Sustainability With Style

Create an eco-friendly living space by choosing furniture pieces with care and consideration, writes Guinevere Davies

- Guinevere Davies

Gorgeous interiors needn’t cost the earth. From choosing furniture suppliers who make their manufacturing processes known to supporting local designers or giving beloved heirlooms an upgrade, there are myriad ways to ensure our living spaces not only look good but do good too.

TAKE CARE

Our homes are more than just a reflection of our personal taste and style; the items we choose to surround ourselves with also represent our values. Eco-friendly or sustainably made pieces of furniture are emblematic not only of your love for your home environment, but the future of the planet as well.

As minima design’s Jacques Cronje explains, “There are so many aspects of our lives where it’s hard to avoid having an environmental impact; for instance travel and energy consumption – particularly in South Africa where most of our electricity is still produced by burning coal. Compared to that, simply making conscious choices as to what we consume and purchase is relatively easy in terms of reducing our environmental impact.”

Says Audi Snÿman of Audi Snÿman Interior Design, “I think it is incredibly important to contribute to the preservation of our environment, in every aspect of our lives. We need to be responsible, not only in our purchasing choices, but be mindful and considerate in our shopping habits too. Therefore, if a desired item is not immediately available, I will always suggest to my clients that we wait, and don’t, in the interim, make do with a cheaper item that will eventually need to be discarded.”