Samantha FrewSpring is often heralded as the time of renewal. As April settles into her stride and all around us, the winter chill draws back for another year, new life comes into being –birds return while trees and plants bloom back into life, it is a time of new life. However, it is not just in nature that this springtime rebirth occurs. For the design world, spring hails a time of new products. Businesses, manufacturers, and designers gather together everything they have labored over in the past year and invite us to explore and enjoy the future as they see it. And we cannot wait to tell you what they have been up to.
In recent years, the design industry has been heavily criticized for its wastefulness and the harmful impact mass production has on the environment. In response, this year, more than ever before, many designers have acknowledged the urgency to reduce the carbon footprint of product manufacturing and the need to utilize recycled and recyclable materials to ensure the beautiful design doesn’t come at the expense of our homes. We’ve gathered together some of our favorite sustainable interior design products from the brands you know and love.
Eternity by Space Copenhagen for Mater
Images provided by Mater
Eternity is a new stackable shell chair designed by Space Copenhagen for Danish furniture brand Mater. The dining chair is made from 70% industrial plastic and 30% coffee shell waste. Interestingly, the base materials are combined to create a unique composite material used to make the ergonomic molded seats. The rounded shape is versatile and elegant in its design, making Eternity suitable for many locations. The dark brown chairs have a textured finish to the seat and back, while the undyed composite material means every chair varies slightly in hue. The chairs are designed to fit within a circular economy, and they can simply be disassembled and recycled or upcycled throughout their lifetime.
Truly by Bolon
Images provided by Bolon
Bolon is known for their classic woven vinyl material. Their innovative flooring product can be seen in all industries, including education, hospitality, residential, and even medical. This year they are expanding their made-to-measure offering and have brought it to the market, Truly. Truly is a series of made-to-measure rugs in bold patterns. Bolon will produce the rugs at its factory in Sweden, typically between a minimum of two meters by two meters and a maximum of four meters by eight meters, and from a choice of five patterns in various colorways. Like all of Bolon’s collections Truly contains 18% pre-consumer waste and is manufactured using only renewable energy.
Fiber Chair by Muuto
Images provided by Muuto
With Fiber Chair, Muuto is rethinking the classic shell chair. There is a huge range of options, including swivel bases, castors, lounge chairs, linking, and padded, all coming as standard –there are few places that Fiber Chair wouldn’t sit comfortably. The sculptural Fiber Chair is designed for maximum comfort and minimum guilt. The chair’s iconic shell is manufactured from recycled plastic mixed with FSC™-certified wood fibers. The uniquely deep surface is soft and matte to the touch, and although invisible to the eye from afar, the details of the wood fibers are revealed when viewing the design up-close.
Hemp by Camira
Images provided by Camira
“Perfectly natural, and naturally perfect” is how contract fabric manufacturer Camira describes their latest offering—Hemp. Originally brought to the market as early as 2012, Hemp remains one of the most sustainable contact fabrics available, and Camira is committed to continuing to introduce on-trend colorways to the collection. Hemp is composed of 60% Virgin Wool and 40% True Hemp. Hemp is an environmental super fiber. It has some remarkable properties; for example, it is estimated that industrial Hemp absorbs between 8 and 15 tonnes of CO2 per hectare of cultivation, while forests sequester between 2 and 6 tonnes is naturally flame retardant, and it is entirely biodegradable. Thanks to its use of agricultural cannabis crops, Camira’s fabric is sustainable, renewable, and fully compostable. Hemp is made to be used, loved, and returned to the earth.
Pivot by De Vorm
Images provided by De Vorm
Recycled PET felt is fast becoming a product of the moment. Manufactured from waste plastic bottles, this sustainable “fabric” has many uses. In their typical fashion, furniture manufacturer De Vorm has continued to raise the bar for sustainability with their use of innovative materials. Pivot is a versatile lighting option that can be used singularly or as part of a series on a rail. The unique bell-shaped cap of each light is pressed from PET Felt in one piece, resulting in a soft, textured appearance.
Oceanides by Alexia Mintsouli for Alex Mint
Images provided by Alex Mint
Oceanides by Alexia Mintsouli is one of the most unique uses of new sustainable materials seen this year. The furniture collection is titled Oceanides for its link to the particular material used in its design, the plant Posidonia Oceanica —a sea plant. Posidonia Oceanica is one of the oldest living organisms on earth and plays a huge role in cleaning our waters and pulling pollution from the air. With help from sustainability leader PHEE, the washed-up Sea plants can be upcycled rather than sent to landfills as they had been previously. Combined with its mesmerizing Peloponnesian Tortora Marble top, Oceanides expertly proves that sustainability can be beautiful.
