In the UK, there are lots of furniture retailers that are making sustainable products, ranging from large companies to small independent makers.
With sustainable furniture made to last, eco friendly furniture could actually be better for your pocket as well as the planet.
So before you bulk buy flat pack furniture online, or even opt for the latest trend - you might want to consider whether a sustainable alternative to that piece of furniture exists.
Here are some of our favourite UK based sustainable furniture makers from the EcoSend team to inspire you.
Etsy Reclaimed Furniture
Website: etsy.com
Based in: Across the UK
Perfect for: Supporting independent artists while picking up something truly unique for your home.
Etsy is a place where talented makers sell their creations online.
The site also has a dedicated ‘reclaimed’ furniture section, showcasing some of the best ways to turn otherwise redundant items into beautiful pieces of furniture.
One of the items which caught our eye was this multi-coloured table made from old boat spool.
Creator Steven Bowler said about the piece: “This reclaimed spool top creates a wonderful background of splits, knots, uneven rustic finish which oozes character and creates a colourful nautical feel to this stunning centrepiece.”
Steven also states that his pieces are made to order rather than being mass produced, which is yet another sign of a sustainable seller.
Graham & Green
Website: grahamandgreen.co.uk
Based in: Bath, England
Perfect for: Exploring a broad range of sustainable materials to use within your home.
Boasting a dedicated eco-friendly products section, it’s possible to deck your whole house out with sustainable furniture from Graham & Green.
From papier-mâché shelving units to seagrass door mats, Graham & Green has some of the most innovative material uses we’ve come across. The website even stocks coasters made from materials found on beach clean up.
What’s great about the concepts is that they consider the environment without losing the fun factor. There are endless colours and textures to explore with something to please every homeowner who cares about the planet.
Heal’s Recycled Furniture
Website: heals.com
Based in: London, England
Perfect for: Filling your home with furniture that otherwise would have remained as ocean waste.
Heal’s creates recycled furniture with the ethos ‘yesterday’s waste can be today’s raw material’.
The ‘Ocean Plastic Chair’ you’re looking at above was made from 960g of recycled ocean plastic waste and fishing nets. Often, sustainable furniture is mostly made from reclaimed or sustainable wood, so it’s always interesting to see a different take on eco-friendly design.
Consider the outcome of the above waste being left in the ocean, or even having to use new raw materials to create the chair, and the genius soon becomes apparent.
Elsewhere, Heal’s stocks furniture made from salvaged glass and plastic bottles. Their fashion lines use industry offcuts, and every piece is recycled in some way.
Konk
Website: konkfurniture.com
Based in: Bristol, England
Perfect for: Purchasing high end pieces of furniture, bespoke furniture or for commercial projects.
Masterminded by an architecture graduate who…didn’t want to be an architect (we’ve all been there) Konk is nothing short of seriously cool.
Looking to end the ‘throwaway culture’, Konk’s timber is sourced from sustainable forests. The company also works with One Tree Planted to ensure that a tree is planted for every order received.
Most of all, every piece of furniture is handcrafted with longevity in mind. Konk wants you to have the piece in your home for years so that you let it age and develop character. If more pieces of furniture were built with such integrity, it would go a long way to reducing carbon emissions from the entire furniture production and shipping process.
Nkuku
Website: nkuku.com
Based in: Dartington, Devon
Perfect for: Picking up those furniture staples for both your indoor and outdoor spaces. Getting away from trend-led furniture design.
It’s always a promising sign when a company holds B Corp status and it’s fair to say that Nkuku doesn’t disappoint.
With strong sustainability pledges, Nkuku uses sustainably sourced and natural products to create their product lines. These materials include the likes of rattan, corn husk and jute. Interestingly, Nkuku states that they aren’t followers of fashion, which again is far better for the planet.
Offering both indoor and outdoor furniture, Nkuku’s lines feel elegant with a wide range of colours, textures and even fabrics incorporated throughout.
Tomas & Jani
Website: tomasandjani.co.uk
Based in: Lewes, England
Perfect for: Eco-friendly home renovations along with snazzy (yet sustainable!) home furniture.
The above kitchen was made from…coffee waste. Can you believe such a thing is now possible?
Tomas & Jani make all kinds of furniture for your home. But they also make some of the most mind blowing kitchens we’ve ever seen. We’re still getting over the fact you can make coffee in your kitchen, and indeed the kitchen itself from coffee.
The material is called KAVA (yep all caps). It’s an organic plastic-free material that’s made using coffee waste and organic fibres such as crushed argan and walnut shells. The pigment of the KAVA kitchen units is then achieved by infusing ground metals, powdered marble and charcoal dust.
If you’re not in the market for a new kitchen, Tomas & Jani also stock tables and other goodies made from coffee.
Okay, now we need a brew. ☕️
Sebastian Cox
Website: sebastiancox.co.uk
Based in: London, England
Perfect for: Achieving that Scandi look while helping the planet.
You know when you see those homes on interior design shows on TV and wish your home looked even half as cool?
Sebastian Cox is the personification of that kind of admiration for incredible furniture design. We’re draping an invisibility cloak over our ‘well known Swedish retailer’ flat pack furniture just looking at their products. And indeed we should. Have you seen how well crafted their pieces are?
No wonder the company is award winning! Architectural Digest, Forbes 30 Under 30 and Design Guild Mark to name a few.
Sebastian Cox’s motto is ‘furniture designed and made with a nature-first perspective.’ The company aims to store 100 tonnes of CO2 in the products made every year.
Plus they are on a mission to double the area of wild land and woodland found in the UK by 2040.
Simba (Green Organic Go Hybrid Mattress)
Website: simbasleep.com
Based in: Bristol, England
Perfect for: Reducing the numbers of mattresses send to landfill.
Did you know that the UK threw away 7 million mattresses in 2017?
If the 600,000 mattresses thrown away every year in Scotland alone were stacked on top of each other, the size of the pile would be 100 times taller than Ben Nevis. That’s according to Zero Waste Scotland.
Simba’s Green Organic GO Hybrid® Mattress is on a mission to give you a sustainable good night’s sleep. Made from 100% recycled materials, Simba will also collect and recycle your existing mattress too. Plus, this mattress also boasts a carbon neutral delivery.
Furthermore, by 2030, Simba’s mission is that none of the materials used to produce any of their mattresses will end up in landfill.
Sustainable Furniture
Website: sustainable-furniture.co.uk
Based in: Cornwall, England
Perfect for: Stocking up on those furniture essentials without having to worry about cheap or unethical manufacturing processes.
Cornish brand Sustainable Furniture (aptly named for this post!) was the brainchild of founder Margaret.
After working in traditional furniture retail, Margaret noticed a gap in the market for sustainable pieces of furniture that could serve our homes for many years instead of only catering to a passing trend.
Some of the materials used to make Sustainable Furniture pieces include reclaimed teak and Cornish grown Douglas Fir.
The company has won numerous awards for its sustainability efforts, and supports various causes aimed at encouraging sustainable furniture making practices.
Sustainable Kitchens
Website: sustainablekitchens.co.uk
Based in: Bristol, England
Perfect for: Lowering the carbon footprint of your new kitchen.
We move from one incredible company name to another in terms of this blog post!
Sustainable Kitchens create bespoke kitchens backed with a 30-year guarantee. On that note, we also adore the blurb on their website which reads: “Invite us back in 10 years for a fresh coat of paint and a quick tune up to keep your kitchen in new condition.”
Anyone who has had renovation work done to their home will know that this kind of attitude basically doesn’t exist nowadays. With materials being made ever cheaper, and trend-led design creating an environmental nightmare, Sustainable Kitchens are a breath of fresh air.
Given kitchens are the hub of any home, adding in a sustainable concept that boasts longevity sets the bar for the entire industry.
West Elm
Website: westelm.co.uk
Based in: London, England
Perfect for: Bringing Californian chic into the heart of your Blighty home.
It’s not always easy to find sustainable furniture options on the high street. But West Elm has cracked it.
On the West Elm website is a ‘sustainably sourced’ section, helping you the customer to make a more informed choice about the environmental impact of your furniture and home accessories.
Currently, 60% of West Elm’s product sales support sustainability initiatives, with the company aiming to increase this further still. In addition, 100% of their ‘all-cotton’ bedding and bath towels are both organic and sustainability sourced.
Elsewhere within the product lines, 95% of products are designed in-house. 52% of wood based products are sustainably sourced, and 66M plastic bottles are used to make their REPREVE® recycled polyester.
West Elm is still trying to up its sustainability efforts. Though, take a look at any other high street retailer (especially where mass production is a thing) and you’d struggle to find a similar commitment to the planet and good causes overall.
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