The Green Side of Luxury Furniture

In the space of Luxury Home furnishings, I believe that we must offer consumers well designed, long-lasting products that make extremely efficient use of (scarce) materials.

In honor of the official Earth Day, Joe Gaul of GaulSearson asked me to share some thoughts on the Luxury Side of Green. Here are some of what we'll discuss at GaulSearson's showroom in the SF Design center later today. I'll be adding to this series, including responses to our discussion, over the next few days.

The original question was: What is the Luxury side of Green? I think the better question is: What is the Green Side of Luxury? Why does the commitment to superior quality, long-lasting furniture and home decor mean a greener planet?

My response was to develop some criteria for Luxurious & Green Furniture:

1. Use of material - look for the efficient use of scarce material: Veneers, laminated or engineered woods, and other materials which are made to biodegrade with minimal impact to the environment AND minimal likelihood of product failure.

2. Building for demand, aka custom, is oh so green because manufacturers and craftsmen who offer this service don't produce in excess of consumer demand or what the market can sustain.

There is a clear distinction between building for demand and what has become the common trend of flooding the market with product with the purpose of driving down prices. Think volume discounts and dumping practices of some manufacturers.

The questions we should pose in the face of excess supply (even though it's cheap) include:

• What is the source of the resource?
• Is this level of production sustainable?
• What about shipping, disposal, excess waste? What are the long term costs of manufacturing, shipping, storing, and disposing of all that stuff, over and over and over.

Which brings me to my next criteria...Product Longevity and Price. Please See next post.