Conscious consumerism for your home

I’ve always wanted to help people my whole life. Whether it was by simply holding open the door for someone, or working towards raising money to help those in need. Plain and simple, helping others has always filled my heart. I guess that’s why it’s appropriate that I’ve commonly found myself in jobs that serve others; teaching, fundraising and now designing.

While I know that I’m helping my clients on a daily basis, I’m striving to have a greater impact. I’m not sure if it’s the effects of COVID, hitting my mid 40’s, or watching my kids grow up with so much abundance around them and seeing so many others go without. Whatever it is, I’m on a mission to merge my love of design with helping others even more greatly; all the while, making a positive impact on the environment. I want to know that I’m making a difference and helping our world. I don’t want to bury my head in the sand and ignore what's right in front of me everyday — the abundance, the waste, the degradation to our forests, and the mistreatment of people around the world.

Most of us — including me — live in a ‘bubble’ and just buy without really thinking through where the product comes from, how it’s manufactured, who makes it, and the process of getting it to our homes. I’ve personally done that for years now. There are lots of people who are acutely aware of the social and environmental issues associated with the apparel industry, but in my experience this is not the case with the furniture industry. Many people don’t care because they are so detached from the process itself. There’s also so little information about the process itself so, what ultimately matters is how it looks in their home and, of course, the cost.

Have you ever thought about where your sofa or side table comes from? Your lamp? Or your rug? Who makes them? What resources have been extracted to create this table? Is the wood from a developing nation, where unsustainable deforestation is running rampant? Is this a piece of furniture that you are going to cherish for years and years, or is it going to break and end up in landfill? Are the individuals who make these pieces paid fairly for their work and what’s the environmental impact from the finishes and shipping it across the world? I’ve always thought about landfill, and labour, but up until more recently did I think about where the wood is coming from and how the wood and other materials are being extracted. It’s hard to ignore the effects of deforestation to climate change, particularly when flooding, forest fires, and storms that have been extremely rampant this year. 

My parent’s generation would buy furniture that would last a lifetime. They bought pieces that would withstand years of abuse from kids, and paired them with pieces that had been passed down from generations. My bed growing up was even made by my great grandfather. I remember my mom painting an old antique chair that my great grandmother had once sat in daily and the dining table that we used to sit at at family dinners was a wedding present, given to my great grandmother from my great grandfather. Furniture was cherished, repurposed, shared and rehomed. What has happened to these traditions and what is the social and environmental impact? Where is all of this old furniture going? Landfill?

The marketing industry tells us today what’s on trend and what’s not. Our parent’s dining room tables are on the chopping block, along with skirted sofas to name only a few. So, in order to keep our homes up to date, quite often we undergo a complete room overhaul and choose to not repurpose a single piece of furniture because they aren’t ‘current’ according to the trends. It seems like a bit of a waste, does it not? Why is it that so many feel a need to stay on trend? I work in this day in and day out and it can be emotionally draining. Just like fashion, trends go in and out every season. It’s insane and frankly, while I love seeing new trends and ideas, I often find it extremely wasteful. We all know that trends come back again so, if you wait long enough a trend might come right back in style! 

The difference between trends in home design and fashion is affordability. That’s the sad part, refinishing, reupholstering can commonly be more expensive than buying a new piece because it’s a ton of work. The extra cost often outweighs the pros of keeping the old pieces and sadly they get sent away to landfill, or left on the corner hoping that it will make it to a new home. Repurposing and refinishing doesn’t always work, I get it, but if you can make it work it is definitely the way to go. 

It wasn’t really until the 1980’s and 90’s that a large portion of furniture was manufactured overseas. Prior to that it was made locally by artisans or in large factories throughout Canada and the U.S.  It was the push to produce furniture at a lower cost that drove the factories overseas. In truth, it's been about profit for the large companies. Paying lower wages to factory workers, and extracting cheap materials to manufacture in poor countries has been the trend. Push out more and more furniture at cheaper costs, so that it can be replaced every few years.  Fast furniture, but at what social and environmental cost? We are continuing to see our world’s forests being rapidly deforested using unsustainable harvesting methods. Is some of our furniture contributing to this trend? 

I’d like to think that this trend is slowly eroding, but there is still lots of work to do. The upside is now more than ever I’m hearing a need from customers to buy local or to repurpose a piece of furniture that they had for years or was given to them. While my parent’s generation has been doing this for years,  this hasn’t been the case with my generation. Since COVID thought, I’ve started to see an upswing with this trend and I’m loving it! 

If you’re thinking about updating your space, I want you to start asking some key questions prior to purchasing. To get started, look at your pieces of furniture/accessories etc, that might be able to be refinished or repurposed in another room. If you really can’t use anything, no problem, but find a good home for them so they don’t end up in landfill. When you go shopping, ask questions about the species of the wood. Does it come from forests that are sustainably harvested to protect wildlife and plant life? Is it made from an endangered tree? How far does the furniture have to travel to get here? Are there options locally that might cost more, but can be guaranteed that the trees were sustainably sourced?  Where was it manufactured? Is it a piece you will love forever, or will it just end up in landfill in a couple of years? These are hard questions, but need to be more readily considered when updating your space. 

Buy what you love, but buy smartly and consciously. I can see how precarious our world is right now environmentally and socially. Every decision we make impacts our world and our children’s futures. You might think it’s only a chair, but that chair came from a tree, was transported with a vehicle and manufactured with machines and by hand. That chair is so much more than just what you see. So, buy with a conscious understanding of the impact of that chair or whatever furniture you choose. Purchase wisely.