How to create a stylish environmentally friendly interior - 1

You might wonder how can an interior designer propose environmentally responsible scheme, without getting the hippy look that stick with being "eco-friendly".

I must say that I have been irritated so many times when seeing in interior design shows, the "environment-friendly" design made out of rubbish stuck together, giving the wrong idea of what a "green" design can be.
I am not criticizing the re-use of objects here, I am just not sure that crushing flat cans of a famous drink to transform them into kitchen tiles is the best "green" design we can think of.

So the question is: how do you create an environmentally responsible scheme without compromising on style?
Well, I would say that it is all in the sourcing the components of the scheme. Instead of sourcing things following the criteria of beauty, style, and ergonomic, we have to add the following criteria:

1. Is it made out of material from a renewable source?
We don’t want to participate to the depletion of precious natural resources, and so have to choose carefully our products to be sure they are from a renewable source.

2. Will the product bio-degrade when disposed of?
What is going to happen when we have finished with the product, is it re-usable, is it recyclable, is it going to bio-degrade nicely to its natural component or will it finished into a landfill...

3. Is it possible to source locally?
By avoiding transport it is possible to keep our carbon footprint on a lower level, which is what we want to achieve.

4. Does it contain any toxic molecule
Yes, and this criteria is not the least. With our air tight houses, whatever we bring inside the house will stay there, and if any toxic molecules are contained into a new piece of furniture, into the paint... it will be released for a long period of time and be inhaled by the inhabitants.

As you can see, it has to do with common sense and a bit of science too, as we will see in the second part!

Emmanuelle Lemoine