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Cisco Home is leading with circular designs. While pursuing certifications, including the FSC, SFC, and Fair Trade, they not only deliver beautiful furniture but also healthy and comfortable choices.

About Chez Laurence:
Designer Laurence Carr meets manufacturers and brands who are employing circular, regenerative, and sustainable practices. See how they're seeking to change the end-of-life concept with eco-friendly techniques.

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Transcript
00:00🎵
00:30Cisco Home is a Los Angeles-based furniture maker
00:34known for designing and hand-crafting beautiful contemporary furniture
00:39and home goods using 100% Forest Stewardship Council certified wood
00:44and boosting numerous other industry standard certifications
00:48to back up their company's mission towards sustainability.
00:52Let's discuss with their founder Cisco Pinedo
00:55to learn more about how they integrate circular practices in their business.
01:00Hello Cisco. Welcome to our series.
01:03Thank you. Thank you for the invitation.
01:06Great to have you here. Please introduce yourself and your company.
01:10My name is Cisco Pinedo and I'm the co-founder of Cisco Home,
01:14an LA-based company that makes sustainable furniture
01:17and distributes it all over the country and all over Europe.
01:21What inspired you to get into the furnishings industry initially?
01:25You know, when I was in junior high,
01:29I was introduced in my neighborhood to a little local upholstery shop.
01:36And I grew up in South Central, so the neighborhood is not, you know,
01:41it's not a place for young kids to be wandering around.
01:47So my mom was very, very concerned and she goes, no, we're going to find you a job.
01:51And I ended up in this upholstery shop and I always wanted to be an architect.
01:57So that was the closest to me to see something getting built and restore.
02:02And I just fell in love with it and I never left. So here I am.
02:07How is it different from what drives you now?
02:10Even though we grew up to make brand new product
02:14and I started restoring products, I think even today I still have the same curiosity.
02:21And I'm always in flea markets and antique fairs and always curious about, you know,
02:29trying to rescue what we have left behind.
02:33And we have a collection that we do every year of just restore products,
02:40products that either we rescue from a flea market or from the landfills or from a construction site.
02:49And we're just trying to rescue as much as we can and not to go to the wasteland.
02:55Tell me more about Cisco Home's commitment to sustainability.
02:59When did you first start embracing eco-friendly practices and why?
03:04I grew up in a small village far away from society.
03:09Therefore, in essence, I grew up in nature.
03:14So when I started Cisco Home in 1990,
03:18I was always concerned about where the wood was coming from of all these products that the industry was making.
03:25So we made the commitment from day one to plant a tree for every piece of furniture that we were making.
03:32You know, that kind of was the beginning.
03:34Now we only use FSC certified lumber, new lumber, and also reclaimed lumber.
03:40And we have moved from that to use organic cottons, organic wools, latex,
03:46and all the ingredients that makes a product much healthier for our homes and much healthier for us
03:53and with a huge impact in our social system and also in our environment.
03:57I'm impressed by your responsible wood sourcing policy.
04:01Can you share more about the Forest Stewardship Council's Scorecard commitment?
04:07I was one of the first members.
04:09It was a friend of mine who started it and, you know, we kind of share equal concerns
04:15and equal, you know, inspiration to inspire the industry to move to more sustainable woods.
04:22So that was kind of the beginning.
04:24And, you know, that was something that we both felt and with, you know, other members
04:32that we needed to do in our industry and just be more conscious about the materials that we were using.
04:38100% of all the wood products that we produce are FSC certified.
04:45It doesn't matter if it's a new lumber or reclaimed lumber.
04:49So we're very proud of that.
04:50And, you know, we did that from when we got the certification about 15 years ago.
04:55You can move the needle by asking questions and find what the solutions are
05:01and then make a plan how you're going to get to a better place and not just ignore where you are
05:10and pretend that, you know, somebody else will lead it.
05:14We tried to do it within our craft and within our means.
05:18You know, we can only change the world with our intentions and our actions.
05:23And my craft, I feel like this is the way I can contribute.
05:27So make beautiful products that are good for our health and are good for the environment
05:32and good for our society.
05:34What product most represents you sustainability wise?
05:38You know, of course, upholstery is our strength.
05:42Even though we make products for the whole home.
05:46When FSC started promoting and pushing to get members, I talked to my suppliers and I said,
05:55Hey, I want to be using only FSC certified woods.
06:01And, you know, my supplier was not really, we were not aligned on our philosophies
06:09and he kind of, you know, keep ignoring what I was requesting.
06:15And I got to the point where I gave him a timeframe.
06:18I said, Hey, you have six months to get certification or we're going to go and we're going to go somewhere else.
06:26And, you know, he didn't think that we were going to make that decision because it was so new
06:32and nobody was, nobody really care.
06:34So, you know, we were lucky enough to find a smaller company that was very,
06:41that we were aligned on doing better and the environment.
06:47So this company that I was, you know, was my supplier for over a decade,
06:53all of a sudden lost a very important customer.
06:56And this new little company gained a pretty substantial customer.
07:01And I think that's the beauty of economics, you know, that you can move the needle with your wallet
07:07and we can choose what kind of lumber we want to use for our products.
07:12So we made the choice that FSC certification was the best certification for our industry.
07:18So that's what we did.
07:19And, you know, this is kind of how we move the needle to bring better products to our homes.
07:25Consumers care about transparency.
07:28Can you describe what materials you use and where materials are sourced for your furnishings?
07:35The FSC certified woods that we use is primarily come from Oregon and Washington State.
07:40And the recycled woods, you know, pretty much from the LA area.
07:43It's just from construction and restoration of buildings.
07:47All our wool comes from, also from Oregon and Northern California.
07:54And that's all the wood, all the wool that we use for padding and the interior of the upholstery.
08:01And the latex, it's an organic latex that we use for our cushioning.
08:06When we started using organic materials, latex was almost impossible to get organic latex.
08:13Today, we're very proud that we have convinced our vendors to be able to produce an organic latex.
08:20So you can buy a full organic piece of furniture from us, not only from the sustainability side,
08:27from the resources where the materials come from, but also from materials that are all natural and that are good for your health.
08:35A lot of our allergies and a lot of issues that we have with asthma and all the chemicals that we have put into our products.
08:43You know, most of the products that we use for padding or the materials that are in our furniture, the majority is petroleum based.
08:53And for the longest time, it was with fire retardants, which was horrific for our health.
08:59So thank God in California with, you know, the big movement and us in the furniture industry going to Sacramento
09:09and convincing them that this was bad for us, that was changed a few years back.
09:14And, you know, at least that is not in the furniture anymore.
09:17But, you know, you have choices. And before the consumer didn't have a choice.
09:22Well, today you can buy a product that is 100% organic that you can put into your home.
09:27How about finishing materials? What sustainable options do you use for your joinery, paint and finishes?
09:35Our glues are all water-based. Prior to the last decade, you were not able to find those glues.
09:42Today we have that. All our stains now are water-based.
09:46And even prior to that, we were using beeswax that we still use today.
09:52When somebody really needs something that is all natural and they just want to be able to enjoy the nature of the wood,
10:00we literally just put beeswax in the wood and it looks spectacular.
10:06What about waste reduction and upcycling? Can you speak to your waste management and waste and reduction policies?
10:14I'm someone who believes that you can rescue anything out of the landfills and make something out of it,
10:20something productive or something that you can build with those materials.
10:25In our manufacturing side, we literally have all the leftover latex.
10:32We make beanbags. We make teddy bears. We make floor cushions out of our linens and our organic cottons.
10:42We make aprons. We make napkins. We make tablecloths.
10:48And what we're trying to do is to have the minimum amount of waste and try to make products that are not necessarily what we do,
10:59but it's products that we use on a daily basis at home.
11:03A napkin from us, I think you can buy a set for $25.
11:09If you go to the marketplace, those same napkins probably are $25 each.
11:15And the reason we can sell them for that low price is because we are using materials that normally we're going to waste.
11:21So in essence, we're just charging a little bit for the labor.
11:24And we just want to make people happy that they're using a product that is 100% natural and they can enjoy their dinner table.
11:34How does Cisco measure its impact?
11:36There's a point system that we use in the Sustainable Furniture Council that we have the highest score
11:43by being the company that uses only FSC certified woods.
11:47We've got certification in our organic cottons.
11:51So we have like about four or five different certifications.
11:55And we're very transparent. We put them on our website.
11:58So our customers can educate themselves even beyond what we can tell them,
12:01but they can really see where the certifications come from and how do they hold us accountable as members.
12:09Cisco Home offers a lifetime guarantee on your products.
12:12Tell us about your approach to product longevity in a market that too often leans toward low cost and short-term use.
12:20We stay behind our products.
12:22They're made so well and they're made with such good raw materials that we want people to know that we stay behind.
12:29So that's why we give them a lifetime warranty on the actual piece of furniture so they can pass it along.
12:36You know, if they get bored of having a white couch, they can always order a slip cover that is in whatever color that they feel like it's going to be good for their summer.
12:46The structure of the piece of furniture is so good.
12:49And when you buy a good piece of furniture, with time, it gets more comfortable.
12:56I have a story of a customer and she was saying to me, you know,
12:59I just got divorced and the one thing I told my husband that I was going to take my Cisco sofa with me.
13:04And, you know, she had it for 20 years and she was there to order a slip cover because she said the couch is more comfortable than when I bought it.
13:12So, you know, those are just the stories that I just love because the longevity of our product gives you comfort.
13:22And that's, you know, that's the ultimate achievement that I can shoot for is to people to enjoy their quality of time at their home
13:32and enjoy, you know, being comfortable and being at peace.
13:37What is the circular challenge you are facing in your business? What worries you?
13:42It worries me that our industry moves very slow and our habits in society, we move extremely slow.
13:54And there's not enough people offering products that are good for us, you know, and they're good for the environment.
14:01We're too driven by accumulating wealth without thinking on the overall greater good in society and our environment and the ecosystem that we have.
14:16So those are the things that worry me.
14:20What other sustainable practices are you hoping to include in the future?
14:24You know, my goal is that one day that people only demand organic products, that they don't settle for conventional products.
14:34And we can be there for them and improve the quality of our home.
14:38So my goal is that we can keep moving the needle also in our home products, that we have better choices for our families.
14:47What trends do you foresee in the industry?
14:50I'm an optimist, so I do believe that if consumers keep asking the question, you know, where is this made?
14:58Who made it? How they made it? Where did the materials came from?
15:02What, you know, what chemicals, if there is, you know, harm and chemicals, I want to know what they are,
15:08because you never know if you're allergic to it or the impact that that will have in your family or in a family member.
15:14So I think transparency and educating ourselves and, you know, technology and social awareness is the biggest, you know, way that we can move the needle.
15:31You have some fun and unexpected green elements built into your factory operations. Can you tell us a little bit more about that?
15:40So I'm a farmer's market guy, you know, I mean, 90% of what I consume at home is pretty much products from the farmer's market.
15:49So we started by putting our own little garden in our factory.
15:53And in the last year, we actually acquired some land outside of L.A. and the property is an organic farm.
16:02So we're going to be able to work with different farmers to grow, you know, just beautiful organic products that we can consume.
16:10Can you share more about the fabulous kitchen area in your showroom and the meals you share during Hypon Market?
16:18In all our trade shows that we do, you know, we cook every day breakfast, lunch and dinner.
16:24We can probably, you know, sometimes we do a thousand meals within five to six days.
16:29And, you know, that's the best thing I can do to my customers when I see them every six months, every three months, is to be able to give them a beautiful meal that they can enjoy.
16:38In what way does your philosophy affect the communities that support your operations?
16:44My philosophy is, you know, how can I contribute to the greater good and to society and to the planet?
16:51I'm someone who believes in giving back.
16:54So my craft, it's a way that I feel like I can contribute by making products that are good for all of us and respect the earth, respect, you know, the society.
17:06Treat people with respect and love and teach them something that they can take with them and they can be proud of.
17:15What do you want the Cisco Home legacy to be?
17:18I just probably want to be remembered as someone who loved his craft, put all the energy and love into what I believe in.
17:28And that I made a difference in the short period of time that I was around.
17:33So that if I can accomplish that, make my family happy and, you know, make the people around me that I have an impact in somehow, some way.
17:42And if minimum, at least with offering them some comfort, you know, through a good meal and a beautiful place to sit and enjoy their life.
17:50Thank you, Cisco. It's been a real pleasure having this conversation about Cisco Home's sustainability and circular approach.
17:57No, thank you. Thank you for having me.
18:01Cisco's passion clearly extends into everything it does.
18:06And Cisco Home has emerged as a leader in the industry's shift towards circular practices.
18:12By encouraging their vendors to adopt safer practices and develop healthy alternatives to dangerous materials, they are creating a ripple effect in the industry.
18:24In pursuing their own multiple certifications, including the FSC, SFC and Fairtrade,
18:31they can be proud knowing they are offering more than just beautiful furniture with a lifetime warranty, but a lifestyle of health and comfort as well.

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