ever winners of this Series. But they were not the only successful team in Rhode Island. Other victors included Britain’s top specialists in artificial grass, Evergreens UK.

No, they have not been out and bought a competition yacht! But in what was a highly prestigious client win for them, Evergreens UK were chosen to supply the logo mats that promoted the event. And they won high praise from the organisers or the finished product.

And as you would expect with such a prestigious occasion, the organisers wanted more than just a mat – they wanted theirs to stand out and be noticed. Evergreens UK, of course, duly obliged.

Using their wide variety of artificial grass colours for which they have become reknown at home and abroad, they made sure they delivered a fantastic, and strikingly original, product - ensuring the branded logo mats they produced stood out during the event, and delighted the organisers.

But it is not just the organisers of the Americas Cup World Series that appreciate the virtues of logo mats. More and more customers at home and abroad are appreciating their value as a cheery welcome gesture into a building or on to an exhibition stand.

Essentially, they make an impact, and get the client’s message across, and most importantly, they make sure their customer’s brand reaches the public eye.

For Evergreens UK, every customer is important. Taking the time to understand their brief is what has made their logo mats so successful with customers at home and abroad.

Evergreen UK leave no proverbial stone unturned in their quest to ensure they deliver precisely to their client’s requirements. In this case the brief was to produce a mat with a subtle and classy look. The Funky Black and Funky Urban Grey products were chosen. These are the highest grade specialist coloured synthetic products available on the market today. The mats were produced in a number of different sizes, all complete with backing and bevel edging allowing for multiple use.

The success of their branded mats at the prestigious America's Cup World Series in the United States - where their work was seen and admired by some of the biggest names in sport and business - is yet another reason why the Evergreens UK name has developed an international reputation for their excellence.

For more about Evergreens UK logo mats, call 01572 768208.

To see the variety of event mats Evergreens UK produce for their clients all over the world, or for more on Evergreens UK's range of synthetic turf and event flooring options, explore the website at www.evergreensuk.com

carlsberg logo mat

Evergreens UK has the technology, experience and imagination to bring exhibition flooring to life, maximising branding opportunities and increasing the impact of your event.

When it comes to exhibitions and events, it’s amazing how many companies ignore the promotional space, missing out on a great opportunity to further enhance the organisations presence and get noticed.

At Evergreens UK, we’ve been supporting exhibition designers, stand builders and corporate companies with innovative exhibition branded flooring options for years.

These are just some of the synthetic flooring options available through us:

Logos/brands/messages in exhibition flooring carpets

Our state-of-the-art cutting technology allows us to reproduce virtually any corporate logo into exhibitions carpets. We will supply materials and fit anywhere in the world and work for big brands in big spaces, like the awesome Carlsberg promotional sports pitch logo mat above.

Alternative exhibition flooring materials

We have created exhibition flooring out of artificial grass and Astro-turf type materials for many for sports companies. We can also use the artificial turf exhibition flooring to bring home an environmental message in any industry. Once again, logos and brands can be incorporated in this approach.

Logo mats and welcome mats

Sometimes you need to make a great entrance. Our exhibition flooring logo mats in bright colours in a choice of fibre bonded material can transform exhibition spaces, from entrances to marquees to exhibition flooring for a show or interactive display. Take a look at the examples of innovative exhibition flooring for Ford, Orange, Selfridges and the BBC.

If you like what you see why not contact our helpful exhibition flooring consultants. They’ll be pleased to help. To enquire about any of our products or to place an order, please call Evergreens UK on 01572 768 208, fax us on 01572 768261 or send an email to sales@evergreensuk.com.