Words by Oliver Theobald
Objective sustainability is a conundrum I have been wrestling with day in and day out for years now. My foundational belief is that we are a fundamentally unsustainable species, but I flip-flop between disillusionment and bullish defiance. Sustainability is ultimately a very chewy topic, one to be taken seriously and not misused for marketing purposes. But, in the furniture industry, it
is so easily misused by brands and it’s this ill-informed ‘greenwashing’ which makes me so angry.
If you really mean to be sustainable, you have to cast a questioning eye over everything that you do without any self-delusion. I know from experience there are many unsustainable practices taking place which undermine the environmental credentials of myriad designs on the market today. Brands may pat themselves on their backs over collections which they define as ‘sustainable’, but most often, the reality is murky.