Four sustainable design companies to watch out for this year

Transforming public seating into plant-friendly, natural designs

Green Furniture Concept is a sustainable, modern furniture brand that you may already recognise.

Spotted in train stations, airports, health centres, school campuses, and shopping malls around the world, the Swedish company’s curved, wooden seating breathes life and character into a space with its curvy shapes and natural wooden tones.

The company aims to transform public seating areas into places that are both attractive and sustainable. Each wooden beam can be individually replaced as needed, offering a functional and long-lasting approach to modern design.

Even better, Green Furniture Concept runs in a way that benefits the environment.

The company has already reached its goal of net-zero carbon emissions and is now completely planet-positive after starting a major reforestation project in Colombia.

For every metre of wooden furniture sold by the Green Furniture Company, another tree is planted. Since the initiative began five years ago, over 25,000 trees have been planted.

Green Furniture Company is also involved with 608 tree planting initiatives in Europe and America. This global, collective action offsets of 423 tonnes of carbon every decade, according to the company.

Responsibly sourced wood, making use of recycled scrap steel for seat support, and working to regenerate our natural environment are all key parts of this company’s ethos.

And when that results in beautifully designed public spaces – what’s not to love?

Beach-discarded surfboards find a second lifecycle

Marine plastic waste is one of the biggest environmental issues of our time.

But aside from packaging that ends up in the ocean accidentally, around 16,000 surfboards and body boards are left on UK beaches each year, with most of them used only once.

Recognising this issue, student designer and Founder of Wave Cycle, Harry Peck, carried out over 100 tests to find out whether the boards could be recycled and what they could realistically be used to create.

What Peck found was that polystyrene – commonly used to make most bodyboards and surfboards – is highly durable and easily recyclable once subjected to heat.

After melting the plastic down, it is then placed through a mechanical shredder to produce small pellets which are then reheated and placed into moulds to make something new.

Today, Wave Cycle has created a collection of plastic chairs, stools, and shelving units. Unlike many other recycled materials, polystyrene is able to generate the pleasing glossy finish that we typically associate with virgin plastic goods.

It’s an amazing and important concept, considering coastal areas in the UK have had to ban plastic body boards due to the immense amount of pollution they cause.

Could papier-mâché become the new plastic?

French designer Vincent Dassi wants us to rethink we make products from the earliest stages in order to improve the environmental impact of design.

In his quest for a sustainable moulding material, he turned to a craft that many of us will be familiar with from our childhood: papier-mâché.

Dassi created a pulp out of soaked paper and cardboard that was pre-shredded inside a juicing machine. After adding rice starch instead of glue,  a clay-like substance formed that can easily moulded and left to dry.

So far, his papier-mâché collection consist of chairs, coffee tables, lamps, a vacuum cleaner and a guitar. Yes, a guitar!

And what good is this knowledge if no one knows about it? That’s exactly what Dassi thought before starting an online platform called Pulp It where he shares his papier-mâché techniques and new breakthroughs.

Anyone who has experience with papier-mâché knows it isn’t the most durable material, which Dassi admits can only work to create the casing of a product and does not allow for electricals to be included.

Without a suitable protective layer (plastic is off the cards, of course), the material would inevitably lose its shape over time and its imperfect and rough textured finish may not appeal to all consumers.

That’s not to say there aren’t any positives to using papier-mâché instead of plastic. Unlike many other materials, papier-mâché tools can be easily reprocessed to create a new product by simply soaking it in water.

Another benefit of using papier-mâché tools is that they can be easily replaced. In the words of Dassi, ‘If it breaks, don’t panic; everything can be fixed with a bit of fresh pulp.’

Circular designs using recycled sheets of plastic

One Berlin-based couple have embarked on a plastic-innovation journey inspired by making the world a better place for their two children.

‘We believe [plastic] is the exact opposite of rubbish and is entirely useful when used the right way,’ said Benito Sanz & Lahcmann in reference to their circular home furniture range.

For their designs, The Minimono Project uses non-toxic, 100 percent recyclable polyethylene (HDPE) – a kind of plastic that is lightweight but strong, water and shock resistant, and easy to clean.

The HDPE is sourced from local suppliers and then ground into plastic granules and melted – in a similar way to the Wave Cycle surfboards we mentioned earlier.

The furniture will vary in colour depending on the batch it’s recycled from, making each piece unique. Coming in speckled, eye-catching patterns ‘Confetti’ and ‘Camouflage’, the range is made up a line of side tables, chairs, desks, and display units that can be placed in or outdoors.

The Minimono Project is also designed for the not-so-handy of us, as all the pieces are flat-packed, meaning they don’t require any screws or tools for assembly.

Living sustainably doesn’t sound so difficult anymore, does it?