Sustainability Conversations – A Q&A with The Odd Chair Company Team
The Odd Chair Company is a family-run team of designers, artisan cabinet makers, renowned upholsterers and specially skilled seamstresses. They create fine, classic, contemporary and bespoke furniture. Established more than 50 years ago, the company offer clients an exceptional service. Furniture is made passionately by talented craftsmen at their own workshops in the north west of England. The Odd Chair Company offer a range of styles in their cabinetry and upholstery techniques and work closely with their clients to meet individual briefs. Read more to find out what makes The Odd Chair Company sustainable.
How did your sustainability journey begin?
Having started out in the antiques industry, we have always seen the value in well-made, traditional furniture. Finding pieces over 100 years old still structurally sound, and equally as beautiful, gave us the drive to create furniture that drew on these core principles and instil sustainability into the minds of our clientele. You just don’t see that kind of longevity in the modern-day, mass-produced furniture that has taken over.
Why is being sustainable so important to The Odd Chair Company?
As traditional furniture makers, sustainability is what we stand for. It is only through employing time-honoured techniques along with high-quality responsibly sourced materials, that we are able to produce furniture to the standard that we do. We see the importance of rejecting throwaway culture and instead strive to do our bit for the environment by investing in our furniture and creating something that will truly last a lifetime.
What have you done so far to make The Odd Chair Company sustainable?
Whether we’re creating a new piece, or sympathetically restoring an antique, we always seek to use the finest, sustainably sourced materials to ensure both exceptional comfort and longevity. This can be anything from our solid seasoned timber used to create our frames, to the ethically sourced loose hair and British wool wadding used to layer up each and every piece before adding the top fabric. We always keep emissions in mind and where possible will work with local trades and suppliers.
What is your top tip for making more sustainable choices?
Invest in good quality, traditionally made furniture that is built to last a lifetime. This way, as trends evolve and tastes change, you can simply have your piece recovered in a new fabric to give it a whole new look rather than discarding it for a new mass-produced item. A well-made piece of furniture really is an investment worth making.
What are your future plans to keep The Odd Chair Company a sustainable brand?
As well as continuing to promote more conscious shopping, and encouraging preservation and restoration wherever possible, we are constantly looking at how we can become more ‘green’. Investing in sustainable energy supply is something we are working towards, such as solar panels for our Lancashire workshop, and we recently updated our office space adding extra insulation to reduce our energy consumption. We are also looking into offering a wider collection of recycled fabrics.
Learn more about The Odd Chair Company and their sustainability initiatives.
