The Epic Guide to Sustainably Made Furniture Brands

Are you one of those who get lost for hours on end looking at beautiful spaces and gorgeous furniture? Same! But selecting furniture for your home can be a scary task. These are expensive pieces that you can’t really buy on a whim. And there are the particularly important questions: Are they ethically and sustainably made furniture brands? Are they environmentally sustainable? How can one tell?

In our post on sustainably made furniture, we went over how to opt for sustainably furniture. In this post, we briefly go over what sustainable furniture is, and list out some of the epic sustainably made furniture brands that you should check out (if you want to. No pressure!) You can also check out the post on where to look for thrifted furniture.

What is Sustainable Furniture? 

Eco-friendly, minimal waste producing, non-toxic materials – these are all part of sustainability. But what makes furniture sustainably made? It includes the materials used to make it, as well as the making process itself. It includes the entire life cycle of the furniture product, from how it is transported around, stored, etc.

Sustainable furniture is made from recycled or re-purposed materials, or from wood from sustainably managed forests. Materials include wood from easily renewable sources – such as bamboo, which grows quickly and easily.

The wood must also be finished with non-toxic substances that are safe for sustained household use – and do not, obviously, poison us or our pets.

Next comes the making process. The entire process, from start to finish, has to be safe for the environment and the people working on the materials. The first mainly has to do with the carbon emissions that are released during the making of the furniture. Do they pollute the environment? The second: do they harm the workers involved in the manufacturing? How fairly are the workers treated? How are the local communities, ecology and wildlife treated? To study the details, check out if they have certification from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or other such authorities.

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Sustainable Furniture Design & Energy Use

Finally: How was it transported? The entire transportation system of the furniture brand (from moving around raw materials to bringing the finished products to the warehouse and then to your home) involves a lot of energy use. Try to find out what the brand’s standard practices are regarding transportation. 

If your furniture is imported from Thailand, for example, know that a tremendous amount of energy was expelled to get that gorgeous bamboo set to you. Some companies do it more efficiently than others, and today, unfortunately, the onus is on the customer to do their due diligence. 

There are further ways to increase the sustainability of any piece of furniture: is it a versatile piece (you can sue it as a bed and as a shelf)? Or, perhaps it’s made from wood that is long-lasting, and you will never have to replace it ever? Or it’s made of materials that can be degraded sustainably or made into something else (so it’s essentially “zero waste”)? Can you recycle wood?

Logically, though, to minimize energy use – and to buy the most sustainably made furniture – it makes sense to buy locally-made furniture that’s been made from locally-sourced materials. An added benefit is that you will be supporting local craftspeople and artisans.

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Sustainable Furniture Manufacturers – Certification 

The Cradle to Cradle certification indicates that the product has been “assessed for environmental and social performance across five critical sustainability categories: material health, material reuse, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness.” This feeds into the concept of a circular economy, so the certified product will be either completely “waste free” at the end of its life cycle, or used as raw material to manufacture a new product. 

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification is about…. well, you can watch their video below:

Ok, with those basics out of the way, let’s look at some beautiful, sustainably made furniture!

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Awesome Sustainable Furniture Brands 

When you need sustainably sourced furniture and furnishings for your conscious home – your bedroom, living room, dining room, kitchen – you should check out these 30 eco-friendly furniture companies (along with some non-toxic wallpaper brands!). They are eco-conscious, responsible towards the planet, and understand the effect that their business has on the environment – and therefore try to minimize harm. Good place to start!

1 // abc carpet and home

Known for: Categorizing their good with their icons to indicate recycled, handmade, etc

2 // Anton Doll Holzmanufaktur

3 // Atlantic Furniture

4 // Avocado

5 // Burrow

Get $75 off your first order of $300 or more through this link at Burrow.

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6 // Cisco Home

Known for: responsibly sourced and manufactured furniture

7 // Crate & Barrel

Known for: expansive line of FSC-certified wood furniture

8 // EcoBalanza

Known for: sofas made from all-natural fabrics

9 // Ekla Home

10 // Environment Furniture

Known for: sustainably made furnishings

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11 // Greenington Fine Bamboo Furniture

12 // Haiku Designs

Known for: well-designed, high quality home furnishings

13 // Inmod

Known for: furnishings made from bamboo, responsibly sourced wood and recycled materials

14 // Joybird

Known for: using responsibly-sourced wood

15 // Lee Industries

16 // Made Trade

Known for: ethically and sustainably made goods. As of October 1, 2019, all shipping on Made Trade are 100% carbon neutral. How awesome is that!

17 // Manchester Wood

18 // Medley

19 // MIO

Known for: contemporary and conscious furnishings; B-Corp certified

20 // Myakka

Known for: being an ethical furniture company, sources timber from government-managed, sustainable plantations

21 // Resource Furniture

Known for: made to order premium furniture

22 // Sabai

Known for: affordably-priced sustainable sofas

23 // Stem

Known for: eco-friendly, handcrafted pieces

24 // The Joinery

Known for: modern and traditional high-quality wood furnishings; B-Corp certified 

25 // Thuma

Known for: Upcycled, repurposed platform beds

26 // urbangreen furniture

Known for: locally-sourced wood

27 // Urban Woods

Known for: opting for reclaimed or locally sourced, responsibly harvested wood

28 // Vermont Wood Studios

Known for: producing responsibly-harvested wood furnishings, ensuring good working conditions 

29 // Viesso

Known for: using natural and recycled materials 

30 // VivaTerra

Known for: working with artisan communities in over 20 countries

31 // West Elm – Sustainably Sourced Collection

Known for: sustainably sourced furniture made from reclaimed wood or FSC-certified wood from responsibly harvested sources

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