Eco-friendly brands and designers tackle the subject of sustainability
We ask the designers and brands at the vanguard of eco-friendly design what sustainability means to them
In a world that’s finally woken up to the severity of the climate crisis, claims of sustainability and ecofriendliness now surround us. But how do we know what’s genuinely important, what will make a difference, and what’s just greenwashing? As designers and brands grapple with the challenge of balancing business with the responsibility of introducing new products to an already saturated planet, we take stock of how to define sustainable design. Here, champions of environmentally-minded homeware, both established and new, give us their answers. SHERIDAN COAKLEY FOUNDER OF SCP ‘When I began SCP in 1985, there was no clear approach to sustainability. Now, there is more of an industry focus on making things in a considered way. Our policy has always been to produce things that will last a lifetime, to become heirlooms. Something that has pleased us recently is the number of SCP pieces being brought back to us for re-upholstery, many from the first 15 years of SCP.
Our furniture is generally made of wood, metal and textiles. Wood is the key material as it captures carbon for its entire life span and locks it in the product itself. Upholstery pieces are made in our Norfolk factory, which we bought when the owners retired. Since then, we’ve been able to expand the factory and have control over how it is run and the materials used. We sell a lot in the UK, so shipping is kept down. Another advantage is that we work closely with mostly UK-based designers who visit the factory often when items are in development. We are not of a scale where we can own all of our manufacturing base, so outsourcing the making of our wood designs to factories in Europe in the early 2000s was a natural step. There are also no factories of this kind in the UK that can make things at the cost we require – we try to make sustainable products that are not prohibitively priced.
In terms of sustainability, we are on a journey. We would like to get better, but we’re on the right trajectory. We’re proud to be creating designs that people are still sitting on three decades later and are still in production.’ scp.co.uk
‘I THINK SUSTAINABLE DESIGN MEANS PIECES MADE FROM RESPONSIBLE MATERIALS, BUT THAT HAVE ALSO BEEN BUILT TO LAST A LIFETIME’
ARIELLE ASSOULINE-LICHTEN FOUNDER OF SLASH OBJECTS
‘It was in 2015, while working as an architect designing a Manhattan gym that I discovered recycled rubber. I saw great potential for this mundane material that was transformed when combined with others such as marble, brass and concrete. Slash Objects aims to encourage a new way of thinking about recycled materials – “green” products have historically had a specific look and I wanted to contradict that with elegant and contemporary pieces. People are more engaged with what materials are used in manufacturing,andareexcitedtoheartheremaybebenefits beyond aesthetics and function. But even within sustainable materials there are questionable choices being made with regards to what is actually better for the earth – it’s a really important issue that we are defining at this moment. We have to rethink everything we thought we knew about making. It’s my duty as a designer to find new uses for things that have already been created. That’s also why we focus on the long-lasting aspect of the products, so that our designs not only divert waste from landfills, but also don’t fill them up in the future.’ slashobjects.com
BRODIE NEILL DESIGNER AND FOUNDER OF MADE IN RATIO
‘Sustainability has become a tag. But it’s what we’ve been doing since day one, it’s our natural response to everything. I grew up in Tasmania, Australia, where there’s an inherent respect for nature and natural materials – being an island, ocean plastic is an issue that’s close to my heart. With the “Giro” table from 2016, we wanted to bring the problem to the international design forum – it contains over 500,000 fragments of ocean plastic – by presenting a different attitude to waste streams. But we need to go back further and challenge our takeaway, conveniencedriven culture to stop the need for these pollutants in the first place. We’ve also worked with bamboo for a while. Technically, it’s a grass and is a very stable, fast-growing and renewable material. It’s not perceived as “high-value” but we’ve found a way to elevate it with an organic black ebonised stain, which makes it look sensational.
Our latest collection, made from Hinoki cypress, was inspired by a trip to Japan last year, where I visited many craftspeople in their workshops. Despite not speaking the same language, we came away with an agreement that we were going to work together. There is such a love affair of craft in Japan but there’s concern that these skills are going to be lost forever soon. Collaborations like this give them new breath to live on. These techniques are not about mass production, but about taking the time and care to make things that will last. That’s the way I was taught to build furniture when I was studying – anything we built should outlast us, plus 25 years.’ madeinratio.com
‘SUSTAINABLE MAKING REQUIRES AUTHENTIC INTENTION IN THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF PRODUCTION, WHICH CONSIDERS THE ENVIRONMENT AND THE PEOPLE IN IT’
‘IT’S SEEING POTENTIAL AND USING MATERIALS THATARE PROVOCATIVE TO HIGHLIGHT THE BIG ISSUES THE PLANET IS FACING’