Mohawk Group was excited to collaborate with Jason McLennan who is considered one of the world’s most influential individuals in the field of architecture and the green building movement today. He is the recipient of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Prize (the planet’s top prize for socially responsible design). Jason has been called the ‘Steve Jobs’ of the green building industry, a “World Changer” by GreenBiz magazine, and the Award of Excellence winner for Engineering News Record, making him one of the only individuals in the architecture profession to have won the award in its 52-year history.

This collaboration’s fresh take on the original Lichen Collection offers an additional bark texture to join the popular stone one, serving as ground textures for the lichens that grow together in place. The multi-hued, multi-textured lichens that thrive on bark and rock formations once again inspire us in Lichen Community collection. The refined Micro Bloom and Macro Bloom palette includes warm and cool background textures with more neutral and tonal accent colors, which can help to define communal spaces and create unique large-scale installations. 

Featuring Duracolor Tricor carpet fiber, Lichen Community delivers unsurpassed stain resistance, colorfastness, durability, color clarity and enhanced soil performance. Duracolor fiber has set the standard of high-performance commercial carpet since 1992. With enhanced soil hiding and removal capabilities, Duracolor Tricor builds upon a fiber tested and trusted to perform in the most demanding environments. 

When creating Lichen Community, Mohawk Group did not stop at ensuring the product was high performing; they wanted a product that looked good in all applications. That’s why, for a seamless design, Lichen Community was designed without transition strip requirements when used with any of Mohawk Group’s 4.5/5mm LVT products. This feature ultimately reduces installation time, costs, and makes installation easier with its new EcoFlex ONE backing.

This state-of-the-art backing system delivers modular carpet that leads the industry in durability, cleanability, performance, and sustainability. EcoFlex ONE is an advanced flooring solution that improves every aspect of comfort and acoustics while eliminating moisture testing—all with a lighter environmental footprint that is Beyond Carbon Neutral. Tested, proven, and certified, EcoFlex ONE is the holistic solution for human-centric environments.

Mohawk Group has a history of leading the flooring industry in sustainable products, becoming the first flooring manufacturer to receive a Living Product Challenge Petal Certification for the Lichen Collection in 2017. Since then, Mohawk Group has expanded its Living Product portfolio to include the entire line of carpet tile products manufactured in Glasgow, VA, USA. These products are all net-positive in both carbon and water.

Now as an expansion of the Lichen Collection, the newly released Lichen Community embodies Mohawk Group’s commitment to dematerialization and a more restorative, carbon neutral future. Leveraging our Pattern Perfect technology, the Lichen Community Collection is beyond carbon neutral. Boasting an additional five percent carbon offset for a net-positive impact, we continue our legacy of innovative products and technologies that will lead us to Net Zero carbon emissions by 2040.

Mohawk Group’s commitment to sustainability did not stop at the Lichen Collection. As of January 2022, all Mohawk Group floor covering products – including our carpet tile, broadloom, woven, LVT, and other resilient surfaces – are going Beyond Carbon Neutral, meaning an additional five percent carbon offset beyond neutral, for a net-positive impact on the environment to build a regenerative, climate-positive future to create a better tomorrow for people and the planet.

Written By

Jason F. McLennan

Jason F. McLennan is one of the world’s most influential individuals in the field of architecture and the green building movement. He is the winner of the Buckminster Fuller Prize, the National Award of Excellence Winner from Engineering News Record, a senior fellow of the Design Futures Council and the Ashoka Foundation. He is the creator of the Living Building Challenge, Living Community Challenge, Living Product Challenge, JUST Social Justice Label, Declare and the International Living Future Institute and is the author of six books on sustainability and green building. He is an architect and planner at McLennan Design (his own firm) and currently designing some of the most leading-edge green building projects anywhere. Jason is on the board of ILFI and is the immediate past chair.