Dezeen teamed up with Carl Hansen & Søn to host and film a talk about designing products for a circular economy at the Danish brand's showroom in Manhattan during NYCxDesign 2024.
Moderated by Dezeen's US editor Ben Dreith, the talk explored themes such as the use of reclaimed materials in furniture design, adaptive reuse and the impacts of new corporate sustainability rules.
The talk was moderated by Dezeen's US editor Ben Dreith
Titled Crafting a Circular Future, the panel featured Carl Hansen & Søn head of product development Mads Holm Rabjerg, Rarify co-founder David Rosenwasser and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) sustainability lead Sigal Shemesh.
The panel discussed how circularity plays a role in their respective companies and how today's designers can craft a more circular economy. Shemesh explained that SOM has a "red list" of ingredients that are prohibited from being used when working with clients to achieve sustainability targets.
Panellists discussed how current sustainability practices can be improved
According to Shemesh, having a conversation with manufacturers in advance is important to eliminate any chemicals of concern during the production process.
She added that the architecture industry focuses heavily on the environmental impact of materials and processes used to construct and erect structural elements, but not necessarily "what's going inside our buildings".
"If you have a 60-year lifecycle of a building and yo...