Thank you Sibley Grove for featuring us in this excellent write-up on the importance of product circularity, reuse and repair. This is 100% what we believe in here skinflint Ltd - salvaging and restoring quality vintage lights and offering our Full Circle product buy-back and repair scheme. Fab to collaborate on the Titsey Brewing Co. with you!
Truly sustainable design is only possible with circularity and quality... One thing we regularly tell clients is that sustainable design is fundamentally an issue of quality, because with quality comes lasting value. Take, for example, a beautiful historic building with handsome timber floors, foot-high skirting boards, ornate cornices and intricately carved hardwood panelling. As a designer, you wouldn’t dream of taking these away - the quality and value is clear, so you work with what you have. All too often, interior designers tend to strip spaces back to square-one, because they perceive that there is little value in what has previously been built. This can often lead to huge increases in wasted carbon (four to five times compared with a typical interior fit out), not to mention an increased spend and vast quantities of wasted materials. The historic building is an example that most people can relate to, and it is easy to understand. But the same principles of inbuilt quality and lasting value should apply to every aspect of interior design. A couple of years ago I was speaking to a company who refurbish vintage lighting from the 1920’s to the 1970’s. I asked why they don’t refurb anything from the 80’s onwards – is it merely a question of style or what the market desires? No. It’s that the quality of fixtures and fittings dropped dramatically since the 80’s and even now, many fittings are either sealed units or designed in such a way that refurbishment is highly problematic. In our recent project for the Titsey Brewing Co., we worked with a fantastic company in Cornwall called skinflint Ltd. They have a scheme called ‘full circle’ – a take-back system designed to keep high-quality fixtures in use. After one year, you can sell the fitting back to the company and receive credit for future purchases. Their team will ensure the fitting is refurbished, brought in line with modern regs and kept in use. It is a fantastic example of why quality design is not just about the initial outcome, but about the products legacy. Once you build badly, it is impossible to achieve sustainable outcomes. But quality design can last for many, many lifetimes.