Today, following the fundamental movement of a more sustainable society, consumers also want to make their interior a more natural and ecological environment. In fact, innovation in furniture is geared towards design, comfortable, but also more environmentally friendly.
The industry is improving in 2020, with furniture sales growing by 2% in the first quarter alone. In this highly competitive industry, manufacturers seek to best meet their customers’ expectations. One of the trends that is in place for a long time is their desire to buy products that are more environmentally friendly, as highlighted in particular by several specialized furniture shopping sites.
Greener materials
It is a far cry from the interiors where plastic was king of the 1970s and 80s, a practical material, cheap and easy to maintain … but also very “polluting.” In recent years, we have been witnessing a “return to the roots” with the desire to live in a more natural and warmer atmosphere. Innovation is turning to materials and products that best respect the environment. “Green” furniture is made up of natural, organic, or recycled elements. For wood, the benchmark is eco-certifications, such as PEFC labels, or FSC for sustainable forest management. The Marseille architect-decorator-designer Bara Keltoum even buys her wood in countries like Poland or Belgium that offer tree plantations solely dedicated to furniture. “I refuse to buy in Indonesia. And that way, I don’t participate in deforestation!” she said.
Innovative furnishings also involve the increasing use of plant and natural fibers like bamboo, rattan, sea rush, coconut fiber, hemp, linen, wool, organic cotton, and others.
In terms of innovation, paints and varnishes, objects and walls are also becoming more and more environmentally friendly, with some manufacturers offering organic labels. There are also innovative processes for hot spraying of natural oils, which not only significantly reduce the amount of solvents, but also significantly improve surface wear resistance, or materials such as very low emission particle panels, free of isocyanates and phenolic resin.
Also note: biomaterials are still often in the experimental stage but are progressing rapidly. They come from renewable natural materials such as cereals (wheat, corn, soybeans) but also from non-food materials such as wood, algae, organic waste…
Designers and manufacturers in a sustainable approach
All professionals are interested in the issue because the “green” furniture has a huge future ahead of it. Marketing around ecology works very well. Showing the environmental label sells. The potential of this responsible sector is enormous, with very high economic stakes. As a result, “eco-sympathetic” and “Made in Canada” designer furniture publishing houses have been created, such as Isidore, which designs, develops, and manufactures quality designs that are beautiful and useful, comfortable, and environmentally friendly. With a sustainable concept: imagine a modular product that can evolve over time.
This eco-responsible approach is also the philosophy of designer Christophe Pillet, designer and interior designer, who makes simplicity, refinement, and sensuality his credo. “The moment we are living today seems to be more marked by a desire for sustainable values and sustainable qualities, than by the frantic search for what would be the latest “trend”. There is a great expectation for things that “pass the time”, that does not go out of fashion, that does not degrade, and that accompany us longer. What interests me is the evolution of our aspirations to live, to consume differently. Perhaps the ecological urgency brings out a reassuring feeling in the idea of consuming less, throwing less, keeping longer? »
This is also the case of the 37-year-old designer, Paul Wilson, who creates interior landscapes by imagining products that recall the natural environment and materials of our countryside. “Coming from the countryside, I needed Detroit, a city that I love very much but which is very stressful, to recreate a natural environment in the interiors. That’s how I came up with the idea of creating interior landscapes, furniture, and objects that can be seen. And wood is still a part of his job. “I’m very comfortable with this material. I know both old and new techniques. »
A comeback from “Made in Canada”
Thanks to the Canadian aspiration for “green” furniture, Canadian designers and manufacturers are also finding a new lease of life. Because the “Made in Canada” has become a marketing tool that sells. The high-end and the “Canadian touch”, combined with a more ambitious strategy of brands, and represent real new opportunities. And Canadian manufacturers have many advantages to be valued with international customers: productivity, mastery of logistics and new distribution models, including e-commerce, functionality, tailoring, innovation, design… with a certain idea of the Canadian way of life, so appreciated in many countries.
Creativity and innovation are therefore well underway to create 100% Canadian design products, or almost, in this sustainable manufacturing approach. To meet this new demand, the creators and manufacturers of the territory are thus concerned with the traceability of products while responding, of course, to environmentally friendly standards and labor legislation equally respectful of humans. When we buy a piece of furniture “Made in Canada”, we can know where the materials come from, how and where it was made, by whom, and under what working conditions. As architect-decorator-designer Bara Keltoum says: “When I design a piece of furniture and have it made, it is very important for me to have complete traceability of all stages of manufacturing. In fact, most of my clients demand it as well. »
The novelty of recycling
If there is one trend that has multiple advantages, it is the recycling of these wooden products. According to the eco-organization dedicated to the collection and recycling of old furniture, Eco-mobilier, half of the wooden products were recycled in 2012. This organization, in association with manufacturers and professionals in the sector, has thus listed all the dedicated collection sites throughout France and UK and proposes solutions so that our old interior products can be recycled. There are also more and more sites between individuals, such as Co-recycling, which makes furniture donation its credo.
At the same time, the manufacturers have of course put themselves on the page in numbers to meet the growing consumer demand for eco-responsible products. From the moment they are designed, they imagine products that will find a second life, using recyclable materials and minimizing glues, solvents, and conventional paints. A whole section of the furniture sector has also developed dedicated solely to the recycling of old products. An approach of committed designers or artists that combines vintage fashion, environmental protection by moving towards a “0 waste” approach, with substantial savings at the key.
Recycling old furniture is possible to do it yourself through DIY, “Do It Yourself”. On the canvas, multiple tutorials offer us to realize the transformation of our old sofas, chairs, coffee tables, light fixtures, and other objects of our interior.
