Early this week, design experts and trend forecasters gathered at Future of Home, the definitive industry event of the year, to discuss the forces of change sweeping and shaping the interior landscape.
Organized by Business of Home, with ZZ as a proud participating sponsor and speaker at the event, Future of Home facilitated two days of robust conversation ranging from wellness in design to the impact of the metaverse on the home.
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On day two, our Founder and CEO Whitney Frances Falk joined the stage with Phillip Raub, CEO of Model No., and Dennis Scully, host of Future of Home and the Business of Home podcast, to discuss how to build deeply sustainable supply chains.
Our Learnings:
We’re in an Era of Accountability
"If you’re an organization or business and you’re not thinking about ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) efforts, then you’ll become obsolete. We’re in an era of accountability, an educational moment, and we have to get ourselves up to speed in order to make the right choices.” – Whitney Frances Falk
The current state of affairs and topical events we’re all experiencing are providing people and companies with the tools to make wise purchasing and business decisions as well as the language to instigate positive change, and each of us can make an impact.
Call to Action: Ordering furniture from an online marketplace? Let the seller know ahead of time to ensure they’ll package your work with biodegradable packaging materials, like corn starch peanuts (otherwise they risk a downgraded review!). We communicate this at ZZ if we are sourcing from a marketplace, as packaging materials from outside suppliers are one of the few things preventing us from becoming zero waste.
The Future is Local
“Most people don’t look at what it takes to get a product from point A to point B. And that is what is causing more pollution and is creating more environmental challenges than the item itself.” – Phillip Raub
To offset this, Raub predicts that the industry will turn to local manufacturing as a solution — to “sourcing materials that are close to the end user. It’s globalization through localization.” And therefore cutting out the middleman (and costs!) as well as excessive carbon emissions.
Call to Action: Are the materials not listed for that piece of furniture that’s caught your eye on the online description page? Inquire before you buy!
We’re All Students of Sustainability
“We’re all students of sustainability. No one has the answer — no organization, no NGO, no corporation. We’re going through a transition of learning right now — of information gathering. We’re asking more questions. We’re remaining curious. We are learning the language so that we can make effective and wise changes.” – Whitney Frances Falk
It was this very reality that led to ZZ participating in the B Corp certification process. Yet the topic of sustainability is ever-evolving and often nebulous, so our certification was never a finish line, but a starting point: a commitment for us to uphold and maintain.
Call to Action: Want to learn more? Check out our Real talk articles below that explore the world of ethical manufacturing, sustainable materials, and solutions, not problems!