As conscious consumers it’s our job to seek out these designs and use our purchasing power to ‘vote’ for products that not only look good in our homes but also consider and do good for the planet. As Emma Watson says: “As consumers, we have so much power to change the world by just being careful in what we buy.”
Whether it’s a chair made from recycled fishing nets, or a light fitting made using 100 per cent renewable energy and shipped flat-packed to reduce carbon emissions from freighting, the pieces we choose for our homes can have an impact on the larger world around us, and contribute to positive, sustainable change.
Here are our favourite sustainable homeware designers or stockists of the moment:
David Trubridge
The Tūī light from designer David Trubridge is an ode to the star of Aotearoa’s native bush. Inspired by the necklace of interwoven rings around the shoulders of tūī birds, half rings of bamboo are woven into a basket form that would sit perfectly over a dining table, or even hanging in a stairwell.
Inspired by natural patterns and formations, Trubridge is renowned for creating alluring sculptural luminaires with environmental responsibility an integral part of the designs. All factory and studio waste are recycled, they rely 100 per cent on hydroelectricity, and all wood is left natural where appropriate, with natural non-toxic oils being used in place of harmful solvents. Trubridge’s products are also flat packaged and ready for customers to assemble themselves, reducing the company’s carbon emissions from freighting.
Aho
Named for Te Reo Māori word Aho, meaning a cord, a string or a line – the weft in the weaving, the thread of genealogy and descendants – Aho is a creative studio making products that celebrate an indigenous Aotearoa identity and aesthetic. Their vision is to create taonga to be treasured, but also used.
They offer a diverse range of products, from 100% organic cotton pēpi muslin wraps, to beautifully patterned cushion covers (made with a transparent supply chain), and custom tohu, locally made from sustainably sourced native Rimu or Tōtara timber, created to order with the name of your choice. These are all pieces to be kept for years to come.
Aho strive to keep whakapapa – the connections between people, environments and processes – at the centre of their philosophy, seeking out and employing processes, practices and materials that are sustainable and that ensure a better future for the people and the environments involved.
noho
The revolutionary noho move™ chair is designed to bring a new kind of comfort to everyday life. Created from thousands of hours of research into how we live, the sustainably crafted chair has a patented auxetic mesh seat that flexes in four ways to offer support that cradles anybody. Its innovative design encourages correct posture and dynamic ergonomic comfort.
Made in Aotearoa from ECONYL® regenerated fishing nets and end-of-life carpet diverted from landfills, noho is the first furniture brand in the world to use a unique and ocean-saving waste reclamation process with ECONYL® regenerated nylon.
The Waste-Free Home
The Waste-Free Home is an online store that hates waste and the disposable nature of so many products available today. Their aim is to help rid the world of unnecessary waste by bringing beautiful, useful, lasting, and easy alternatives into your home. Their products are all ethically and consciously made, sustainable, and easy to return to the earth once their hard working lives are over. The Handcrafted Wooden Bowls by Pete & Co. they stock are made from locally salvaged wood that would otherwise become waste and go to landfill, giving an old material a beautiful new life.
Lore
Fully committed to sustainability and caring for the environment, Lore creates carefully considered interior design solutions – like furniture pieces, curtains and blinds – that put our planet first. Their gorgeous hemp curtains are lightweight, strong and durable. Hemp fibre is a sustainable superstar material. A plant that grows rapidly and with little water consumption, hemp can be grown without the need for pesticides and amazingly, it returns 60-70% of the nutrients it takes from the soil.
Lore’s Recover Range sees them take an old piece of your furniture and breath new life into it by covering it with a soft and durable denim that would have otherwise gone to landfill.