Not so long ago, clients interested in virtue-signaling their solidarity with green causes would simply ask their interior designer to work in a few “eco-conscious” touches. The resulting rooms often turned out looking rather like the inside of a sauna with a few hemp pillows sourced from, say, a collective in Guatemala. It was, perhaps, mostly cosmetic, but everyone’s consciences were assuaged.
But something has changed over the last 18 months, as many homeowners around the world have seen their homes threatened—or worse—by flooding, extreme weather, and wildfires, notes Los Angeles–based AD100 designer Brigette Romanek.
“You’d have to live under a rock to not feel the effects of climate change,” says Romanek, whose celebrity clients include ballerina Misty Copeland. “We are at a critical moment. We have to all get involved and play a part.”
Critical, indeed. According to a recent United Nations report, all industries must reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent from 2010 levels in the next 10 years to prevent worst-case scenarios. This requires “rapid and far-reaching transitions in…infrastructure (including transport and buildings).”
The shift to carbon-neutral behavior and products is a goal so large—with a deadline so tight—that suddenly designers and clients have begun questioning every item in home decor: “How much carbon was released during the manufacturing and shipping of this product? Can we choose better?”
The answer is an unequivocal yes, says designer (and original Queer Eye cast-member) Thom Filicia, who helped jump-start the conversation 11 years ago by creating an über-green model interior in a luxe, Battery Park City tower.
“My goal was to explain to people that you can be thoughtful and yet still have the ability to express your personality and aesthetic,” says Filicia, who filled the space with natural-fiber fabrics, low-VOC paints, recycled zinc panels, and wood certified by the Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC). He says it’s even easier to source more carbon-neutral products today, while avoiding a look of “oatmeal fabric on unfinished wood.”
“The fact is you can find eco features in any style at any price point,” says SFC executive director Susan Inglis. “This keeps me from getting discouraged. It really is a messaging challenge more than anything: Y’all stop choosing the poison, please!” When the SFC recently surveyed consumers, it found that 92 percent would choose “environmentally safe” (defined as “good for the environment") furnishings if style and cost considerations were comparable, and 76 percent were even willing to pay more.
Designer Sheree Vincent, who recently won a national sustainability award from the SFC and the International Design Society for a residential project she completed in Avon, Minnesota, says that the more designers advocate for carbon-neutral interiors, the faster clients and manufacturers will respond to the new imperative.
Her homeowners in Avon were nearing retirement during the design phase of that project, and they were on the fence about investing in a zero-emissions geothermal heating system.
“The client said, ‘We’ll probably never live to see the payback,’” says Vincent. “But I said, ‘Look at it as creating a legacy,’ and they did. We all have to change. We have to.”
