Contemporary Furniture

The Otto Furniutre web site offers a great source of articles about contemporary furniture design and manufacturing, from a variety of sources. There's information on designers, materials, and processes, particularly if it involves some aspect of sustainability, and more environmentally friendly practices. If we can find something interesting we'll try and put a piece together. You can access the current list of articles by clicking on the titles at the site. We hope to be able to add to this about once a month.

One of our big issues at the moment is the throw away culture we seem to be developing, not only towards more consumable products, but actually towards the products we put in our homes, like furniture. These are the things that traditionally had a greater permanence in our lives, we saved up for, and consequently had a real attachment to. But this seems no longer the case for many people%u2026

Sustainability with style by Otto Furniture

Low cost, accessible, contemporary furniture. Don't you just love it?

There's no doubt that it's certainly appealing, having modern affordable furniture. But, the lower prices, and often mediocre quality, generally means we have very little attachment to it, and consequently it's unlikely to have a long term future in our homes.

Reactions to this type of modern furniture, are often driven by rational, practical feelings of 'well, it's functional' or 'it wasn't expensive' and 'it's only temporary'. This lack of emotional attachment often means much of this furniture is destined for landfill.

However; beautiful materials, natural finishes, craftsmanship expertise, elegant design, and a real attention to detail, are things worth getting excited about. These things are timeless, and are worth investing in.

You know when you just can't resist running your hand over the naturally smooth surfaces, or feel the need to open a drawer for no particular reason, then you're probably hooked. When you've got an emotional attachment to your furniture, then it's definitely got a future.

Go for sustainability, with style, by investing in furniture you'll love, for life. http://www.ottofurniture.com

As designers, we prefer to work with materials that age well and come from sustainable sources. We use a very restrained aesthetic to complement different interior styles, and we build in flexibility to accommodate changing technology.

As manufacturers, we try to minimise the environmental impact of our work wherever possible - from recycling manufacturing waste to using solvent-free finishes and returnable/recyclable packaging.

While Pause ll, our first range of furniture, is 98% recyclable, we are far more interested in its sustainability. We would rather refurbish one of our pieces, than recycle it. It would be unthinkable to recycle a Chippendale or a piece of Charles Renee Mackintosh, and that's how we feel about our furniture. It is not for the moment, it is for our time.

We accept, however, that our time is not necessarily infinite. Circumstances change, we move around, we change direction. Our possessions may not always suit were we are going.

So committed are we to the concept of sustainability, we would rather you invest in another one of our designs that suits your new environment, and take back the piece you first purchased from us. We would then refurbish the first piece, and resell it on your behalf.

Surely this sustainability in its purest form? It preserves what is good, and promotes what is new.

Sustainability is an important issue, but does anyone really care? Although there is a high awareness of environmental issues, fuelled by the threat of global warming, is this awareness actually making a difference in the purchasing decisions we make? We're becoming better about disposing of our waste, through recycling, but do we connect this with what we buy?

It seems that currently our conscience for going green is restricted to what we consume - recycling our food and drinks packaging, and also some energy conservation. But how can we broaden this narrow view of environmental care? We need better, and more consistent information and education on what goes into the products we buy and use. How are they made?, What are they made of?, Where are they made?, Where does the waste go?, and finally, What do i do with our purchases when they've reached the end of their lives?

With food packaging there lists its ingredients, calories and fat content, country of origin, etc. - information which enables us to make clear decisions on what we put in our bodies. Can we have something which enables us to make informed decisions about what we put in our homes?

Contemporary furniture for the home. Storage, shelving and home office furniture, offering contemporary style and sustainability www.ottofurniture.com. Further information on eco furniture, eco designers and eco-retailers is available on this site.