Sustainability Commitment

We have been pursuing sustainability since the day we founded Form & Refine. Sustainable practices have shaped our company culture and a sustainable ethos influences everything we do. We believe that by using sustainable methods we can preserve and even improve our environment by supporting cultures and individuals that rely upon sustainable craft.

We are committed to continuing to improve our own awareness and that of our work- force and partners so as to become fully conscious of the impact of our actions on the natural world. For us, making the world a better place is a way of life.

We are always seeking to learn from and improve upon our past experience and ap- proach sustainability from new and exciting perspectives. This commitment to sustainability is aligned with the UN Global Goals (UNGG) on Sustainability. The UNGGs describe a broad range of global issues and objectives which correspond to the values of our own business. We have divided our sustainabi- lity commitments into the following 5 areas: CO2 Footprint, Durability, Social Equi- ty, Economic Benefits and Natural Materials. You can dive into our 5 sustainability commitments here:

CO2 Footprint

We commit to minimizing our CO2 footprint by sourcing local materials and making use of local workshops. Our goal is to have the sourcing and processing of materials all take place within a radius of 100 km.

We produce our furniture and wooden accessories in Europe only. We do not source timber from any location which is not in close proximity to our workshops. For that reason, we neither work with Teak or Mango Wood from South America and Asia nor with Oak from North America. This decision helps us minimize our CO2 impact im- mensely.

In addition, we use ships or trucks as means of transporting our materials and avoid air transportation.

Close co-operation with Damsbo Forest
We are proud to be co-owners of the privately owned Damsbo Forest on the Danish island of Funen, one of the few forests left with high-quality wood for premium furniture.

When the forest’s natural balance allows it, we fell trees and use the wood in the production of our Danish-made furniture. Thus, the entire production takes place on Danish soil, from the first sprouting seeds to the final product. With full trans- parency we can therefore say that our wooden furniture produced in collaboration with Damsbo Forest is made of locally sourced materials in 100% Danish design. We have learned a great deal from our co-ownership of Damsbo Forest. One of the most significant lessons we have learned is how demanding good forestry is, and that sustainable methods are the only way to preserve a forest over time. The soci- al and environmental value of the forest affects the choices we make every single day.

For example, the number of trees that we cut and harvest is entirely dependent upon how the forest is developing. When we cut down one tree we must, at mini- mum, plant 200 new trees to ensure that there is at least one single 140-year-old premium Oak Tree standing for generations to come. That means that we must plant around 9 to 10 thousand new trees every single year. We are proud of our tree planting commitment and the positive impact this has for Damsbo Forest and for the wider environment.

Trees store a high amount of carbon dioxide (also known as CO2) by drawing existing carbon out of the atmosphere. When trees are cut down, it is important that the carbon they contain is not released again into the atmosphere. That is why we avoid burning any wood in our workshops.

The Damsbo Forest is PEFC-certified.

Our Goal:
– Our goal is that the maximum radius for the sourcing and processing of our ma- terials never exceed 100 km.

Durability

We aim to make products made to last in terms of both ecological quality and ti- meless design.

We pride ourselves on our practice of slow living, producing small batches of quali- ty products each year instead of focusing on quantity and bringing out new pro- ducts as often as possible. The culture we are developing represents the complete opposite of ’the throwaway society’.

– We do not follow fashion and trends.
– We create items to last a lifetime and be enjoyed for generations to come. – We strive to create products that can become classics of design.

Guarantee
– We have a 5-year-guarantee on our entire collection.
– We make products that last in terms of both ecological quality and timeless de- sign.

Claim rate and returns rate
– Our claim rate is 0.3 %. A rate which compares more favorably than most in the interior industry.
– A low claim rate means a much smaller impact on the environment as it reduces the number of items needing produced.

– Our return rate is 0.2 %. We have only had 14 returns in the entire year of 2020. It is hugely satisfying for us that end-users of our products are pleased with the design of our products and the quality of our materials.

Social Aspect

The social impacts of manufacturing are often forgotten. We prioritize practices which produce social equity and speak to the ethical aspects of sustainability, specifically we work to preserve the rights of indigenous communities and keep ancient craftsmanship alive. We take employee welfare and human rights matters very seriously.

We work with social workshops, cooperatives and smaller family-owned workshops with a tradition of craftsmanship.

This is who we work with and why:
– All of our alpaca material comes from a co-operative of 400 local farmers in the Andes region of Bolivia. This region is the natural habitat of the alpaca which form an integral part of the life of the native people. The family-owned sewing workshop that is our main partner uses traditional craft techniques to process the luxurious fibres from these gentle animals into textile. Textile production is the main source of income of the native population.

– All Shoemaker ChairsTM come from one of the last and oldest wood turners in Denmark which is family-owned and run. We are working on promoting the craft and livelihood.
– All our steel products made in Denmark are assembled and packed by the inma- tes of the Horsens State Prison.
– All ceramic items come from a local pottery in Portugal which dates back to the 19th century.
– All A Line items come from a family-owned joinery in the mountain town of Jajce in middle Bosnia-Hercegovina.
– We work with HKI (Hans Knudsen Institute), a social workshop based in Copenha-gen. HKI is an institution that helps people who, for different reasons, have difficulties in being a part of the Danish job market.
– Vi arbejder med en af de sidste tilbageværende glasproducenter, der anvender de traditionelle portugisiske mundblæsningsteknikker. Vi arbejder her for at ære de gamle teknikker og det håndværk, der er skabt.

Goals:
– We want to continue working with more socially-minded workshops and explore new ways of creating a sustainable social impact.

Economic Benefits

We aim to make a successful and profitable business without damaging our earth in the process. With this ambition, we aim to use our brand to make a positive dif- ference by promoting our sustainability agenda.

We want our products to be chosen over less sustainable items. To put it simply:

We hope to make an impact so great that consumers see products like ours as necessary for the protection of the natural world. We believe that we can achieve this by providing high quality sustainable products at competitive prices.

Natural Materials

Natural materials have a much smaller impact with regard to CO2 emissions when compared to other materials.

We use only the most durable and sustainable materials like wood, brass, stoneware, steel, alpaca, cork and raw vegetable tanned leather. Many of these materials patina- te beautifully over time and ensure a product which will stand the test of time.

What we don’t do or use

We do not use any aluminium

Aluminium has a wide range of harmful environmental impacts and requires large amounts of energy to produce. The amount of energy needed to produce aluminium is 211 GJ per tonne, compared to 22.7 GJ per tonne for steel or brass. That means steel causes 90 % less energy consumption than aluminium. This is one of many rea- sons why we only use steel or brass.

We would, however, like to use 100 % recycled aluminium when the opportunity arises.

We do not use conventional plastic in our products, only rPET (recycled PET)

We do not use conventional plastic in our furniture, because plastic comes from fossil fuel production, much of it from fracking, which is a devastatingly process for the environment. PET is one of the few types of plastic that can be recycled, becau- se it is made of a limited number of simple ingredients and contains no toxins. This recycled material is called rPET, which stands for ‘recycled PET’. We use rPET in our products when its properties make sense and are difficult to replace by other mate- rials, such as parts of our packaging and as stuffing for our inner cushions.

We do not use any chemicals and toxins

Chemicals and toxic waste can harm people, animals and our environment in many different ways, whether it ends up in the ground, in streams, or in the air. Some toxins, like mercury and lead, persist in the environment for many years and accumulate over time.

Packaging

We mainly use recycled cardboard in our packaging, either ordinary recycled card- board or recycled honeycomb cardboard.
We aim to use only paper tape, and we use protective filling made of shredded recy- cled cardboard.

It is our goal to avoid plastic in our packaging and, when necessary, only to use rPET. This is a difficult challenge since we need to find local solutions to the pro- blem. For instance, it does not make much sense to transport a good sustainable packaging solution from Europe to Bolivia because of the environmental impact of the transport. It is our goal only to use rPET in our packaging; an ambition we have already accomplished for our product collection.

Our Goals

– We aim to use only rPET or plastic-free packaging by 2025.
– We want all our wood items (including packaging) to come from certified wood sources by 2024.
– We aim to use more upcycling or recycled materials when possible.