EarthX Website: https://earthxmedia.com/
At the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, NYC designer Laurence Carr hosts a lively discussion about sustainable and healthy materials in home design and creative ways to approach circularity.
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
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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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At the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, NYC designer Laurence Carr hosts a lively discussion about sustainable and healthy materials in home design and creative ways to approach circularity.
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
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TVTranscript
00:00🎵
00:31Consumers today are more informed than ever
00:35and the demand for healthy materials and interiors that support wellness is reaching new heights.
00:42But how does the industry adapt to this growing demand?
00:46I'm going to the Javits Conference Center in New York City
00:50where the International Contemporary Furniture Fair
00:53North America's leading platform for contemporary furniture design is taking place.
01:00And I'm excited to host an expert panel as part of ICFF's partnership with Wanted Design Manhattan 2021
01:08on the topic of wellness and healthy materials
01:11and speak to some other industry pros about their approach to health and well-being.
01:20So I think it's fair to say that the majority of the materials we use in the home are still traditional
01:26and in many cases toxic.
01:29So the question is, what do you see as the biggest challenge in getting more people to shift towards
01:34and adopt healthier materials and more sustainable products
01:39produced while striving for aesthetics and creating spaces?
01:44We look towards price very quickly and I think that you can go online and find anything.
01:49It's very hard to judge what you're looking at.
01:52A recent grad from our MFA Industrial Design program
01:55worked with a company as a consultant to rethink a take-back policy for couches
02:01much like Bell Telephone or these older companies that had a service product-service system model
02:06incentive for the company to make really well-made things which they can then repair.
02:11So I think that that's going to be the future for a lot of product is really a take-back policy.
02:16I think there is a growing movement of, shall we call it, conscious consumerism today
02:21where people are waking up and starting to really consider what they're buying.
02:28The notion that you can make a sofa or buy a sofa today anywhere in the globe for $1,000.
02:34Well, in America, if you're buying that sofa, it didn't come from America.
02:38It obviously had to come from overseas.
02:41You know, everyone is familiar, I think, with fast fashion as a slogan.
02:46Well, there's also something called fast furniture.
02:49I think in the absence of regulation, really it comes down to the maker and the consumer to educate themselves.
02:56My fundamental belief is that we cannot keep making things the way we've been making them.
03:03And if you want to take the example of wool, that's, you know, going back to a fiber
03:08that was a circular material perfected thousands of years ago.
03:12It has an incredible array of properties.
03:15It's one of the only fibers on the planet that has a natural flame retardants.
03:19Now, flame retardants in terms of sustainability standards is a very noxious chemical process.
03:26So wool as a fiber can bypass that process.
03:30It has incredible acoustic properties, sound absorbing.
03:34If you put it on walls, it really has a wonderful impact on the sound.
03:39And the one I like the most is probably the fact that it's actually air purifying.
03:45So it will filter the air.
03:48In a way, it's a perfect circular economy fabric.
03:51And it was something that was perfected thousands of years ago by nature, basically.
03:57So the animal, the sheep, has to be sheared.
04:00It grows back, it's renewable.
04:03If you don't do anything with the fleece, it will biodegrade.
04:06And it's now really forsaken.
04:09To a certain extent, the Irish wool market collapsed officially in 2020.
04:13It's not the first time it happened.
04:15Back in medieval times, it was probably one of the most prized commodities for trading.
04:20Cut to today, I think it accounts for barely 2% of the global market fiber share.
04:26So around about 1960, nylon was invented.
04:30New York, London, nylon.
04:32That was the major step forward in synthetic innovation.
04:35I think today, now two-thirds of the global market for fibers are dominated by synthetics,
04:41which is a petrochemical-based fossil fuel dependent.
04:46So often, people don't inquire.
04:48They don't care. They have to buy.
04:50And to your point, they will buy online, and it will show up on their doorstep the next day.
04:57Out of all the amazing furniture and textile vendors here at the Javits Center,
05:02one in particular, Jessica Switzer, knows wool very well.
05:07Her Northern California sheep produce mountains of fluffy organic wool no less than twice a year,
05:13which she uses to create decadent blankets and luxurious furniture.
05:19J.G. Switzer is an artisan manufacturer of felted wool,
05:23and we source wool from within a 100-mile radius of our workshop.
05:27We're trying to keep fiber and the production of fiber localized.
05:31And in effect, we think of it like painting with wool.
05:34So the wool is my oil paint, and I'll create paintings of wool on a canvas.
05:40I really can nerd out on wool.
05:42Wool is just a magical fiber, absolutely magical.
05:46And I'll tell you why.
05:47It's antimicrobial. It's antibacterial.
05:51Wool is a natural flame retardant. It's flame resistant.
05:56And it's also a wonderful natural sound barrier.
05:59One of the many extraordinary things that we do here at the Javits Center
06:02is that we have a lot of people who come to us and say,
06:06And it's also a wonderful natural sound barrier.
06:08One of the many extraordinary characteristics of wool as a fiber
06:12is that it really doesn't need chemical treatment.
06:16Each fiber of wool, if you look at it under a microscope, it has scales.
06:21So it'll actually pull in water, and the process is known as wicking,
06:25and then water will evaporate back into the atmosphere.
06:28Because if you think of sheep out on the field,
06:30they're carrying around 8 to 10 pounds of fleece on average before shearing.
06:36And if you think of them on a rainy day, that's going to be a lot of soggy wool.
06:40So nature's figured out a way to pull the water into the fibers and release it.
06:44So there's so many different incredible qualities to it.
06:47We think of it as a magic ingredient.
06:49Our felting process started with me actually getting some sheep.
06:53I wanted to do something with their wool.
06:55They were giving this incredible, you know, about 8 to 10 pounds of wool
06:59each time we sheared them, and I didn't want to use it as compost.
07:03And so I thought, well, maybe I should felt it.
07:05And then from that, it's just really been a journey of creating our own fabric
07:09made out of felted wool.
07:11I can't think of a better fabric than wool to bring into your home.
07:15Wool will regulate your body heat.
07:17It protects you from the sun.
07:19The blankets help protect you and keep you warm at night,
07:21and will also regulate your body heat.
07:23Some people think wool is scratchy,
07:25and I just have to say a word to those scratchy judgers,
07:29that we're not your grandma's wool anymore.
07:32Humans have bred sheep to be extraordinarily fine in fiber,
07:36and there are some, like Sussex Merinos,
07:39that rival cashmere in diameter of the fiber in terms of softness.
07:46We actually have some of our fabrics that we've named after the Shetland sheep.
07:51We have a Shetland Gray. We have a Shetland Brown.
07:54And we do this to help bring an awareness about Shetland fleeces,
07:59and thereby, we'd like to promote the sheep farmers,
08:03because without a pathway to commerce,
08:06these sheep farmers really, other than just love of sheep,
08:09don't have an incentive to continue to breed and nurture
08:13different flocks of exceptional sheep.
08:16And I think it's one of the most absolutely natural and healthy forms of textiles
08:21that we can bring into our homes without wondering what's on it.
08:32ICFF has long been an established trade show
08:35for leading architects, designers, developers, and suppliers of furnishings.
08:40But almost 10 years ago, my fellow Francophone, Odile Henault,
08:44noticed a gap in the conversation
08:46around emerging international designers and sustainability.
08:50So she started Wanted Design,
08:52a platform dedicated to promoting design
08:55and fostering the local and international creative community throughout the year
09:00to inspire a new breed of designers,
09:03young startups who are experimenting with manufacturing and materials
09:07to not only create beautiful furnishings and products,
09:10but also solve some of the world's most pressing issues.
09:14This year, Wanted Design is co-located with ICFF,
09:19bringing the old and new guard together
09:22in the interest of a more progressive and sustainable approach to design.
09:38We always say Wanted Design is a destination for discoveries,
09:41to expect the unexpected,
09:44and to put a spotlight on what we think is the next generation of designers.
09:49When we started Wanted Design 10 years ago,
09:51it became something essential.
09:53When people asked us,
09:55so what about the theme of sustainable design,
09:58and quickly we said it's not a theme,
10:00it's really an action,
10:02and it's an essential notion that everyone needs to embrace and think about.
10:07Do ICFF and Wanted Design Manhattan
10:10contribute to changing the way designers, retailers, manufacturers and the media
10:14think about sustainability?
10:16That's an important part of the programming,
10:19so it has to be a conversation, a tool and a resource
10:23for our participants, for our visitors.
10:25So we hope that it doesn't stay a nice conversation here,
10:28on the floor of the show,
10:30but it has an impact on the way interior designers, architects and manufacturers
10:35are going to move forward with their practice.
10:37It's become not just a theme that we want to talk about,
10:40but it's an essential part of the industry,
10:43and it's an emergency.
10:45So we are at this stage.
10:47We want to be more activists in a sense with Wanted Design,
10:51and I think we can do that,
10:53especially having in our network all those young companies, designers, studios,
10:59and that's a conversation I think we love having with them.
11:02That's the next generation you want to speak with,
11:04and that you want to encourage,
11:06to actually embrace this notion of responsibility as a designer.
11:10If people visit the show, they will see that many of those studios
11:14are really putting a lot of effort in the way they are conceiving,
11:19designing their product to make them sustainable,
11:22and also circularity, working with what is available in terms of materials.
11:29The studios are looking for materials that actually are available locally.
11:35On the Pennsylvania or upstate New York area,
11:39you will see a lot of wood.
11:41On some areas like Detroit, you will see a lot of metal.
11:44So I think there is this notion of,
11:46I need to work with what is available around me.
11:50I think that's interesting, this notion of locally,
11:53working from the beginning with the materials,
11:57with the craftsmen that are around you.
12:00I feel our industry should be much more pioneering,
12:04and not using the word sustainable design as,
12:07okay, I have to talk about that, but really addressing that.
12:11I think everyone on the old chain, from designers to manufacturers,
12:16to consumers, to architects and interior designers,
12:19it's a global conversation.
12:21And it's just like that that we can make the change, right?
12:24That's right.
12:25So we as organizers, as a platform that communicates all year long,
12:29and I hope it has an impact for the future.
12:34The average American moves about seven times in their lifetime.
12:38And moving furniture can be labor-intensive and pricey.
12:42But Jennifer June seeks to address this issue
12:45with her interlocking modular system
12:48that can be used to create chairs, desks, shelves, and other items
12:53using small wood pieces that are frequently discarded from wood mills.
13:02So Loose Parts is a modular furniture system,
13:06and it's really a pretty simple system made up of solid wood rails,
13:10metal panels, and fasteners.
13:13And the idea for it was to be able to recombine these parts
13:17into different configurations.
13:19Using the same parts, a shelving unit can be disassembled
13:23and reassembled into a table.
13:25A chair can be disassembled and reassembled.
13:29We are changeable creatures,
13:31and so I think our furniture should also be changeable with us.
13:36It's a water-based lacquer, totally VOC-free,
13:40and the metal panels are bent aluminum and steel
13:44made with recycled content, and they're powder-coated.
13:47And the idea for using powder coating
13:50was that it's safe for the applicators
13:53and those that bring the product into their home.
13:56And it's changeable so that you can, if you get tired of a color,
14:00you can refinish and recoat it and sort of revive your furniture piece.
14:05And then the fasteners are important in that I don't want to use any adhesives.
14:10Metal fasteners allow you to be able to take it apart,
14:13put it back together, and there's no weakening of the product.
14:17So I can have a table, a display rack, shelving, wall-mounted rack,
14:23and that's just from those combinations.
14:26The thing with loose parts, though,
14:28is that my entire collection is interchangeable.
14:31It's all based on this simple grid of holes and spacing.
14:35It taps into something that we're all sort of familiar with
14:39and that we have this memory of as kids,
14:43this idea of, like, building our interiors.
14:50When I began sourcing the wood for my furniture,
14:53I was working with a mill,
14:55but I didn't really understand where that wood was coming from.
14:58During the pandemic, it was a huge point of growth for me
15:02because I really started to ask more questions
15:05about where my materials are sourced.
15:07And it's actually this past year
15:09that I've dug deep into the process of clear-cutting
15:14and the species development and supporting undergrowth.
15:18And so I think even from the ecology
15:21of the farms that the trees are raised on
15:24to the mills that cut them down
15:27to the transportation into a fabricator's hands,
15:32it's important for designers
15:34to see where their raw materials,
15:36where their products are sourced.
15:38One of the problems I saw in design school
15:42was just this emphasis on new trends
15:46and new kind of new products
15:48always sort of coming onto the market.
15:50Designers are leaving design school
15:52without really understanding the kind of whole process
15:56that their products and their designs live in.
15:59So designers should be asking more questions
16:02and should be questioning,
16:04where is this finish coming from?
16:06How does it affect my health?
16:09What's in this?
16:10What chemicals are in this finish?
16:12Where is this wood being sourced?
16:15From the sourcing to the manufacturing
16:17to the design process,
16:18a lot of these industries are actually in silos
16:21and they're not talking to each other.
16:23I would just encourage designers to just be more curious
16:26about how they're sourcing and where they're sourcing
16:29their materials and the products that they use.
16:42At my panel on wellness and healthy materials
16:45at ICFF and Wanted Design Manhattan,
16:48I invited forward-thinking experts
16:50in eco-friendly furniture and textiles
16:53to join the conversation
16:55and share their professional insights.
16:58It is our responsibility as designers
17:01to disrupt traditional models
17:04and actively encourage eco-conscious decisions
17:08for healthy living and push secular design to a new level.
17:14We have a chance of being one of the greatest contributors
17:18to the well-being of the planet in the coming decades.
17:22It turns out that our industry's evolution
17:25to more sustainable solutions
17:27for the planet completely intersects
17:30with greater well-being for consumers.
17:33And I think we would all agree
17:35that the key to more sustainable
17:37and well-being enhancing solutions for both
17:40resides in the materials we choose in our homes,
17:44hospitality, and commercial environments.
17:48The newest product that I like in the building world
17:51is a solar shingle.
17:53Imagine, though, if you had a Powerwall
17:55and the sun's energy was being collected onto a battery,
17:58the power goes out and then your house just gets powered up
18:02because the battery is ever recharging.
18:05I think that could be a new solution
18:07that we're going to see in building.
18:09And I think that we are going to see
18:11more modular building tech in the future
18:13and it's going to be energy efficient
18:15and it's going to be eco-conscious with shingles.
18:18So I think that's the newest cool thing that I'm watching.
18:21So let's touch now on how you distinguish
18:25between healthy versus unhealthy materials.
18:28What do you look for?
18:30And also, what innovations do you see?
18:33What is the cutting edge
18:35in healthy material design and development?
18:38It's all about supply chain
18:40and many of us, myself included, are getting that online.
18:44And we're further and further from the product
18:47and from the source of the product.
18:49But really, in the end,
18:51it comes down to what a company's intentions are.
18:54For me, it really deals with intentionality
18:57and for consumers to get more involved
18:59with the supply chains in which their products are coming from.
19:03You ever see Supima cotton?
19:05It comes from Texas and California.
19:07It's the long-strand cotton.
19:09And if it comes from Austin in particular,
19:11I don't know if you know this,
19:13you've probably in Austin heard about the bats
19:15that fly out from under the Congress Avenue Bridge.
19:17They fly out to the cotton fields
19:18and they eat the bugs off the cotton.
19:20So that's pretty organic
19:22because you can't really pesticide or you'll kill the bats.
19:24So that's a little circular ecosystem in Austin.
19:28There is a group called Lensing Group
19:31who creates a circular product called the Tencel Fibers.
19:35They are 100% circular.
19:37They're made of tree pulp and I think it's fantastic.
19:40And these are some of the new products
19:42that are really worth exploring.
19:48During this COVID lockdown,
19:51I decided to do my first DIY project.
19:56And I now have a philosophy of buy brown.
19:59And what that means is buy old wooden furniture
20:02that you're going to see at a vintage market
20:04or an antiques market.
20:06And many people don't want brown furniture,
20:09but they don't realize you can paint it,
20:11you can stain it, you can make it darker,
20:14you can, you know, reimagine it.
20:17Put some new knobs on an old brown bookcase
20:20or something like that.
20:22I was able to get a 10-foot long, 9-foot tall
20:26wooden bookcase that was brown for $300.
20:31So now when people walk into my house,
20:33they're like, oh, I love your built-in bookcase.
20:35And I'm like, ha, ha, ha, it's $300.
20:38And so you need to go to antique shops.
20:40It's off-gassed.
20:42It's probably 40 years old.
20:43There's no anything in it.
20:45And paint it or stain it
20:48using the low-to-no VOC paints that we have today.
20:52Make something new and create your own sustainability.
20:55And if you can't do it, drop it at a carpenter's shop
20:59and you know what you're doing.
21:00You're actually probably training the next generation
21:03to know how to work with wood and how to stain things
21:06so that we stop the disposable economy.
21:09And so it's really aligning business.
21:11And the designer's role is to be part of that
21:13but also to create an aesthetic around it.
21:16The issue is a circular, closed-loop economy.
21:19And how do we create a world where there's no waste
21:22and there's no toxicity?
21:24I think the question is,
21:25we have to ask ourselves as designers and as companies
21:29is how do we create systems which keep lasting?
21:32These will be the answer,
21:34but I don't think from a consumer perspective.
21:36I think it will be the answer from a business perspective.
21:42The future of design is ever-evolving.
21:46And as designers, we still need to put more attention
21:50on how we design for sustainability and healthy materials.
21:54Reimagining old processes of a lifecycle assessment
21:58of a product from beginning to end
22:01and making space for progress and innovation
22:04to replace limited and outdated models.
22:07We have to partner with architects, builders,
22:10brands, artisans, and producers
22:14who join us on the quest for responsible,
22:17eco-conscious spaces and products.
22:20Trade shows like ICFF and Wanted Design
22:23are wonderful assets in helping to educate the industry
22:27about what's new and what's next.
22:30But it's incumbent on the professionals attending
22:33to use events like this as a jumping-off point
22:36for what's possible.
22:38The future is bright,
22:40but it requires each of us to step up
22:43and make changes that will improve the industry,
22:46the environments we design,
22:48and therefore the earth we inhabit.
22:51Until next time,
22:53I am Laurence Gare, designing for a more circular future.