Natural Interior Design For Health and Nourishment
We recently touched upon the importance of air quality in the home and we wanted to provide a deeper level of understanding around this by looking at design brands which create products containing no VOCs or are Cradle to Cradle, green guard certified.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are chemicals with a high vapour pressure at ordinary room temperature and are often found in household paints, flooring and air fresheners. In the short term, they can cause fatigue, dizziness and headaches but their long term impact can be much more serious - liver and nervous system damage and even cancer are listed amongst their potential side effects. Cradle to Cradle companies instead are not only designing items for bettering human well-being but which are certified sustainable products, created for a circular economy. The certification was founded by the green-minded architect and designer William McDonough - inviting designers to take into account “all children, all species, for all time”. To get a deeper understanding of the concept, we recommend watching his TED talk on the matter.
With these ideas in mind, we want to identify some of the companies who are actively changing the narrative by integrating a naturalistic interior design approach to their work.
Daniel Heer, a family-run mattress company, is now being run by the 4th generation. Originally founded by his grandfather, Benedikt Heer, in 1907, the family have been making mattresses ever since. The company uses only 100% natural materials, with the mattresses made from the wool of sheep who live in the open-air all year round. The particular type of wool chosen is known for its natural antibacterial properties and is ideal for regulating temperature. Each mattress is custom built and made to last for a century.
The Rosshaar Mattress by Daniel Heer
Naturalmat is a British mattress and bedding company who are completely unique - they have passed the British fire-retardant standards without the need to use chemical treatments. Instead, their mattresses are 100% non-toxic due to their unique blend of cotton and organic lambswool. This year the brand also won the Queen’s Award for Sustainable Development, recognising their outstanding achievement in innovation and sustainability. All the mattresses are made by hand by craftspeople and materials are sourced from local farmers, with factories that produce their own electricity.
Bauwerk paints are not just non-VOC, they are completely natural - sourcing only natural pigments for their paints. All of their paints are made using a base of clay, earth and minerals - making them ideal for interiors with no scent. Bauwerk also guarantees their paints leave no toxic chemicals the environment and they manufacture them using 100% green power.
Witch Hazel by Bauwerk | Photography by Hana Snow
Graphenstone is the idea of Antonio León Jiménez, a chemical engineer who wanted to create natural, ecological and health-conscious paints. All of the paints are Cradle to Cradle certified, including their exterior and woodwork paints which are made of natural elements. The paints have been specifically designed to purify the air in the home and help prevent mould growth, with 3, 15-litre buckets absorbing 10KG of CO2 over the course of a year. We are also pleased that this company is based in Norfolk in the UK.
Cotto Etrusco mixes ancient ceramic traditions with modern design to create tiles which are made using a 100% ecological and eco-sustainable production process. Designers and craftsman collaborate to create hand-pressed tiles using natural clays which are cooked in traditional ovens using wood collected from ethically managed forests and then finished with electrical ovens powered by solar energy. All of the glazes and colours are made of natural oxides and therefore have a wonderful organic patination to the colour.
Making conscious choices of the products selected at every level of interior design has an impact on aesthetics but more importantly, it affects our long term health and air quality within and around our home - work environment, making it a crucial decision process for every project that we design.