A Circular Furniture Showcase
In 2016, there were 550 million square feet of office space in New York City, providing work spaces for the around 1.5 million people. This makes New York City the world’s premier office market, and implies that how we design and fit out our office spaces, have the potential to be of global impact.
As to showcase how a range of different design companies and furniture manufactures have already taken on this call for action, Arup and Danish Cleantech Hub in New York are the initiators behind a Circular Furniture Showcase. We believe that a circular approach to furniture and interior design, entails an immense potential to create sustainable and livable office spaces. Well-designed and durable furniture will allow component reuse, informed material choices, and valuable takeback systems, just to name a few benefits.
The showcase was first exhibited at a high-level circular economy event hosted by the Danish Cleantech Hub on September 25th. The furniture was exhibited at stage and used as an active part of the conference. Subsequently the exhibition, in a slightly reduced version, have moved the New York HQ of Arup.
Please see below description of the furniture and office interior accessories exhibited. Thank you to all participating parties, we couldn’t have had it without you!
The USM design combines timeless design with environmental consciousness. The USM modular concept has remained unchanged for the past 60 years, resulting in extended product lifetime as consumers have been able to add modular reconfigurations to their old furniture. This has caused less furniture to end in landfills why the USM Haller system has received a Cradle 2 Cradle certification.
EGE Carpets
Produced with care for people and the planet. With Ege Carpets, you can decorate your office, hotel, shop, restaurant etc. in a beautiful and sustainable way. The carpet yarns are produced from abandoned fishing nets and other industrial waste that have been cleaned, transformed and reborn as a soft yet strong material. With a design range covering any visual desire, carpets from Ege excite the aesthetic eye for many years while bringing a comfortable feel and effective sound reducing effects too.
Steelcase
Being an Ellen MacArthur Foundation Circular Economy 100 Partner, Steelcase has placed circular economy principles at the heart of the company’s business model. As one of the early adopters of the Cradle 2 Cradle framework, Steelcase has completed life cycle assessments on over 35 products since 2003, and is supporting customers with comprehensive end -of-use and reuse programs, all designed to keep products out of the landfill.
Fischer Lighting // GXN
Fischer’s sustainable business logic, where old lamps are upgraded with high-quality LEDs for a fraction of the cost of a new system, is now embodied in a new family of luminaires. The collaboration between Fischer and GXN succeeded in creating a light-fitting that is remarkably simple, easy to assemble and made with circular principles and disused fishing nets. But more than being a circular product, it is an architecturally pleasing design that distributes light in a beautiful way. The new products replace a variety of existing recessed lamps, but can also be implemented as new fixtures.
Magnus Olesen
Magnus Olesen develops and manufactures high quality furniture in cooperation with today’s leading designers and architects. The result is a functional, aesthetic and unique design that enhances the spaces where it’s placed. Magnus Olesen has always been focused on longevity and sustainability. The company believes in Danish craftsmanship and has manufactured in Denmark ever since 1937. Good design that lasts and ”design for disassembly” are key parameters, enhancing recyclability of used products and contributing to the circular economy. Magnus Olesen’s production is based on sustainable Nordic wood. Since 2016 Magnus Olesen is FSC® certified. (FSC®C131817). The latest endeavor in regards to sustainability is getting the Butterfly Series Cradle 2 Cradle certified.
Grodan
Grodan by ROCKWOOL supplies innovative and sustainable stone wool growing media solutions for the professional horticultural sector, based on precision growing principles. These solutions are, amongst others, applied for the cultivation of vegetables and flowers, such as tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers, egg plants, roses and gerberas. Stone wool growing media are offered together with tailor-made advice and innovative tools to support precision growing and thus facilitate the sustainable production of healthy, safe and tasty fresh produce for consumers.
57st. Design
57st. Design is a direct-to-consumer furniture brand based in Chicago. In 2018, 57st. Design launched Design Circulation, the first fully circular furniture initiative in America. Through Design Circulation, 57st. Design guarantees to take back it’s furniture (at any point in the future and regardless of wear) in exchange for store credit. It then restores this furniture to its original condition and sells (circulates) it to another customer. The goal is to create a system in which furniture is never discarded nor destroyed, but rather circulated from home to home in perpetuity.
Thors Design
Thors Design represents upcycling in its simplest form. Reclaimed harbour wood is transformed in to a piece of sustainable furniture. Old wood is given a new life, despite being partially submerged in the Danish sea for over 60 years, the wood still has a life expectancy of between 50 and 100 years, whilst adding value to the end result. This business case enables Thors Design to lease or rent their furniture, where the furniture can be returned after use and re- /upcycled once again for further application.
Jalema
In 2009 Jalema got their sustainable files Cradle 2 Cradle certified. Every file is produced out of virginfiber cardboard, derived from commercial forestry. For every cut tree, at least 1,5 new trees are planted. They are produced using 100% green energy. Cardboard and all other materials that are part of the files are 100% recyclable.
Stabilo
As one of the global leading providers of pens, STABILO has taken responsibility upon themselves by developing the Cradle 2 Cradle certified pens made from 98% recycled plastics.
