HJ Peters Deventer

Carpet Industry

Deventer has a rich tradition in carpet making dating back to 1798 when the Royal Deventer Carpet Factory was founded. Hendrik Jan Peters is the fourth generation of his family to be involved in carpet weaving in the town. The strength of his firm is its specialisation in high-quality commercial carpets and premier artificial grass for the top end of the market.

Hendrik Jan has witnessed immense changes in the carpet industry in recent decades as wood, laminate, and tiles have become more popular floor coverings. Improved technology in carpet production has proved a two-edged sword, increasing capacity but reducing profit – reason enough to change course. Their own factories were closed or moved elsewhere and the focus has shifted to managing the production of commercial carpets and artificial grass. Together with established partners, and utilising production facilities in The Netherlands and England, HJ Peters Deventer masterminds production. The emphasis nowadays is on innovation, striving for creative and sustainable solutions at the top end of the market, where profit margins are higher.

Around the globe

Commercial-grade carpet from HJ Peters has been fitted in offices, hotels, restaurants and cruise ships in some 70 countries around the world, in every continent. The work is carried out in close conjunction with local trading agents on the ground. By outsourcing sales and production, Hendrik Jan has more time to concentrate on his real passion, research and development. This is what led to the introduction of a second product – artificial grass for sport and recreation.

The development and production of artificial grass began in 1975. Continual focus on innovation and sustainability has made the company a leader in the field. Artificial grass is predominantly produced for the European market with occasional flurries into far-flung places such as South Korea. Every year the firm supplies hundreds of thousands of m2 artificial grass, also to other producers, for whom a Dutch product is a guarantee of quality.

A spin-off from artificial grass production has been the launch of a sister company, Warmgras. Hendrik Jan: As an engineer I was perplexed by the system used to heat sports pitches: the need to lay about 20 kilometres of pipes underground, then all the effort needed to heat the water and pump it along the pipes. There had to be a more efficient, sustainable solution”. In

conjunction with partners at home and abroad a new system was designed based on an all-electric principle. A textile mat, interwoven with metal threads according to a patented system, is placed under the sports pitch and warmed electrically. The system is much cheaper to install and run and, if used in combination with solar panels, can be energy-neutral. The first pilot schemes have been successful. There is particular potential for the system in Scandinavia and other cold countries.