Circularity in Interior Design: Mindset and Mechanism

We will first discuss why the topic of embodied carbon and circularity in interior design is coming into focus at this point in time, why it has until now taken a back seat to sustainability in architecture, and why it is a critical part of making the design and construction industry more sustainable. We will then dive into how we go about addressing this by incorporating circularity into interior design. We see this as having two overall components. One is a new industry mindset: viewing our constructed spaces as temporary assemblies of materials borrowed from the planet. We need to overcome the stigma of 'used' and design with cycled and compostable materials and products along with designing to anticipate their continued cycles (DfD). The other is creating resources and connecting the dots between supply and demand in order to enable the circularity loop that involves designers, materials resellers and refurbishers, facilities managers, deconstructors, and others.