Make your home greener with these sustainable Spanish furniture pieces from AJAR

Taking this into consideration, the last decade has witnessed how ecological concerns have been set at the forefront of most creative practises (and rightfully so). This has been particularly the case for architecture and industrial design due to the material-intensive nature of buildings and commercial furniture. Curiously enough, while industrialisation sparked creativity and experimentation in certain directions, it also fostered the standardisation of materials and commercial furniture, tending to narrow the options down to those that can respond to specific economical and efficiency imperatives. Many contemporary designers are trying to work from within this system, striving to steer it towards a more sustainable direction. These designers are trying to harness industrial technologies to open up the possibility of working with innovative materials and processes in such a way that they can incorporate and respond to ecological concerns.

The lifecycle of materials is composed of many steps—extraction, transportation, processing, manufacturing—and each of them contributes in its own way to the overall carbon intensity that using a material implies. All of the brands in our catalogue of designer Spanish furniture always use materials of the highest quality. Additionally, in many of their pieces, they have also looked critically at the carbon footprint of materials, exploring how the different steps of their lifecycle can be modified to increase their sustainability. With this in mind, we would like to present to you a couple of brands and pieces that we have selected. Besides incorporating the highest design standards that these brands are known for, these pieces will also help to make your home a greener one.

Vondom’s Recycled Plastic Furniture

The Valencian brand Vondom has incorporated ecological concerns into their design philosophy which they call Revolution. Committed to making a positive impact through the implementation of eco-intelligent materials in some of the best furniture available, they have created several collections of pieces that are entirely made from recycled plastic. Designed by Eugeni Quitllet, these Spanish furniture pieces are a great example of how industrial processes and techniques can be harnessed to produce designs that are both environmentally conscious and stylish at the same time.

Let’s take a look at some of the chairs from these collections, all of which can be used as outdoor furniture. Although we have already mentioned the Ibiza sun lounger in a couple of our previous blog posts, now we would like to bring the Ibiza chair to your attention. Like its lounger sibling, the Ibiza chair’s curved lines are inspired by the sea, and its ribbed design vaguely reminds us of the skeleton of an undefined aquatic creature. The popular Africa chair with arms, on the other hand, is more at home in a terrace or dining room than next to a pool. Combining simple classical lines with the modern appearance of a jointless polypropylene chair, the Africa chair is an unassuming yet elegant addition to your home.

The Brooklyn chair is another modern piece with a classical feel. Drawing inspiration from the lines of the bridge which bears the same name, it is another example of Quitllet’s remarkable ability to gracefully bring the past into the present in his designs. The Pedrera Armchair, on the other hand, is inspired by the riskier shapes and curves of Gaudí’s famous building of the same name. Like all the other chairs we have just mentioned, the Pedrera is stackable and usable as a piece of outdoor furniture. However, part of its special charm comes from the fact that the armrests can be overlapped to create a longer bench. The Gaudi inspiration becomes evident once you see the sequence and rhythm that emerge when arranging the chairs in this way!

Viccarbe x Ecoalf

Also based in Valencia, Viccarbe has come to establish itself as one of our favourite Spanish furniture brands when it comes to sofas and armchairs. Here we would like to mention the joint venture that they have recently set up with the fashion brand Ecoalf. The latter has been known for their pioneering use of sustainable or recyclable materials such as PET, coffee, nets, and post-industrial cotton to produce high-quality footwear, clothes, and accessories. Like they explain in their website, the roadmap of their partnership is planned in two main stages: a first stage in which Ecoalf sustainable textiles will be offered as an option for the series of already existing Viccarbe products, and a second stage in which an entirely new collection (Viccarbe x Ecoalf) will be released.

As part of this first stage of the partnership, the beloved Maarten lounge armchair is now available with upholstery made from one of Ecoalf’s trademark textiles, which is made from coffee beans, recycled plastic bottles, and discarded fishing nets. The Maarten is one of Viccarbe’s best furniture pieces (and one of our personal favourites) due to the wide range of versions to choose from and its timeless design. Thus, including the possibility of an Ecoalf upholstery is a strong statement and an important step for both companies.

The same goes for the Savina—an innovative modular sofa designed by Viccarbe’s founder Victor Carrasco—which will be available with the same Ecoalf upholstery material. The Savina sofa is one of Viccarbe’s new products for 2022, and we have to admit that we are very excited about it. There are many modular sofas in the market, but we can think of very few that can match the Savina in terms of comfort, textiles, accessories, and configuration options.

Kendo’s Unique Coffee Tables

Kendo is another Spanish furniture brand from Valencia that has always put sustainability at the forefront of their design practice. Their design philosophy is based on the use of natural sustainable materials and the implementation of artisanal techniques to produce honest design pieces which are meant to last for a lifetime. Their approach to sustainable design focuses on several aspects of the process: besides their commitment to using renewable raw materials (such as timber from certified sources), they also focus on waste reduction, recycling, and green energy consumption.

There is a range of unique coffee tables from Kendo which are crafted with ethically sourced natural materials. The Van coffee and side table, on the one hand, uses beech/walnut wooden legs combined with a highly durable sleek porcelain tabletop. The Lotta coffee table, on the other hand, adds more flair by combining a similar wooden structure with a large thin piece of white or black marble as a tabletop. Both designer coffee tables would definitely be eye-catchers in any living room.

Mobles114 and its Holistic Approach to Sustainable Design

Mobles114 is a renowned brand based in Barcelona which specialises in furniture and fittings and which has worked with famous architects and artists such as Alvaro Siza and Oscar Tusquets. Like Kendo, their approach to sustainability is also holistic, addressing all the different phases that are involved by a product: design, production, distribution, and marketing. Although going into the last two phases how they address the last phases would imply understanding their business model and logistics, we can mention a couple of Spanish furniture pieces which can give you an idea of how they approach sustainability in product design and production.

Conceived by renowned designer Javier Mariscal, the Green Eco wood chair which is 100% made from recycled materials, in this case industrial waste. It presents a modern geometric shape that, despite its bold and sharp appearance, is actually meticulously designed with ergonomics in mind. In contrast to the Green Eco, the Danesa armchair is situated in the more traditional side of the spectrum, boasting that timeless aura of elegance that we always appreciate in contemporary commercial furniture. Besides the several details—such as a height-adjustable magnet-fixed cushion—that make the Danesa stand out from the rest, we would like to highlight the fact that the upholstery is made from a sustainable fabric from the Scandinavian textile brand Kvadrat. The material is called Steelcut Trio 3, designed by Franz Dijkmeijer with a new colour combination conceived by the Italian ‘colour master’ Giulio Ridolfo. This fabric complies with several of the highest European sustainability standards, such as the EU Ecolabel, the Greenguard Gold, and the HPD EPD.

Recycled Yarn Upholstery in Perobell Products

The last Spanish furniture brand that we want to mention is Perobell, a Catalan company that specialises in high-quality upholstery. Among the several top-quality materials that they offer, the Noah fabric is a sustainable fabric that is worth highlighting. Fabricated by the brand Crevin, the Noah fabric is a zero-waste material that is made from 100% recycled polyester from PET bottles and polyester straps. The soft feel and top-quality look of the material make this origin hard to imagine—a good example of the great sophistication that contemporary fabric production technologies have achieved.

The Wallace is a luxury sofa designed by Antoni Palleja which uses the Noah fabric as the main upholstery material. What we like about this sofa is its unassuming and low-key, yet endearing and captivating design. We can confidently say that the design of the armrests—how they sprout from the main structure and fold like a pair of heavy duvets—is one-of-a-kind. Plus it allows for different uses depending on your mood. The Sam armchair is another piece from Perobell which uses Crevin’s Noah fabric. This elegant one-seater is slender and sharp, but also carefully designed with comfort in mind. A living room equipped with the Sam family (say, two armchairs and one 3-seater) would certainly dazzle even the most design-savvy visitor.

Our carefully curated catalogue of Spanish furniture includes several brands which continue to put all their efforts into trying to steer the world of industrial design towards a more sustainable direction. The pieces we just showed you are only a handful of examples of this admirable effort. If you would like to learn about more design pieces that can make your home a greener one, you can browse our website or contact us for more information.