Earth Day 2020

Working towards a sustainable future is one of the greatest challenges of modern furniture design. One of the key themes we saw at this year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair was a particular emphasis on sustainability, with brands paying closer attention to materials being used, more environmentally friendly methods of production and product longevity. To celebrate Earth Day 2020, we wanted to shine the spotlight on a selection of suppliers and products that are working towards a more sustainable approach to furniture design and production, in an effort to reduce their impact on the environment.

TFP’s 80-page Stockholm Report 2020 details the key themes, exhibitions and colour directions from this year’s Stockholm Furniture Fair, as well as our top picks from over 50 furniture manufacturers. Get in touch with us to receive a copy of the full report, or to arrange a presentation for you or your design team: london@thefurniturepractice.com

Tarkett

Tarkett’s ‘Natural Bond’ exhibition during Stockholm Design Week was designed to open up ideas and discussions that will contribute to a sustainable, circular transformation in our society. Created in collaboration with Note Design Studio, the installation used materials that were either recycled or would be recycled and used again afterwards to give life after life. The shapes which formed the installation were clad in Tarkett’s vinyl flooring called iQ, which can be recycled indefinitely. Also featured was the newly launched iQ Natural, which is made not with fossil fuels but with a biomass derived from wood offcuts.

Vestre

Winner of this year’s ‘Best Stand’ award at Stockholm Furniture & Light Fair, urban furniture manufacturer Vestre presented their sustainable exhibition in collaboration with Note Design Studio. All materials in the stand were carefully selected for the ease of recycling or reuse, including hollow tile, pine plywood, stone and twin-wall polycarbonate sheeting – all low waste and reusable materials. All Vestre products are manufactured in factories in Norway and Sweden, with locally sourced materials such as Scandinavian pine and Swedish steel, which account for 30 percent lower emissions than the global average.

Bioplastic Componibili Storage Unit, Kartell

Bio is one of the new frontiers on which Kartell is working and which has led to the creation of the first product to be made of a completely revolutionary natural, biodegradable material. This new bioplastic is created from waste materials from farm production procedures. By means of a biological process of natural synthesis, the waste materials generate a biomass similar to plastic. This biomass becomes a material of the highest quality, which Kartell was the first to use in the furnishing industry, injecting and moulding it like other plastics. The material is biodegradable when reduced to dust and exposed to attack by microorganisms. The first product made with the new sustainable material is the modular storage unit Componibili, designed in 1967 by Anna Castelli Ferrieri.

dB Pillar, Abstracta

Abstracta‘s long-term goal is to shift to a circular economy, where only pure and recycled materials are used for their products. This aim is exemplified in the Swedish brand’s new dB Pillar – a versatile acoustic furniture collection which uses textile waste from the Abstracta factory for its filling. The sound absorbing filling Abstracta uses for its products is made from 100% recycled materials – textile waste and polyester made from PET plastic bottles. The brand is currently part of a research project that explores how cellulose-based materials can be used as acoustic filling.

N02 Chair, Fritz Hansen

Fritz Hansen‘s N02 Recycle is a strong, stackable chair designed by Japanese studio nendo. N02’s form was inspired by a simple crease of paper on the designer’s work table. The chair’s elegant shell is formed from circular plastic, meaning it is made of recycled plastic that can be recycled again if necessary. The plastic for N02 Recycle comes from household, plastic waste collected, processed and upcycled in central Europe.

Nikari

Founded in 1967, Finnish brand Nikari produces beautiful, pared-back sustainable wooden furniture. Nikari has refined its production process to ensure that its products are high quality and long-lasting; upholstery parts are attached to wood by metal screws so they can be changed easily and the brand also prefers ecological and natural surface treatment materials, such as oil, waxes and soap. Nikari’s head office, studio and workshop use solely next generation renewable energy from the hydro power plant located next to their building.

Bark Lounge Chair, Icons of Denmark

BARK is an exploration in materials – a lounge chair with sustainable principles at its heart and the first fully recyclable commercial lounge chair. Built from the renewable ‘bark’ harvested from the Cork Oak tree, BARK has a tactile quality yet at the same time is robustly built to withstand the rigours of the commercial setting.

Cocoon Lounge Chair, ATBO

Inspired by the organic modernism of the 1960s, the design of the Cocoon Lounge Chair from ATBO fuses soft and sculptural shapes to create new archetypes. The sides of the Cocoon are made from rattan, a naturally renewable palm and highly sustainable material. The unique construction of the Cocoon allows you to choose from many different colour combinations, ranging from boho-chic to elegant and stylish.

Oceanic, Camira

Oceanic is a fabric born of the SEAQUAL Initiative designed to combat marine plastic pollution and achieve a waste free environment. It is created entirely from post-consumer recycled plastic – from debris floating discarded in our seas, used to make SEAQUAL yarn, to bottles thrown away and destined for landfill. Woven using SEAQUAL yarn, for every 2kgs (4 metres) of Oceanic fabric sold, 1kg of waste is removed from the ocean. One small drop in the mission to clean both the earth and its ocean, this contemporary fabric is a recycled polyester with a purpose.

Folk Chair, Pedrali

Pedrali‘s Folk collection is uniquely designed for ease of disassembly and recycling. Its design features a light, durable die-casted aluminium ring – the structural and distinctive element which enables the chair to be easily disassembled for recycling purposes or to replace its components. The solid ash frame snugly embraces the aluminium ring that holds the seat in natural cane, which guarantees visual lightness and maximum durability thanks to the nylon yarn woven into the wicker material. The bent plywood backrest ensures total comfort.