Sustainable design, future-proof or fad?

We’ve been working with some of the most skilled and innovative British designers since our beginnings in the 1960s, and sustainable design is definitely one of the major emerging trends over the last few seasons.

Corian achieved zero landfill status back in 2012 by reusing and recycling waste during the manufacturing process. By using scraps and sanding from making solid surface sheets, as well as responsibly reusing packaging and manufacturing materials, makers DuPont have managed to futureproof their own business as well as the installations that are created from Corian.

But sustainable design runs deeper than the manufacturing process, and each week it seems we’re inundated with astounding examples of design for the home that prove that sustainable design is accessible to everyone and really worth investing in. Here are just some of our favourite examples.

Cena Collection by Jamie Mansfield
As part of his studies at Nottingham Trent University, Jamie has carried out research into thelack of utensils in modern kitchens and discovered that customers often find them ugly and out of place in a stylish kitchen setting. Jamie decided that using the waste from new Corian kitchens would be the ideal way to create something bespoke and stylish for homeowners that will complement their new design as well as save scrap material from landfill. The result was the Cena collection a classic utensil set for the modern home.

This innovative reuse of scrap materials is a sustainable solution due to the longevity and durable nature of Corian too. Its nonporous qualities prevent stains from penetrating the material, making them easy to clean and completely hygienic.

Pixel Credenza by Jay Watson

Oxfordshire based designer Jay Watson asked local fabricators and kitchen studios for out-of-date Corian samples to create this abstract pixellated unit. Using sustainably sourced birch plywood for the frame, the unit comprises three drawers with a cupboard either side. Touch opening mechanisms complete the sleek look and feel.
Watson says he chose Corian due to its durability and easytocare for properties. As well as a unique and artistic addition to the home, the credenza is practical too as users can place items on the tabletop without marking or water damaging the surface. Any scratches can be easily sanded or buffed out, making this piece of furniture easy to repair and able to stand the test of time.

ORIGIN light pendant by Gregg Parsell
Another graduate of Nottingham Trent, Gregg Parsell has used the translucent properties of partially recycled Corian to create these beautiful spiral light pendants. By combining American Black walnut with Glacier White Corian, Parsell achieves a dramatic contrast. Routed lines within the spiral, reveal an illuminated pattern with the overall piece inspired by seed pods.

The wood and Corian parts are removable and at the end of the pendant’s life can be recycled separately to further minimise its impact on the environment, meaning consumers with a conscience can still get their fix of style.
With designs such as these breaking into the British market, homeowners are provided with sustainable solutions to everyday home design issues.

Cutting down on resources, reusing and recycling helps keep costs down but also safeguards the future of design for the home, making it much more than a passing trend.

Written by Gary Baker. Gary is the MD of CD (UK) Ltd, the exclusive distributors of Corian in the UK. For more solid surface design ideas and inspiration, you can read Gary’s blog on cdukltd.co.uk.

The use of reclaimed and recycled materials is starting to become relatively standard, with many designers embracing the challenges that using a non virgin material brings.

There are myriad advantages to using any type of reclaimed material, but despite ecological and sustainable design becoming part of any discerning design studio’s working practices there can still be the misconception that ‘eco’ design does not necessarily mean ‘refined’ design.

Even though there can be distinct limitations to the reuse of an object or material, these can, and should inform the design process, with the clearest and strongest qualities being developed for the new object.

What is encouraging to see is that there are more and more products being developed along these lines, with a recycled foundation but a refined end result.

An example of this developing strand of design is beautifully illustrated by Canadian designer Tat Chao with the BIPOLAR range of pendant lights.

At first glance, these pendants appear to be lit glass lozenges which have been pinched around the middle with a metal ‘belt’, possibly during the glass blowing process.

But their appearance is rather deceptive. These are not hand blown glass shapes. They are recycled wine glasses.

Forming part of Chao’s IN VITRO range, the BIPOLAR light uses two reclaimed wine glasses to form each of the pendants. Their bases are removed and used in another project and the stems are shaped to a point before they are joined about the rim with a thin anodised aluminium band, housing a strip of LED lights.

The result is a simple, glowing pendant light which ticks not only the sustainability boxes but excels at being a piece of elegant design.

Whilst this is not a ‘bespoke’ piece as such, the fact that reclaimed materials are used in the process of construction ensure that each BIPOLAR is different from the next, with each light varying in glass design, shape and size.

Plus, this is a project where the concept can be carried across a range of found materials with ease, ensuring that the design is adaptable – an essential element of any true ‘sustainable’ product that uses recycled pieces. There is no point designing a product which becomes so popular that virgin materials have to be used. Design a process which can adapt.

The BIPOLAR light succeeds on all of these main points – it is simple yet elegant - in conception, construction and when finally suspended and lit. A great example of a truly beautiful, sustainable lighting design.

Visit www.tatchao.com for further information on the range.

Written by eco interior architect & designer guest blogger Claire Potter

The energy saving bulb has been with us for a number of years, but even though many of us elected to purchase them when our old bulbs blew, the phasing out of the incandescent bulb has meant that it is one of the cheapest and most readily available replacement choices for consumers.

Not that this is at all a bad thing – changing just one fitting to use an energy saving bulb could save around £3 a year in electricity. Multiply this across the fittings throughout the home and the savings soon begin to add up.

New lighting technologies are being developed and released very regularly, with highly efficient LED technology being packaged into a bigger and bigger range of fittings available to the industry and directly to the public. Price does still pay a big factor in the design and bulb chosen, but the increase in purchasing inevitably creates lower prices over time.

But the one bugbear of many a designer and client has been the overall design of the energy saving bulb – namely the ‘standard’ range available at the lowest prices.

The ‘column’ type bulbs can look rather stark and the ‘ice cream’ style bulbs also have a particular look which any not contribute to your scheme. This is, of course, a very personal decision between the designer and the client and we have used both of these low cost fittings to great effect – making no apologies for their shapes.

There is however, another choice for the energy saving bulb which addresses this design issue – the Plumen 001 bulb by Samuel Wilkinson for Hulger.

Working on the logic that the glass tubes that make up all of the standard energy saving bulbs can actually be bent in a whole variety of shapes, the Plumen 001 (and newly launched, smaller sized ‘Baby Plumen’) has rethought what an energy saving bulb can be.

Using ‘plumes’ of feathers as inspiration, the bulbs two twisting tubes create a sculptural form which changes shape as you move around the fitting.

The simplicity of the design actually creates a very complex and aesthetically pleasing form, which has been designed to sit, completely unclothed in a space, making it perfect for a statement ‘bare bulbs’ scheme.

It can however, be used to great effect when paired carefully with pendants – especially simple pieces which really let the bulb’s shapes shine, or enclosed glass fittings which ‘frame’ the bulbs like little pieces of art.

And this is exactly what Plumen’s new shade sets to achieve. The ‘Pharaoh’ shade has been designed for Danish firm Lightyears, specifically for the Plumen 001 and was launched at the recent Stockholm furniture fair. The simply shaped shade is mirror finished and appears a solid piece when the bulb is off, but as soon as the piece is illuminated the shade becomes transparent – enhancing the silhouetted shape of the bulb as the focus of the piece.

Alternatively, if you want to go super simple, the Plumen 001 can be paired with one of their newly developed pendant / drop sets, which are available in a series of colours and have been designed to completely contain the black section of the bulb, meaning that the form of the bulb sits directly beneath the fitting.

The beautiful thing about the Plumen 001 is just that – its beauty of sculptural form which brings energy saving bubs out of the ‘required’ box and into our ‘desired’ box when designing and specifying.

Visit www.plumen.com for details on their bulbs and pendant sets.

Written by eco interior architect & designer guest blogger Claire Potter