Our manifesto is about becoming more closely aligned with nature. To do this, we must rediscover the role nature plays within our work and the way in which we live to determine how and where we stand in the broader natural ecosystem.

Design can be a distinctive act of hope, one that insists there is a future to design for.

The question is, what do we want that future to be?

It is said that the fifth industrial revolution is here, and we embrace the challenges and opportunities it presents for us and our customers. Amongst those challenges, we believe that choosing to be sustainable should be made easy, therefore it is our goal to lead with vision and action: to not only be an ecologically friendly business but one that helps nature to thrive too.

The extraordinary capabilities of the natural world are a tremendous source of inspiration for us. Nature’s unfathomable ability to evolve and adapt inspires us to evolve our production and operating methods too.

We find that transforming current industry practices requires a bold reimagining of how we value, balance, and manage our relationship with the natural world and the resources it provides. We believe it is crucial that we reduce and manage waste as we reimagine, create and produce for the design world of tomorrow.

In the spirit of transformation, and in our endeavours to make our approach ever more sustainable, we are always considering how we can reshape various aspects of our processes for the better.

The global context

Did you know..

Forests cover 4 billion hectares. That’s more than 30% of the earth’s land.

The CO2 absorbed by an acre of forest in one year is twice as much as the amount a car produces.

There are an estimated 3 trillion trees on earth.

Over 80% of animals, plants and insects on land live in forests’ making it imperative that we preserve them and help them to thrive.

As of May 2020, the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere is the highest it has been in human history. We can change this if we work together.

UN Climate goals

We take inspiration from the United Nations (UN) climate goals for development and have chosen to focus on five specific points for our own development. These are:

Energy for everyone without destroying our planet.

Learning how to consume less and produce better.

Urgent action to combat the climate crisis and its impacts.

Protecting oceans, seas and coasts from pollution, overfishing and acidification.

Protecting our land and nurturing our planet’s plants, forests, insects, and animals.

What we’re doing today

Translating inspiration into action

Here are some of the things we are already doing on our journey into improved sustainability. We hope they resonate with you.

Sustainable by design

We have introduced a series of new wallpaper designs with an open match, meaning after the first drop of paper is hung, one can cut from the roll placing the new top edge to the top of the wall and continue to hang. This significantly reduces the potential for waste.

British-made

We proudly fly the flag for British manufacturing. Whether it is velvet hand-finished in Lancaster or wallpaper printed in Preston, the provenance of our products if of great importance to us. Supporting small-scale, traditional industries, we work with some of the UK’s finest craftsmen and women – meaning we can both encourage local employment and deliver unparalleled quality.

Forestry Stewardship Council

We only source paper products that have been certified in accordance with the Forestry Stewardship Council by the Soil Association Certification Ltd. Check with a member of our team if you have a question about a specific design.

Ink trays made from ocean plastic 

Specially designed ink trays containing the inks we use to print our designs are made from recycled plastics, saved from the ocean.

What do we do with our offcuts? 

All offcuts from the creation of our wallpapers are re-baled and pulped to make new papers for other industries.

Inks

Our inks are some of the most environmentally kind in the world. All are eco-friendly water-based, meaning they are non-toxic and very low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Our inks are also free from Cadmium, Chromium, Mercury, Lead and Formaldehyde which used to be commonplace in our industry.

Setting wallpaper with UV light

Wallcoverings are finished using a combination of ambient air and UV light. This requires only a light energy input resulting in very low energy consumption compared to traditional methods.

Print to order

Many of our designs are printed to order which vastly reduces wastage and overproduction.

Made to last

We design with longevity in mind working beyond trend towards lasting pieces which our customers love and cherish for generations.

Water conservation

Fabric printing using pigment inks is also one of the best ways in which we can reduce our energy and water usage. By working with us your order can save between 30–40 and 70–80 litres of water per metre compared to conventionally printed fabric.

Better Cotton Platform

We partner with fabric suppliers who work with the Better Cotton Platform, a non-profit organisation delivering the largest cotton sustainability programme in the world. They provide more than two million cotton farmers across 21 countries with training on more sustainable farming practices.

The better cotton principles and criteria are to help cotton farmers:

• Minimise the harmful impact of crop protection practices

• Promote water stewardship

• Care for the health of the soil

• Enhance biodiversity and used land responsibly

• Be careful and preserve quality

• Promote decent work

• Operate an effective management system

By adhering to these principles, BCP farmers produced cotton that is better for the environment and farming communities, resulting in the high quality environmentally conscious cotton products of which we use.

Children’s Scrap Project

We work with the Children’s Scrap Project by sending them our materials which have been mis printed or would usually be unusable due to production defaults. The Project is an organisation working with schools and educational programs across the UK to engage young people with art and design from a young age. Not only does this help us bring new life into our waste materials, but it helps the younger generation too by offering free materials in early stages of their education.

Packaging and waste

All our boxes are fully recyclable. For many of our products, we also use biodegradable bags, recyclable void-fill and well as eco-friendly paper tape.

Our long term commitment and vision

We are committed to bringing our business and our partners into ever closer alignment with the natural world.

Our mission is to help people become more connected to the deeper world on which we rely, to create beautiful interiors that lead us into the future, and in the process, to create places where new possibilities emerge. This is our north star and supports our vision for design, business, and sustainability.

This is a constant evolution, and we cannot wait to share this most exciting chapter in our company’s history . We will leave you with Sir David Attenborough’s thought-provoking words:

“We are going to have to live more economically than we do. And we can do that and, I believe we will do it more happily not less happily.”