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Fermob boasts zero-waste processes involving steel, water, and finishing to make an old material modern, earning Gold Exemplary recognition from the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
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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EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
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Fermob boasts zero-waste processes involving steel, water, and finishing to make an old material modern, earning Gold Exemplary recognition from the Sustainable Furnishings Council.
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.
EarthX
Love Our Planet.
The Official Network of Earth Day.
About Us:
At EarthX, we believe our planet is a pretty special place. The people, landscapes, and critters are likely unique to the entire universe, so we consider ourselves lucky to be here. We are committed to protecting the environment by inspiring conservation and sustainability, and our programming along with our range of expert hosts support this mission. We’re glad you’re with us.
EarthX is a media company dedicated to inspiring people to care about the planet. We take an omni channel approach to reach audiences of every age through its robust 24/7 linear channel distributed across cable and FAST outlets, along with dynamic, solution oriented short form content on social and digital platforms. EarthX is home to original series, documentaries and snackable content that offer sustainable solutions to environmental challenges. EarthX is the only network that delivers entertaining and inspiring topics that impact and inspire our lives on climate and sustainability.
EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
Follow Us:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/earthxmedia/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/earthxmedia
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EarthXMedia/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@earthxmedia
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@EarthXMedia
How to watch:
United States:
- Spectrum
- AT&T U-verse (1267)
- DIRECTV (267)
- Philo
- FuboTV
- Plex
- Fire TV
#EarthDay #Environment #Sustainability #Ecofriendly #Conservation #EarthX
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00🎵
00:29Based in France, Fairmob crafts furniture and décor for outdoor spaces
00:35using steel, one of the most recyclable materials on the planet,
00:39and has mastered many zero-waste processes
00:42that give them top-tier status in the world of circularity.
00:47I am meeting with Bernard Rebillet, president at Fairmob,
00:51to learn more about their visionary sustainable practices
00:55and where they're going in the future. Please join me.
00:59Bonjour Bernard, welcome to our Circular Design series.
01:03It's a pleasure having you here today.
01:06Welcome Laurence, it's my pleasure to be here with your audience.
01:11I'm happy to be with you.
01:12Thank you so much. Would you please introduce yourself and your products?
01:17I am Bernard Rebillet, I am the president of Fairmob.
01:20Fairmob is a French company designing,
01:23manufacturing and selling furniture, outdoor furniture,
01:27and not only furniture, but I would say more generally,
01:30decoration for the outdoor market.
01:33We have about 2,000 retailers all over the world.
01:36We are selling in about 60 countries through retailers to private end users
01:43or to professionals through architects,
01:46selling to hotels, restaurants, cities or communities
01:51who are in charge of public spaces.
01:53And our company is located in France.
01:56We have been inspired by our French history,
01:59the history of French creativity.
02:01We have been inspired by all our craftsmen and all the old industries,
02:07some of those industries dating back to the 14th century.
02:11What inspired you to get into the outdoor furniture industry initially?
02:15My family, they have been in the past always entrepreneurs.
02:19So the first reason, I wanted to have my own company
02:24or to develop my own company as an entrepreneur.
02:28But the second point is that I came to this outdoor furniture industry
02:35because first I fell in love with the material, which is steel.
02:39You know, Gustave Eiffel, the one who designed our Eiffel Tower in Paris,
02:45used to say steel is a raw material for ideas.
02:50Because with a single steel rod of 10 millimeter thickness,
02:56you can make and manufacture a product
02:58which is very close to what you have in your mind.
03:02This material is very old,
03:04but maybe it's why it's so old that the future could be so bright.
03:08I am not an artist, but I have a kind of design sense,
03:13artistic sensibility.
03:16And I felt that in such a company dealing with such a wonderful material,
03:21well, to a certain extent,
03:24it could be close to my own personal feeling and passion.
03:31When I took over this small company, only 10 persons,
03:35they had manufacturing facilities.
03:37And for me, manufacturing your own product is something very important.
03:42I like to understand the story from the very beginning to the end.
03:46And if you are not a manufacturer, it's more difficult to understand.
03:51When did you first start embracing eco-friendly practices and why?
03:56You know, I wrote down the values of the company more than 25 years ago.
04:02Among them were attention to the other and respect for environment.
04:08We are selling products that go outside.
04:11So it was so obvious for me that we had to take care of where we were
04:17and where our products were going to be.
04:19I couldn't imagine that we could manufacture a product going outside
04:25without paying attention to where we were
04:28and to a certain extent, not being fair with nature.
04:34You know, when I say my company is in the countryside,
04:37from my office here right now,
04:39I can see the hill of the Beaujolais.
04:42I can see the river, which is less than one kilometre from here.
04:47And we are really in the middle of nature.
04:52And besides that, at that time, it was also part of my conviction
04:57that we have to pay respect, attention, not only to the people around you,
05:03and I tried to do that with my colleague in my company,
05:06but also to everything which is around us.
05:10Fermob is a proud member of the Sustainable Furnishing Council
05:14and was honoured to earn gold exemplary recognition by the SFC.
05:20What sustainable and particularly circular practices
05:23are you most proud to have adopted at Fermob?
05:26100% of the people in the company are committed to the respect for environment.
05:33It means they are behind me.
05:35When we are making some changes, either in the process,
05:40either in the product, either in the organisation,
05:44well, they don't say, well, it's difficult, it's a new change.
05:47Well, they follow, they follow me.
05:50They also bring their ideas, so I'm not alone.
05:55It's a whole company which is involved in those practices,
06:01and I'm quite proud about that.
06:04That's fantastic.
06:05When the team supports the company's leadership, it accelerates success.
06:11Can you share a success story regarding a zero-waste process?
06:16Yes, 25 years ago, I took a very risky decision
06:22when investing 25% of my turnover in a new painting process.
06:28So it was a huge financial risk,
06:31but my decision was I want to have a zero-waste painting process.
06:37It was maybe a very difficult decision, a crazy decision, a risky decision,
06:43but nowadays I am happy and proud about this decision.
06:47What a story.
06:48I admire the risk you took.
06:51So let's talk about what products are made of at Fermob.
06:54What materials are used and where are raw materials for this product sourced?
07:00Mainly for us, it's steel and aluminium.
07:04They are quite heavy to transport,
07:07so we buy our raw material from France, Italy or Spain.
07:11Where we are in Lyon, which is in the centre-south of France,
07:15we are closer to Italy than to Paris.
07:18And you know that the north of Spain is not that far from the southern part of France,
07:23so we buy from France, Italy or Spain our steel.
07:27We decided a few years ago to start with lighting equipment.
07:33We have been designing them in France.
07:36Lighting equipment is not our core business,
07:39so they are made right now in a factory which is in China,
07:43because 90% of the parts you need are in China for lighting equipment.
07:50Well, you know about that for your smartphone and etc.
07:52It's about the same for lighting equipment.
07:55In the future, we are considering factories in the US and in Asia.
08:01Why? Because we hope ourselves we'll be growing and we're growing on those markets
08:06and considering working locally for this market,
08:10bringing our expertise and building with local employees and local suppliers.
08:16Maybe a new story, who knows?
08:20I really love your fun and creative outdoor furniture.
08:24Why use steel instead of wood?
08:26Well, we have been dealing with this material for so many years, more than 100 years.
08:32I have the greatest respect for wood, for plastic,
08:36but our know-how has been in the steel and metal.
08:41We are a lucky company because the recycling of steel has been organized for many centuries.
08:48Everywhere in the world, the recycling of steel is organized.
08:52It's about the same for aluminum.
08:54And it's organized because it has been organized for so many years
08:58in a very efficient recycling process.
09:02The worldwide material efficiency rate of steel is 96.3%.
09:09Steel can nearly be indefinitely used, recycled and recycled and recycled, etc.
09:15Today, steel products may become in the future a train or bridges or a chair
09:21and your chair can become a train and etc, etc.
09:25We are very happy to use steel and more generally metal.
09:29How about finishing materials?
09:32What sustainable options do you use for paint and other finishes?
09:36When you are manufacturing outdoor products,
09:39the protection of your product is very important.
09:42We use a powder coating process to protect them
09:45and to give the right colors of the Fermab range.
09:48We started with a zero-waste process for the powder coat.
09:53And then we went to a zero-waste process for water.
09:57Not a single drop of water going out.
10:00Every Monday, we check the water consumption
10:04and we have to add a little bit of water because of the natural evaporation in the system.
10:10But we are very, very proud to say it's really a zero-waste process in our factory.
10:18And not only for water,
10:23but for many components of what you add in the treatment of the steel.
10:2915 years ago, we still had copper or zinc or nonyl phenols,
10:36many chemical things, some slight, slight amount.
10:41And right now, we have 0% of those copper, zinc, fluorescent, nonyl phenol.
10:48We also made a decision many years ago,
10:50before it was compulsory because of the REACH agreement.
10:55We made the decision, we don't want any lead parts in our powder paint.
11:01For so many years, we wanted, and it was a kind of challenge for me,
11:05we wanted to be the first to have such virtuous equipment.
11:11We still try to improve year after year.
11:14But since we are at zero for everything, it's going to be more and more difficult.
11:19What a thorough process to get to zero waste.
11:23Let's talk more about circularity at Fermab.
11:26What's the approach to waste management and designing waste out of your processes?
11:32Steel is an old but noble and recyclable material.
11:38So our mission is to bring more modernity,
11:42more design to this old material of the future.
11:46We still have to improve the recycling percentage.
11:50So for that, design is very important.
11:53And innovation is really key to that.
11:56It's not only in the material you use in the product.
11:59It's certainly in the process.
12:01It's also, we try to pay attention to innovation
12:05with the way the employees in the factory can be organized to work.
12:13With the tabletop, we reduce by 30% the thickness of the tabletop,
12:20improving the sturdiness and the quality of the steel.
12:25We are proud about that because no doubt that the impact on the environment
12:29is much smaller when you have 30% of material compared to what we had before.
12:36Many years ago, in the spirit of everybody, a good product is a heavy product.
12:42And what I was saying, well, you can have a good product,
12:46a light product can also be resistant, sturdy, etc., etc.
12:52And from a usage point of view, by the way, a light chair is much better than a heavy chair.
12:58More about waste reduction and upcycling.
13:01Can you describe how much of your waste is reused or upcycled?
13:07It's a very simple question, a very simple answer for me, 100%.
13:13I'm not only speaking about steel and metal,
13:16which already accounts for the majority of all our products,
13:21but even the plastic lights we are using are made of recycled plastic.
13:26We have been using recycled boxes for 20 years, maybe, or 25 years.
13:32So now, because we have this 100%, we try to go further.
13:38And trying to go further is to say we always pay attention to the longevity of the product,
13:45including lighting equipment.
13:47We pay attention to the end of the life of the product.
13:51We also want to pay attention to the way our suppliers are organized.
13:57For instance, our recycled steel is coming from electrical arc-processed high furnaces
14:07because they have a much lower carbon impact.
14:10The other key issue is with the second life of the product.
14:15As a consumer, after years, well, you may want to change your product.
14:22You may have other needs.
14:24Then, because our products have such longevity, what are you going to do?
14:30We are organizing right now the second life of your products.
14:35We are testing a project right now where you could, as a consumer,
14:39bring some of your furniture to a paint applicator, which is linked to our company.
14:47Then you could repaint your product.
14:50Because you have to understand that repainting any product is very easy,
14:54but the cost of transport, if everybody was sending his product to Fermab, would be huge.
15:01And it wouldn't be a fair solution.
15:03So we hope to have several facilities with a specific organization so that you can say,
15:13okay, this one is close to me.
15:15I can bring the product and I can extend the longevity of my product.
15:19I can also have additional pleasure because I can change the color.
15:23So this is what we are trying to do.
15:27We try to innovate.
15:28We try to go further.
15:30Do you wish you can take back products but need a way to do it profitably?
15:36We had an experience very recently in Paris in one of the well-known hotel and swimming pool,
15:43and I would say a resort inside Paris.
15:48And we told them, well, you have 600 pieces of furniture, wood, steel, whatever.
15:55Okay, you want to change them.
15:58Good decision.
15:59It's good for the outdoor furniture industry.
16:02But the question is, what is going to happen to all those furniture?
16:08We took back all the products.
16:10One part is going to be repainted in our factory.
16:13Another part will be sold to a restaurant who are okay to buy second-hand product.
16:20We also said, okay, we are going to renew some of them,
16:26to give them to some social organization with people in need of furniture.
16:34And we organized that for all the product of this company,
16:39even if it wasn't a Fairmob product.
16:43We are going to see what was the overall cost of this operation.
16:49At the end, we don't want to make specifically profit on this,
16:53but we want to have a flat operation.
16:55But we want to offer to everybody the possibility
16:59to be responsible for the second life of the product you have been using.
17:04How does Fairmob measure its impact?
17:07Any statistics you can share about the measurable effects of your eco-friendly policies?
17:12I couldn't imagine 25 years ago that year after year, we could still make progress.
17:20For instance, in 2019, we saved 5.4% of electricity consumption.
17:28And in 2020, we saved again minus 9%,
17:33with the greenhouse gas emission also from 5 million kWh to 4.3 million in 2020.
17:44Those figures are maybe not impressive enough,
17:48but for me, they are marvelous.
17:50Because if everybody is making progress, then we will come to a global success.
17:57I don't want to look at the figures in absolute terms.
18:00I want to see, I want to check if year after year, we are improving, improving, improving.
18:07I don't know how my people can perform year after year to improve.
18:14You know, when we achieve a minus 9% with electricity, I say, well, they can't,
18:19we can't go further.
18:20And the year after, we had minus 5.4%.
18:24I think the human creativity, the motivation can turn people very, very clever.
18:32And when you have so many people involved in such a challenge, well, you can succeed.
18:40Indeed, we all have to do our part for the betterment of the planet.
18:44What is the circular challenge you are facing in your business?
18:48And what worries you?
18:50The circular challenge is what we try to start with a second life of product.
18:57Could it be profitable?
19:01What worries me?
19:04I don't like the quick delivery.
19:06And especially the last kilometers, we all know it costs a lot.
19:10People want to have a product within one day or 24 hours or 48 hours.
19:17I don't understand that.
19:18I mean, why are we so impatient?
19:21Why?
19:22I don't understand that.
19:24Bernard, what trends do you foresee in the industry at large?
19:27I know that there are some important trends.
19:34And the most important for me would be tell us the truth.
19:39We have to be transparent.
19:40We have to tell the truth to the consumer.
19:43The consumer has to know, is responsible.
19:46So it already has started in the food industry.
19:50You know exactly when buying your product, how it's made, the calorie, etc.
19:58You have more and more information in the industry.
20:01We have to tell the truth.
20:03We have to tell the truth about the raw material, about the process, etc.
20:07The consumer is responsible enough to make a choice.
20:15We all know that the 100% perfection, you can't find that everywhere.
20:21But telling the truth is certainly the most significant trend for the future.
20:28I have to say, above that, it's much easier to tell the truth than lying.
20:35Because if you lie, you have to remember the way you present things, etc.
20:39And in my personal life, I say, well, telling the truth is easier than anything else.
20:45It makes you comfortable, so easy.
20:50Thank you, Bernard, for sharing your view so candidly.
20:52You certainly are an advocate for healthy materials.
20:56What do you wish the Fermob legacy to be?
21:01Forget me, forget Fermob.
21:03In the value of the company, we have joie de vivre, so be happy with our product.
21:11My pleasure would be to know that people are happy with our furniture,
21:16in their home, in their garden, with their children, friends.
21:20And if everybody was happy in the world, I mean, the world would be much more different.
21:25So the consequences would be wonderful for everybody.
21:29So I am a small part of the worldwide happiness, a small contributor,
21:37very, very small contributor.
21:41Thank you, Bernard.
21:42I truly appreciated our conversation and learning about Fermob's product
21:46and its circular processes.
21:48It was my pleasure too.
21:49You understand I'm a little bit passionate by what I am doing
21:54and sharing is a pleasure.
21:57Fermob has a truly amazing roster of circular accomplishments.
22:02From their zero-waste processes involving steel, aluminum, water,
22:07and finishing to their innovative ways to make an old material modern,
22:11save electricity and reduce carbon emissions,
22:15Fermob has always been ahead of its time.
22:18Their steady year-after-year improvement process
22:21has all added up to substantially measurable impact.
22:24I can't wait to see how their commitment
22:27to offering a second life for their products turns out
22:30and hope that many furniture designers, manufacturers, and retailers
22:35are inspired by the changes that helped make Fermob
22:39one of the most circular companies in the industry.