Because raw materials make for the best refined objects.
Peruvian Alpaca fibers, New Zealand Wool
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9.1900° S, 75.0152° W, 40.9006° S, 174.8860° E
Breathable. Airy. Supple. Prone to deep and vivid dyes. The most desired qualities would be all but impossible without a performative and sustainable raw source material.
Peruvian alpaca, New Zealand wool & recycled silk are just a few of the superb choices of raw source material utilized in our design objects.
Fire retardant & naturally hypoallergenic, Peruvian Alpaca is adaptable for any home or space.
New Zealand Wool is typically raised with little impact on the natural landscape, biodegradable, and is known for being the purest, whitest wool globally — providing excellent dyeing characteristics that create long-lasting colors.
Recycled silk appropriates what is typically held to be the least sustainable industry in terms of materials usage – fashion, and diverts some of its material expenditure into a healthy carpeting alternative for any home.
Vitrification: why not learn how some of the objects in your home are made?
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Essentially, this is the transformation of a (usually solid) substance, such as clay, into a glass. In the production of ceramics, this process is responsible for its impermeability, or resistance to water.
The initial materials, in this case, the solid, clay, is heated at considerably high temperatures, usually in a firing oven, until it liquidizes.
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The liquidified solid is then cooled, in most cases rapidly, passing through the glass transition to form a 'vitrified' (that is converted to glass by heat) solid.
And there you have the first steps towards the pleasing stoneware or porcelain which so often orders & adorns your dining table, offices, & living surfaces.
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Stoneware, which composes the majority of our ceramics collections, can either be vitreous or semi-vitreous, and often necessitates, or performs ideally with a reactive glaze.
In any case, water absorption in stoneware is typically less than or up to 1%, minimized by the presence of a glaze. So no worry of anything soaking into those pleasing plates.
We won't let you out of all the fun, however. Feel free to browse through our items to discover more details on production processes.
You might just learn something while embarking on your next project, office/home renovation, or interior design.
Thoughtfully designed objects should also be thoughtfully crafted and produced, as well as brought to the consumer.
90% of all home furnishing sales in the U.S. occur through cost-heavy & carbon-heavy physical showrooms.
10:1 [ratio of offline to online retail in 2017-18]
Bringing products directly to the end consumer mitigates this cost & reduces carbon impact of product sourcing.
This allows us to bring higher-grades of products directly to you, at a lower premium.
Teak oil naturally repels insects, negating the need for pesticides & maintenance
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Bamboo produces 35% more oxygen than equivalent trees, is carbon-neutral & carbon sequestering.
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Organically grown cotton uses 71% less water & 62% less energy.
Although essential, mere design is not enough. In addition to a smarter, and more well-designed home, we want to provide you and your clients with a healthier and more sustainable one. For this very reason, we not only looked for efficiently designed objects, but also ethical & sustainable ones. For instance, our producers for our luxury throws & pillows are certified by the World Fair Trade Organization in addition to being members of the UN Global Compact Initiative. Many of our rug items incorporate bamboo fiber, which is known for being a carbon-sequestering plant & carbon neutral material. Our Teak producers are sourced with wood directly from Bali, sustaining and providing stimulus to the local economies. Oak items are made of FSC certified oak, ensuring responsible & socially beneficial forestry practices. Additionally, all of our ceramics are produced by hand in a local studio in Denmark.
10% of the world's pesticide usage comes from conventionally-produced cotton.
It's not enough to talk about the utility and benefits of sustainability. What exactly do these selected source materials do?
For starters, New Zealand Wool is raised on land unsuitable for food production & farms in the region prohibit internationally banned pesticides, making its sheep industry one of the world's greenest animal production systems. Bamboo is known for being largely irrigation-independent, sequestering carbon emissions, being carbon-neutral, as well as producing a volume of oxygen in excess of 35% above the levels produced by an equivalent planting of other tree species.
Additionally, Bamboo plantings are vital to soil erosion inhibition, positively affecting agriculture. By 2025, two-thirds of the world's population is expected to face water shortages. For this reason, predominantly rain-fed or irrigation-independent source materials are preferable. Organically-grown cotton is 80% rain-fed, consumes 71% less water, & 62% less energy, posing a potential savings of 70% in land/water acidification & 46% in carbon emissions.
Teak wood is naturally water-repellent, insect-resistant, & can endure even the most intense environmental conditions, eliminating the need for pesticides and energy-intensive maintenance.
FCS certified oak ensures environmentally responsible forestry practices.
Thus, the movement towards a smarter and more well-designed home starts with ethical & sustainable design choices.
There is no reason design * and material-conscious sustainability should continue be mutually exclusive.
So go ahead & take the plunge.
** Brought to you and chosen for you by our dedicated Design Cove team, Six-Hundred Third Ave, Second Floor, New York, NY, 10016
