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Decor + Design: Putting the Sustainable Into Interiors
The new Sustainability Hub at Australia's premier interior design fair shines a spotlight on earth-friendly innovations
Houzz AU
9 July 2022
After a two-year hiatus, Australia’s leading interior design show, Decor + Design, is back. Over four days, from 14 to 17 July 2022 at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, design lovers can get their fill of trends, talks, seminars, stands and tours. Here, we preview the latest innovation from at Decor + Design, a new Sustainability Hub set to highlight eco-friendly design, furniture and recycled materials.
This sofa (pictured), sold through M+Co Living, just may be the future of environmentally friendly furniture choices in Australia. While it looks like traditional leather, it is made from is ‘AppleSkin Leather’, a material formed by upcycling discarded fruit fibre.
Designed and manufactured in Italy, the fabric of this Gus Modern sofa was created to re-purpose the food remnants of the country’s apple orchard and juicing industries, and to meet global demand for an alternative to animal leather.
The inner filling also uses a new PET fill; essentially an ultra-soft, long-strand fibre material that offers the comfort and feel of traditional waterfowl down, but is achieved by diverting plastic bottles away from landfills and waterways.
The recycled bottles are purified and refined in several stages to create a synthetic down-upholstery fill that gives long-lasting comfort while maintaining cushion loft and shape.
Need to update your interior? Find interior designers near you, browse images of their work and read reviews from previous clients
Designed and manufactured in Italy, the fabric of this Gus Modern sofa was created to re-purpose the food remnants of the country’s apple orchard and juicing industries, and to meet global demand for an alternative to animal leather.
The inner filling also uses a new PET fill; essentially an ultra-soft, long-strand fibre material that offers the comfort and feel of traditional waterfowl down, but is achieved by diverting plastic bottles away from landfills and waterways.
The recycled bottles are purified and refined in several stages to create a synthetic down-upholstery fill that gives long-lasting comfort while maintaining cushion loft and shape.
Need to update your interior? Find interior designers near you, browse images of their work and read reviews from previous clients
Anaglypta Architecture’s Hempcrete Home in Bridgewater, SA.
If you’re interested in environmentally friendly building materials, you’re in luck with The Hemp Building Company sharing its expertise at the fair.
Specialists in the use of hempcrete, The Hemp Building Company is the first registered builder in Australia to offer consultation services and hands-on workshop training opportunities tailored to the needs of architects, builders, owner-builders and artisans of natural materials. This is a prime opportunity to get up-to-date on this fantastic building material (as well as order industrial hemp hurd, specially formulated lime binders and natural lime renders).
If you’re interested in environmentally friendly building materials, you’re in luck with The Hemp Building Company sharing its expertise at the fair.
Specialists in the use of hempcrete, The Hemp Building Company is the first registered builder in Australia to offer consultation services and hands-on workshop training opportunities tailored to the needs of architects, builders, owner-builders and artisans of natural materials. This is a prime opportunity to get up-to-date on this fantastic building material (as well as order industrial hemp hurd, specially formulated lime binders and natural lime renders).
Another building company that will feature it’s wares at the Sustainability Hub is Island Block & Paving. The local company manufactures a premium range of bricks, concrete building blocks, DIY retaining-wall systems, architectural coloured blocks, weed-free paving options, artificial grass and driveway pavers.
The Green Tag certified Sustainable Products for the Future range are trademarked as Bricks for the Future (as seen in pewter here), Blocks for the Future, Pavers for the Future and the Freestone ECO Retaining Wall System.
The Green Tag certified Sustainable Products for the Future range are trademarked as Bricks for the Future (as seen in pewter here), Blocks for the Future, Pavers for the Future and the Freestone ECO Retaining Wall System.
There are also companies that focus on earth-friendly internal manufacturing, such as AC Stone Group.
AC Stone Group’s benchtops use machinery that minimises waste production, and reincorporates quartz residue into slabs in new production processes (thus reducing the need to extract more quartz than necessary, minimising the strain on natural resources).
AC Stone Group’s benchtops use machinery that minimises waste production, and reincorporates quartz residue into slabs in new production processes (thus reducing the need to extract more quartz than necessary, minimising the strain on natural resources).
We know by now that wood from a sustainably managed source has many environment benefits because it is renewable, has lower embodied energy than other materials and sequesters carbon in the built environment.
But if you’re in the industry, do you know where to find such certified products? You can learn at WoodSolutions, which provides information and educational resources on how to use timber products.
It will be at Decor + Design showing visitors how to use the WoodSolutions website – in effect the world’s leading website for timber information.
Responding to market needs identified by research, its comprehensive site can provide architects, engineers and building professionals with information and technical resources about using wood and wood products, with the potential to provide the users with Continuous Professional Development points – where applicable – through a wide range of channels.
For consumers who want to purchase environmentally friendly wood products, it pays to look for the FSC label. This provides assurance that the material or product comes from verified and responsible sources that have met FSC’s strict environmental and social requirements.
Alternatively, companies such as Satara produce furniture from reclaimed wood.
Browse more stunning bathrooms by Australian designers
But if you’re in the industry, do you know where to find such certified products? You can learn at WoodSolutions, which provides information and educational resources on how to use timber products.
It will be at Decor + Design showing visitors how to use the WoodSolutions website – in effect the world’s leading website for timber information.
Responding to market needs identified by research, its comprehensive site can provide architects, engineers and building professionals with information and technical resources about using wood and wood products, with the potential to provide the users with Continuous Professional Development points – where applicable – through a wide range of channels.
For consumers who want to purchase environmentally friendly wood products, it pays to look for the FSC label. This provides assurance that the material or product comes from verified and responsible sources that have met FSC’s strict environmental and social requirements.
Alternatively, companies such as Satara produce furniture from reclaimed wood.
Browse more stunning bathrooms by Australian designers
Then there is the rise in sustainable homewares, such as those produced by Porter Green. A female-owned family business based in Melbourne, Victoria, it produces ethically sourced and sustainably made drinkware.
Among its core collection are Fegg unbreakable silicone tumblers, Stemm unbreakable silicone stemmed wine glasses, and Urbb, a reusable coffee cup designed and engineered in Australia made from biodegradable bamboo.
Refreshments will be served at the Sustainability Hub, including Sip & Enjoy non-alcoholic beverages.
The Sustainability Hub is on Thursday 14 July from 12:30pm-1:30pm, and Friday 15 July from 12:30pm-1:30pm.
Your turn
Which exhibitors are you most excited to visit at Decor + Design? Tell us in the Comments, like this story, save the images, and join the conversation.
More
For more information go to Decor + Design.
Among its core collection are Fegg unbreakable silicone tumblers, Stemm unbreakable silicone stemmed wine glasses, and Urbb, a reusable coffee cup designed and engineered in Australia made from biodegradable bamboo.
Refreshments will be served at the Sustainability Hub, including Sip & Enjoy non-alcoholic beverages.
The Sustainability Hub is on Thursday 14 July from 12:30pm-1:30pm, and Friday 15 July from 12:30pm-1:30pm.
Your turn
Which exhibitors are you most excited to visit at Decor + Design? Tell us in the Comments, like this story, save the images, and join the conversation.
More
For more information go to Decor + Design.
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