The Anza collection from South Cone Trading Co. strives for the balance between mankind and nature.

First it was cars, homes, food and apparel – and now it’s home furnishings: Green is definitely today’s hottest trend. Consumers are looking for more than just style and function; they’re demanding earth-friendly consumer goods, as well.

The growing selection of environmentally responsible furniture introductions at this spring’s High Point Market in North Carolina – the world’s largest exhibition of residential furnishings attended by retail buyers, interior designers, architects and specifiers – ensures a variety of eco-chic options for every consumer’s taste and budget.

The growing demand for environmentally conscious home furnishings is undeniable, reports a recent national telephone survey sponsored by the American Home Furnishings Alliance (AHFA). More than two-thirds (76 percent) of the U.S. population believes it is important to purchase earth-friendly home products, and 72 percent of respondents report they would pay up to 10 percent more for an environmentally-friendly piece of furniture.

According to this research, more than half (57 percent) of consumers are currently taking steps to make their homes more environmentally friendly. Buying environmentally friendly home products ranked in the top-three practices most important to their households, after conserving energy and recycling.

Regarding furniture buying, heads of households ranked selecting a manufacturer that operates factories that are not polluting the world as the top environmental consideration (50 percent), followed by preferring wood harvested using environmentally friendly practices (28 percent). The importance of environmentally friendly materials, such as upholstery fabrics and foam, ranked third with 26 percent of the vote.

Environmental responsibility is as important to furniture makers as it is to consumers. Members of the AHFA, for example, continue to lead the way in their efforts toward greener manufacturing. The result is a wide assortment of eco-friendly furnishings that will be available to consumers this fall.

Eco-Efforts
Support of earth-friendly manufacturing processes reaches across the home furnishings industry. Manufacturers continue to explore ways to adopt sustainable methods, while suppliers work to develop eco-conscious materials such as greener foams and fibers.

And after nearly a decade of promoting environmental stewardship among member companies, AHFA is expanding the scope of its environmental initiatives with an eco product label. Manufacturers that make a commitment to a comprehensive list of sustainable business practices will be able to use the new finished product label, scheduled to roll out in 2008.

Indeed, AHFA led the industry in promoting sound environmental practices when it developed a voluntary environmental management system for furniture manufacturers in 1999. Enhancing Furniture’s Environmental Culture is an environmental management program designed to help furniture manufacturers reduce their environmental footprint. It provides a systematic approach for reviewing and understanding the environmental impact of its processes, raw materials and finished products.  

Other associations striving to raise awareness about environmentally friendly business practices include the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the newly formed Sustainable Furniture Council (SFC).

The FSC is an international not-for-profit membership-based organization that brings people together to find solutions to the problems created by bad forestry practices and to reward good forest management. Its SmartWood program establishes a set of forest management practices promoting sustainability.

The SFI is a national program that requires strict adherence to a stringent set of harvesting procurement guidelines and practices. Its focus is on ensuring the protection of wildlife, maintaining high water quality standards and a wide range of other conservation goals.

Most recently founded is the SFC, an industry association with member companies committed to using sustainable products in furniture. The SFC plans to guide members to full certification under wood harvesting standards established by the FSC.

Environmentally Friendly Furnishings
Harden is a fifth-generation, family-owned company with a long-held commitment to sustainable forestry practices and protection of the environment. It was the first manufacturer to gain certification by the SFI. This season it presents additions to its America’s New Mission collection, including a new bedroom suite crafted in solid quarter-sawn white oak featuring intricate decorative inlays of stained glass and precious metals. New to its Tapestry collection are a wrought iron baker’s rack, a hand-painted lamp table and a wardrobe mirror in crotch mahogany veneers.

One of only a few FSC-certified furniture firms, Copeland has introduced a variety of furnishings with eco-friendly roots. New additions to its Frank Lloyd Wright Furniture collection include bedroom, dining room and occasional pieces. Also, a bold 21st Century Arts and Crafts contemporary bedroom introduction is offered in solid cherry – distinguished by its unique integration of arts and crafts forms with contemporary sensibilities.

Recycling takes a funky, eclectic turn with furniture from Groovystuff. Its indoor and outdoor home furnishings are crafted from salvaged farm plows, rice barrels and antique wagon wheels. Designs feature the rich colors and tight grains of reclaimed teakwood resulting in one-of-a-kind beauty. Groovystuff joined the SFC in support of eco-friendly responsibility.

Showcasing its love for all things natural, The Natural Light has introduced two stylish lighting collections. La Vie includes hand-painted lamps with gently curved wooden silhouettes in a color palette of dried wreath green, mâche yellow, pomegranate red and Limoges blue. Monte Carlo features a mosaic of two types of natural shell inlaid in the base of its lamps. The Natural Light has shown environmental responsibility since its inception, demonstrated in its choice of sustainable materials and its recycling policies. It also severely limits its use of resins and petroleum-based products, even in packing materials. Instead of packing peanuts, the company uses recyclable nitrocellulose products.

Company C is building eco-responsibility from the floor up. Its new Natural Grounds rug collection uses 100 percent natural wool, which greatly reduces the amount of dye used. All of its introductions celebrate the beautiful colors and textures found in nature. And the company’s rugs made in India are RugMark-certified. RugMark is the international nonprofit organization devoted to ending child labor in the handmade carpet industry in South Asia.

Anza from South Cone Trading Co. is all about the balance between mankind and nature. This impressive new collection represents over two years of technology and research engineering, and revolves around the concept of sustainability. The collection is crafted of a little-known wood species from the Peruvian Amazon called Cachimbo. South Cone researched the wood for 18 months as part of a joint project with the World Wildlife Fund and the U.S. Agency for International Development to find new woods with value to the Peruvian market. Cachimbo is one of several species South Cone is sourcing from the first SFC-certified forest in Peru, certified only one month ago.

High fashion is earth-conscious with Palacek’s growing line of eco-chic home furnishings, made from natural, renewable resources or plantation-grown hardwoods and handmade by artisans worldwide.

On the upholstered side of the business, a number of companies are introducing products featuring foam produced with Cargill’s new soybean oil-based BiOH polyols. Polyols are an essential ingredient in flexible foam cushioning for the upholstered furniture and bedding industries, and were traditionally derived from petroleum-based products. Cargill also reports that the process to manufacture BiOH polyols results in less global warming emissions than traditional petrol-based polyols.

Norwalk is incorporating renewable and reclaimed materials into the manufacturing of its upholstery with some of the industry’s most popular names, including Candice Olson, Joe Ruggiero, Toby Roberts and J. Raymond. Lane and Bauhaus will also showcase environmentally friendly seating products featuring BiOH-filled cushions.

Jaclyn C. Hirschhaut is the vice president of public relations and marketing for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, located in High Point, N.C., and Washington, D.C. She can be reached at 336-884-5000, ext. 116.