SUSTAINABILITY
WASTE NOT, WANT NOT For our local designer-maker partners, sustainability is not just a buzzword, it is at the core of their manufacturing process TEXT MALIBONGWE TYILO PHOTOGRAPHS JUSTIN PATRICK; SUPPLIED
PUT A CORK IN IT!
R
educe, reuse, recycle. Many of us are familiar with the “three Rs” that are largely considered to be an effective way for each of us to help save natural resources, protect the environment and save money. Although “recycling” is arguably the most well-known of the three because of marketing campaigns around recycling initiatives and the ubiquitous recycling logo, it is the two Rs that precede it that environmental protection agencies say are the most effective. First, we reduce the amount of waste we create as well as the amount of raw material we extract from the Earth, and, second, we reuse material we already have rather than discard it. Should this not be possible, then we recycle. It is this kind of environmentally conscious thinking that informs the practices of many of our designer-makers when it comes to waste reduction.
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“One of the most important aspects when it comes to sustainability is obviously the use of sustainable materials,” says Laurie Wiid van Heerden, founder of Wiid Designs. The award-winning design studio is renowned for its use of cork, a sustainable material that doesn’t require the cutting down of trees as it is sourced from regenerative bark of the cork oak tree. “The cork we use is also recycled material from the wine industry and the harvesting industry,” Laurie says. But that’s not where the studio’s “reduce and reuse” cycle ends. It also takes the offcuts from its manufacturing process, grinds and mixes these with a binder to repurpose them into new material it can use for other products. “There was a project at the end of last year where they took all my cork, recycled it, added a binder and then cast an outdoor floor for kids at the Sustainability Institute in Stellenbosch. So now, basically, the children can play on a recycled cork surface that is obviously very soft, eco-friendly and very tactile,” says Laurie. He also emphasises the importance of quality and durability in design-making.
‘Sustainability in furniture is also about providing products that last, that are not pieces you might throw away in the next two years. They’re timeless, original pieces and not necessarily expensive’
