Interiors
“Good Design is not a luxury. The price we pay for careless design can be found in the oceans of plastic, mountains of landfill and the pollution we find in the air”
It was a great pleasure to interview the very talented designer and stylist, Karie Soehardi for this Systaino article. I’ve known Karie for many years and know well of her passion, knowledge and skill in being able to ensure all her design work incorporates and adheres to sustainable principles. Whether that work be sourcing from small batch niche suppliers or having a knowledge of the embedded energy of the products she uses and recommends. Having been a Buyer, Designer, Product Developer and Owner of her own textiles business, she found herself frustrated with the part she played in consumerism, waste and landfill.
With this in mind and wanting to be part of the solution not the problem, Karie is using her years of expertise to help the Interiors Market re-imagine and reinvent what is possible.
Karie explains why we should engage a sustainable consultant, the end to end benefits for the industry, the environment right through to the beautiful and ethical design result for the client.
“We have not seen change in manufacturing, like this, since the birth of the Industrial Revolution.
Pre-COVID, it was forecasted that we have a decade left to continue our quality of life as we know it. Our planet cannot sustain the rate of consumption of natural resources, the pollution we omit and the needs of an overpopulated earth. But this isn’t about doom and gloom – this is about solutions.
Many organisations are time poor or don’t have the resources to invest in a full time Sustainable Manager, let alone keep informed of sustainable innovations, commercial and government schemes and initiatives”.
This is the value of engaging a sustainable design consultant, one who will deliver knowledge of innovative solutions – which are sustainable solutions.
The services Karie provides are to help her client base make incremental changes, so they aren’t overwhelmed but empowered as these changes come.
Globally, architects, interior designers, builders and retailers are starting to commit to green credentials. There is a much greater focus on ensuring the transparency of a product’s ingredients – and to ensure it is specified. This has become important as we make decisions about what materials we put in buildings and homes, so we know that they are not harming occupants as they go about their daily lives. The transparency of the supply chain is essential to understanding this.
“The way we design, produce and consume has changed forever, the way forward is towards a circular economy”.
Like Sustainable Design, a circular economy means initially the product or service has functional attributes and utilises quality parts. The product or service being birthed doesn’t use raw materials and has low impact on the earth through its life cycle duration. This includes waste and energy usage.
Circular Design also takes into account the ‘new life’ of each component and how it can evolve outside of its original inception once this has expired. Circular Design looks at how the product is broken down to then be circulated in a closed loop of reuse, repair, re-manufacture, refurbish and recycle.
