Sustainability on display at the 2024 International furniture fair

Sustainability was a clear theme at the 2024 International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF), and for good reason.

Of the 12.1 million tons of furniture that Americans threw out in 2018, more than 80% ended up in landfills, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

From mushrooms to 3D printing, designers are addressing the problem with various forms of innovation. Many of their ideas were showcased across the 850,000-square-foot exhibition hall at New York City’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in the week before Memorial Day.

Here’s a look at some of the eco-friendly designs that were on display:

Decibel

New Jersey-based 3D-printing firm Decibel is partnering with furniture makers from around the world to bring their ideas to life on recycled plastic. At the expo, the company displayed a felt tree from Willo, also based in the Garden State, and a 3D-printed chair and end table (pictured above) from the Germany-based lifestyle brand recozy.

To reduce waste, Decibel will buy furniture back from customers when they’re finished with it and recycle it to create more products, according to its mission statement.

Gantri

California-based lighting powerhouse Gantri showcased its next batch of lighting fixtures, made with their trademarked Gantri Plant Polymers.

Derived from sugar cane, the company touts that its materials produce 75% fewer carbon dioxide emissions than traditional plastics.

Design Schools Workshop

Among the hundreds of brands at the show this year, which ranged from the world-famous like Ligne Roset to up-and-coming designers you’re sure to hear of soon, were students who participated in the fair’s 2024 Design Schools Workshop. In the four-day course, roughly 40 international students worked together to answer this year’s theme: “The Desired Future of the Next Generation.”

While playing around with mycelium in his basement (as one does), Parsons School of Design student Sree Pillarisetti discovered that a byproduct of the fungus can be compacted into a material strong enough to use for legs, shelves and other solid furniture parts.

Cyrc

Sustainable home decor brand Cyrc presented its new HOUF collection, which plays with the use of poufs as just about every piece of furniture there is: seats, tables, ottomans, plant stands and, for those who favor musical versatility, even a drum.

Like the manufacturer Decibel above, Cyrc makes its creations on recyclable plastic with a 3D printer and takes unwanted items back to be broken down and reused.

MycoWorks

The visionary minds behind MycoWorks, who are as much scientists as they are designers, attracted a crowd of visitors who were enticed by the authentic feel and smell of their mycelium leather.

The creation of the mushroom leather is a bit complex, having something to do with the sawdust the company’s mycelium is grown on, but in the end it’s sent to be processed at the same tanneries, using the same chemicals, as animal hides. The result is a leather that smells like real leather and that feels, in a word: divine.

Lauren Goodman

Among the more unique displays was the booth belonging to Canadian designer Lauren Goodman, who “dropped” her first full collection of lobster cage furniture at this year’s expo.

Ms. Goodman specializes in designs made with discarded items - truly discarded, as in even other re-purposeful artists are interested - that she finds in a certain region. At the show, she said she scoured early-morning beaches in Rhode Island and Maine to find lobster traps that washed up on shore, which she painted and molded into a table, a chair and a shelving unit.

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