Eco-Friendly Interior Design

Responsible consumption and ecology are among the key themes of recent years. More and more people are giving up plastic bags in supermarkets, sorting waste, and donating unwanted clothes for recycling, and this trend will continue to develop in 2020. Global warming, air pollution, or the amount of plastic in the oceans, which may soon equal the number of fish, are increasingly affecting our lives — and it's getting harder to ignore them. In interior design, eco-design is also gaining momentum. What does it involve? We asked designer Veronika Marfina.

Veronika Marfina - Expert - Interior Designer and Sustainable Development Specialist. Graduated from the Master's program in Sustainable Design at Kingston University, London

What is eco-design?

How often do we think about ecology when decorating an interior? Yet, for example, furniture made from particle board not only may emit harmful substances for health but is also nearly impossible to recycle and use in manufacturing new products. PVC, used to make window frames, flooring, and electrical cables, cannot be recycled either — by the way, its use has begun to be restricted in some countries due to toxicity.

Good news: more and more high-quality, beautiful, and safer-for-the-environment materials are appearing on the market — from tiles made of recycled glass to wallpapers made from paper industry waste and lighting fixtures made from reclaimed wood. So alternatives exist, and the higher the demand, the more solutions the market will offer.

However, eco-design is not only about eco-materials. When creating a space, the impact of all its elements on the environment is considered, and solutions are implemented to reduce waste, as well as save energy and natural resources. For any interior item, it is important to analyze how and where it was made, how long it lasts, how easy it is to maintain, whether its design quickly becomes outdated, and whether it can be recycled.

Design: Gafa Architects

Which style is the most eco-friendly?

Eco-design is sometimes confused with interior design styles, although eco-solutions can be applied regardless of the chosen style. If you visit the Stella McCartney store in London, its design will not tell you that thanks to technologically advanced solutions, the air inside is much cleaner than outdoors, some walls use recycled office paper in their decor, and furniture is made from reclaimed wood or vintage.

If you were to choose a specific style, minimalism is most compatible with an eco-approach. It is characterized by a rejection of anything unnecessary — decoration, furniture, and finishes. The fewer items there are, the less natural resources, CO2 in the atmosphere, and waste on landfills are consumed. The Scandinavian style also fits this concept — with its minimalist approach to decoration and the use of durable items with timeless simple designs.

Design: Ruetemple

5 Characteristics of Eco-Friendly Interior

Eco-Friendly and Safe Materials

Natural materials like wood, wool, or stone seem like an obvious choice when thinking about eco-friendly interiors. However, the impact of a product on the environment is evaluated based on its entire lifecycle — from extraction and manufacturing to transportation and disposal. Therefore, synthetic floor covering produced in your region from plastic waste might be more eco-friendly than solid wood parquet made from valuable timber species that grow on the other side of the world.

If you want to use natural materials, choose those that regenerate quickly, such as fast-growing bamboo or cork. It's important that they are harvested responsibly. For wood, this approach is guaranteed by the FSC label on products, which means that trees were not cut down entirely but selectively, preserving forest areas and biodiversity.

Design: Oksana Tsybalova

Materials Must Be Safe for People Too — with Minimal Content of Toxic Substances Emitted into the Air. For example, for particle board, this may be guaranteed by the European assessment system where an item marked E1 is considered safe for use in living spaces. Among paints, the most eco-friendly and safe are those made from plant-based raw materials on water bases with zero volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, which can be harmful to human health.

Design: Olga Chernyenko

Second Life for Things

Mindful consumption, which includes maximizing the potential of already produced items (reuse, recycle, upcycle), is becoming a popular concept in all areas of life. More and more people understand that natural resources are limited, and it's better not to waste them on producing new items when existing ones can be used.

Interior items can also be given a new life: vintage fabric from grandma's attic can become the new upholstery for an old chair, wooden planks can serve as countertop for a dining table, and a glass bottle can make an excellent vase. Completely worn-out items can be sold; there is no place for them on landfills anymore.

Design: Natalia Anahina

Pro Tip: If you don't want to get creative, you can choose ready-made interior items made from previously used materials. Such as shelves made from reclaimed wood, carpet made from recycled plastic bottles, or cups made from coffee grounds — more and more designers and companies are creating truly beautiful items from recycled materials, so you don’t have to sacrifice aesthetics for the sake of doing good.

Resource Conservation

An eco-friendly space is also evaluated from the point of view of how many natural resources are spent on its maintenance. Important points include heating, lighting, and water usage.

To make room heating effective and economical, it's important to choose windows with good thermal insulation since a large portion of heat is lost through them. Curtains and rugs can also help — for example, heavy draperies reduce heat loss through windows by up to 14%, and a carpet on the floor can save up to 10% of heat.

Designer: Elena Markina

One of the most energy-efficient lighting solutions is LED bulbs. Choose quality options to ensure long lifespan, and always recycle them after their service life ends (e.g., at IKEA).

Energy-saving systems such as smart homes, dimming lights based on intensity, and using appliances with energy efficiency classes A, A+, A++ also help conserve electricity. Water conservation can be achieved by installing aerators on taps and using sensors for water supply.

Design: Elena Skutova

Local Production

According to the European Commission's website, nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions (CO2) in Europe come from transport. The rise in CO2 levels in the atmosphere is the main cause of air pollution in cities and one of the reasons for climate change occurring on our planet.

Significant contributions to this are made by the transport of goods. Therefore, choosing furniture and materials that were produced in our region helps support local production development and also benefits the environment — such products don’t need to be transported thousands of kilometers to our homes.

Moreover, it is now much easier than before to do this: the local furniture market is growing rapidly, and there are reputable companies that produce high-quality and attractive products. Some foreign furniture and material manufacturers, such as IKEA or Tarkett, have opened factories in Russia where they produce products for our market.

Design: Natalia Khudaya

Durability and Timeless Design

High-quality materials and furniture for our interiors will allow us to keep them as long as possible, which positively affects both the environment and our budget in the end. In this sense, design is also very important — one that satisfies all user needs and stylistically allows the space not to become outdated in a year.

However, our tastes and habits may change over time, so the space should be flexible, easily adaptable to our changing needs, and provide opportunities to change or adjust parts of the interior without resorting to large-scale renovations. For example, modular carpeting allows replacing only one damaged element instead of the entire covering. Color solutions expressed in textiles allow updating an interior by simply replacing curtains, cushions, and upholstery.

Design: Filipp Kitzenko