Sustainable Furnishing To Create Healthier Homes

Space requirements of people and society have led to the emergence of interior architecture, and design discipline. While creating the need for volume of space, belongings and actions, it also meets our aesthetic needs as well as our demand for security and comfort in order to sustain our lives. The analysis of the equipment that makes up the interior of the spaces by experts has contributed to the creation of the areas according to the necessity of the users. 

Spaces created by people are used for a longer period of time than other human products, and space interacts directly with nature at every stage of its formation.

Many disciplines work together during the implementation of interior design projects. During the realization, many harmful situations may arise against the environment. In the resolution, the interaction of approaches for interior design and architecture with different understandings will create more sustainable projects.

What is sustainable furnishing?

The concept of sustainability defines the least damage to nature. E.g; bamboo, which is a furniture material, is easy to transport and fast to grow; but cutting bamboo in its growing areas directly affects pandas who use these plants as their habitat. It is the basis of the sustainability principle to establish the benefit-harm balance in the approaches, evaluate all the results and make the choices that will cause the least harm to nature.

Sustainable designs are ecological designs that deal with nature in every aspect and affect all angles with the least damage. Sustainable production is explained as the destruction at the source before environmental effects occur. Contrary to other approaches that engage in  environmental problems after they arise, it aims not to carry out the design until all problems that directly or indirectly affect the environment are determined during the design phase and solving these problems. 



There are many factors of product design, such as production, usage and transportation. The designer should contrive designs that can make decisions appropriate to the ecosystem in these factors. If the products cannot be recycled after use, they will cause harm to the environment as waste.

Brief History of Sustainable Furniture

Furniture production has gone through various stages throughout history. According to their materials, furniture consists of wood, plastic, natural stone, glass, and composite materials. With the acceleration of the industrialization movement, different types of materials have been researched in furniture design.



In traditional production methods, the use of wood and natural stone materials continued as in the past. For the increasing population and demand, more and more economically diversified materials were needed. While doing this, taking into account environmentalist approaches; Developed materials such as plywood, chipboard, mdf that are cheap and easy to process to serve industrialization have been the solution to this problem. Aluminum, which is one of the non-metallic materials, is frequently preferred because it is recyclable and easy to process. 



In the 1940s, plastic material began to be used in the furniture industry due to the fact that it is economical, suitable for mass production and unlimited in shape. However, plastic is among the reasons for switching to ecological materials which take a long time to disappear in nature. The depletion of raw material resources and the release of CO2 in the methods utilized to reach the raw material have caused environmental pollution.


 

The fact that the energy employed in the production methods is not preferred from the renewable energy sources has put the production in trouble both in terms of cost and ecological disaster. Depleted resources and the deteriorating ecosystem have led to new searches. The main suggestions for the sustainable consumption movement are; making environmentally friendly designs that are more respectful to nature, that is, turning the current consumption into a more environmentally friendly and sustainable model.

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