Recycled Furniture Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg - Green Living in an Interview with "Neues Zuhause"

Interview with Christian Voss, Managing Director of the environmentally conscious furniture store “Green Living”

In the Berlin district of Prenzlauer Berg, you'll find the furniture store Green Living, specializing in sustainably manufactured furniture, carpets, and home accessories. Green Living also carries some products made from recycled materials. Recently, selected pieces have also become available in their own online shop (www.greenliving-shop.de). We spoke with Managing Director Christian Voss about recycled furniture.

What kind of recycled furniture do you sell at Green Living?
The range extends from lanterns made from old bottles, produced in the "Side by Side" workshop for people with disabilities, to furniture and home accessories from Riva 1920's "Le Briccole di Venezia" collection. These are very high-quality pieces, designed by renowned designers from Venetian mooring posts. We also sell armchairs made from old wooden floorboards by Michael Ferguson, whose workshop is just around the corner.

A stool made from Venetian mooring posts by Riva 1920 costs 800 Euros. Why is recycled furniture so expensive?
Recycling itself is not inherently expensive. Here, we are already in the area between art and craftsmanship. A lot of handiwork goes into recycled furniture, and in these examples, the materials are very rare, which is why the pieces are not cheap. For example, the well-known Dutch recycled furniture designer Piet Hein Eek is now having trouble finding more of these old, enormous wooden beams from which he builds benches. Michael Ferguson will also, sooner or later, have difficulty getting enough floorboards. Michael Ferguson works with different colored floorboards, and there aren't many of those. Floorboards painted with "oxblood" color are common, but other colors are hard to find.

Is there a specific type of customer interested in recycled furniture?
The high price naturally limits the customer base. Many of our customers are design lovers. For them, aesthetics are the main purchasing criterion; sustainability is just an additional incentive. We once had two armchairs by Michael Ferguson in our store. They were bought by a couple from North Rhine-Westphalia. They told me what other furniture they had in their apartment: Vitra, Knoll, and other designer pieces. In the end, they found it too polished, too smooth. That's why they were looking for something different. Interesting design, unique furniture pieces – that's what people like.

Do people come to you with the specific desire to buy recycled furniture?
There are hardly any customers who specifically look for recycled furniture. But many people are looking for something unique, something they can tell a story about. In the age of mass production, people want to furnish their homes individually. Recycled furniture offers exactly this uniqueness. With it, you can introduce design- or luxury-interested people to the topic of sustainability. Recycled furniture is the tip of the iceberg, but it raises awareness of the issue among people.

Such customers must be demanding. What expectations do buyers have for recycled furniture?
My experience is that customers are not willing to compromise on comfort and luxury. For recycled design to work, there are rules. This includes the surface, the feel of the furniture. The pieces must be smooth and feel good. The buyers' cashmere sweater should not be damaged when they sit on their new recycled armchair. In addition, the materials must be able to age gracefully. Wood is therefore always better suited than plastic.

Recycled furniture often has a very unusual design. What interior design style does it suit?
The fine line between cool design and junk is very narrow. It is always the environment that makes the pieces work. In a student flat with old, worn, or very cheap furniture, Michael Ferguson's armchairs would look like nothing. One might even think that these old chairs also belonged in the trash. In contrast, recycled furniture provides a great contrast to high-quality designer furniture. Here, they can lend an exclusive charm to the interior.

How do you select the pieces for Green Living?
I decide subjectively, but of course, there are rules. Our goal is to offer furniture for which the ecological cycle has not been disturbed during production. Transportation, for example, makes a big difference. It is important for us to make it clear why our products are ecological. However, we are not hardliners. We know that customers have demands and do not want to compromise on comfort. The approach of the designers or manufacturers must be realistic. There are always idealists, but idealism alone won't get you far. Concepts that work commercially are needed. Often, artists or hobbyists come to us offering their products. Some of them have no idea about furniture production but love the idea of recycled design. However, if the quality is lacking, even the ecological aspect is questioned.

At Green Living, you don't just sell recycled furniture, but also other "green" furniture pieces. What defines these?
The ecological footprint of furniture is a sum of criteria. This includes, among other things, where the raw materials come from or what materials are used. Some manufacturers whose products we sell have certificates, others also have an ecological orientation but don't even know it, for example, because they have always only worked with local materials. Simple pieces are much more "green". A chair made of wood from the region, processed with natural glue – there is nothing in it that would disturb the ecological balance. Problems arise with complex products, as this makes recycling more difficult later on. Healthy living is also an important topic for us. We are currently in the process of being certified by the Sentinel Institute in Freiburg for particularly healthy living furniture. This gives customers guaranteed assurance of clean indoor air – and that is immensely important, isn't it?