Apres Christmas - Flipbook - Page 12
GOING GREEN - A GIFT TO EVERYONE
SUBSCRIBING
TO GREEN
Throwing things away seems
to be a British pass time.
We really are good at it; just take
the 1.2 million of昀椀ce desks and 1.8
million of昀椀ce chairs that end up in
UK land昀椀ll every year. And to combat
this waste, London based design
house, Studio Elk, decided to take
a, perhaps unrelated,leaf out of the
book of the auto-industry, adapting
and applying it in the furniture
industry to lighten our footprint on
the planet.
Motor manufacturers have started
to explore new models of ownership
to satiate the ever-hungry newness
monster. Their clients are looking
to change vehicles more and more
frequently [oh so Millennial!] and
as a result, the manufacturers have
dabbled with subscription-based
services. One monthly fee gets you
the car of your choice, including
admin and maintenance services.
When you’re fed up with the colour,
for instance, you simply turn it in
and subscribe to your next car.
to the high-value of昀椀ce furniture
Now back to future, I mean,
furniture. Elk Studio, spotting a gap
in the market, decided to adopt a
subscription model for home-of昀椀ce
workers. OnOf昀椀ce notes that:
electing to rather work from
“The system, titled Koru and
comprising of a desk, chair and
accessories such as a desk tray,
laptop stand and light, is centred
around modularity with it designed
to be easily recon昀椀gured as and
when needs and spaces change.
And rather than buying the system
outright, businesses will pay a
monthly subscription fee which
covers delivery, assembly, repairs
and returns – a welcome alternative
look at the picture holistically as
that often goes to waste as business
requirements change.”
With “as business requirements
change”, they mean of昀椀ce workers
home. And while a subscription
service makes sense in terms of
the circular economy and limiting
our carbon footprints, we need to
to avoid a ‘double-up’ – furniture
manufactured for home use for
when workers choose to work from
there, and furniture manufactured
for of昀椀ce use for when workers
choose to get out of the house and
into the of昀椀ce for the day.
Perhaps we should invest not so
much in modular furniture, but
rather transportable furniture…
YESTERDAY’S NEWS TOMORROW
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