We caught up with Forté — a longstanding Interior of the Year partner — to discuss the brand’s four-decade commitment to New Zealand design, its evolving approach to timber surfaces and specification support, and the thinking behind its latest innovation, Alor.
Tell us about your history supporting the architecture and design industry in New Zealand?
Forté has been part of New Zealand’s architecture and design community for over 40 years. From the beginning, the work has been the same: supply the industry with timber surfaces that perform as well as they look, and support the people who specify, design, and build with them. That means showing up with deep product knowledge, genuine relationships, and a commitment to making every project easier to deliver. Architects, interior designers, and specifiers across the country have come to rely on Forté not just for the quality of its products, but for the expertise behind them.
Forté has supported the Interior of the Year awards for a number of years now; what does it mean for your brand to get behind this programme?
Supporting the Interior of the Year Awards is a natural extension of that commitment. Great interiors don’t happen by accident – they’re the result of designers pushing themselves, taking creative risks, and bringing real craft to their work. Getting behind this programme is Forté’s way of saying that work matters, and that the industry deserves to be recognised for it. For a brand built on the belief that timber can genuinely transform a space – physically and emotionally – celebrating the spaces that prove that point is something we care about deeply.
What are some of the recent highlights from the Forté team in terms of what you’ve been delivering and achieving?
Over the past year, the team has continued to invest in its specification support offering, working closely with design studios to ensure product selection is seamless from concept through to install. That hands-on, practical approach – making the designer’s job easier at every step – remains central to how Forté operates. So too does a constant focus on product innovation. Our range continues to evolve, with ongoing development across our timber surfaces to ensure the offering stays ahead of where the industry is heading. It’s a commitment that runs through everything — not innovation for its own sake, but a genuine drive to give designers better tools, better options, and better outcomes.
As a New Zealand-owned company, what does local ownership mean when it comes to setting you apart?
As a New Zealand-owned business, local ownership shapes everything. It means decisions are made here, by people who understand this market, its conditions, and its design culture. It means accountability to customers, to the industry, and to the communities Forté operates in. And it means a genuine stake in the success of New Zealand design. When local studios win, Forté wins.
Are there any recent milestones or news from Forté that you’d like the industry to know about?
Forté recently turned 40: four decades of working with timber, supporting New Zealand’s design industry, and refining what a timber surfaces company can be. It’s a milestone that reflects not just longevity, but consistency: the same commitment to quality and craft that the business was founded on is the same one driving it forward today.
We have also just launched our new Alor offering – an integrated timber surface system made to connect floors, walls, ceilings, and cabinetry panels. Alor is designed to do something timber has always promised but rarely delivered with this level of precision: true tonal continuity across an entire interior. Surfaces that are made to continue, coordinate, and complement one another, so a designer can carry a single material language from the floor underfoot to the ceiling above, and every wall and joinery panel in between. For designers who care about cohesion, Alor is a significant addition to the toolkit.
