Reports are starting to come back from Neo Con, a design industry trade show featuring new products primarily for commercial design. I love commercial design products for a number of reasons: first, they are durable since they are made to hold up in banks, offices and hospitals. Secondly, OSHA has standards for indoor air quality that apply in the workplace, so products made for offices must be low emitting. These standards do not relate to the home, so I have to research the VOCs for every home product I specify. And finally, partly because interior designers are working to achieve LEED points, there are a lot of recycled content fabrics, and fabrics with other eco qualities. I was impressed by this series from Brentano. It is made of wool, but it is significant how completely they have scrutinized the wool manufacturing process. They even made sure that the soap used to wash the wool prior to weaving was biodegradable! Plus it is a pretty, useful stripe that comes in a variety of colorways. Stripes are so great for pulling a room together- they add a little bit of pattern without dominating.
I also enjoyed seeing this fun two tone floral from Carnegie. It is made of 100% POST CONSUMER recycled polyester, and is part of a very attractive Bright Side collection of fabrics. I could see the Whimsey floral, shown here, in a retro sun-room inspired setting, and the polyester would perfom well in there. If the bright + white is a little bold for you, how about the nice multi color floral, called Imagine? It is also recycled Poly, and comes in a variety of quieter colorways. I like the slight orientalist feeling of the pattern, it could go modern, or traditional.
I love being able to offer clients a variety of sustainable choices in fabrics, and the product development is going very quickly these days. So nice to not be limited to organic unbleached cotton!
