Our story
Founded in 2018
Marchand began with a quiet rebellion. Watching the quality of European oak fall while the price rose. Rather than accept it, our founders sourced the oak themselves and redrew the board.
Watford Street, Christchurch. Blanc Oak. Interiors by Mooi Design.
What changed
Wear layers thinned. Boards narrowed.
Our founders had spent forty years in construction and property development, much of it in Central Otago, where European oak is close to a default in the architecture.
Specifications quietly softened until a floor became something you replaced rather than something you kept.
The board
What we set out to fix
The answer was not a better marketing position. It was a thicker board.
Twenty millimetres, with a 6mm solid European oak wear layer, at a width of 240mm and lengths of 2.2 metres. That specification is not decoration. A 6mm wear layer can be re-sanded four or five times, which is the difference between a floor that lasts fifteen years and one that lasts sixty.
We supply it at one rate across every colour. No loading for darker finishes, no premium for the colour that happens to be popular.
River Terrace, Auckland. La Forêt Oak.
Grove to Grave
The most sustainable floor is the one you do not have to replace
Most environmental cost in flooring sits in replacement. Every time a floor is lifted, the carbon cycle resets: new material, new freight, new labour, new waste. A floor specified to last sixty years is doing more for the building's lifetime carbon than any claim printed on a box.
Marchand holds an FSC Promotional Licence (FSC®-N004872). Environmental and VOC documentation is available rather than referenced. The full position on forestry certification is set out on our sustainability page.
The people
A passion for design
Julia Christie
Managing Director
A Chartered Accountant with a background in business and property development, and a passion for design and interiors. Julia leads the business from the South Island and works with architects, developers and homeowners on alpine projects, where the specification questions tend to be the difficult ones.
Sarah Kerr
Auckland
Sarah brings twenty-five years of interior design to Marchand, through her own practice, Sarah Kerr Design, working across high-end residential and boutique development in Auckland. She is in Residium Wednesday to Saturday, working with architects, designers and homeowners on how a floor sits within a whole scheme rather than in isolation.
Ella Fitzgerald
Christchurch
Ella works from Ōtautahi with a background in graphic and interior design. She guides homeowners, architects and designers through colour, format and the technical decisions that sit underneath them.
Where to find us
Three studios
Each holding the full range in full boards. Design consultations are free, and samples are free and unlimited.
Samples, free and unlimited
Live with it in your own light
Every colour, on the board it is actually milled on, labelled and boxed. A week in your own light will tell you more than an hour under showroom lighting.