The Furniture Handbook, page 26
• Public spaces are covered by guidelines about using contrasting markings/signage for such things as outside doors, in order to make things easier for the visually impaired, for those with intellectual disabilities or dementia, and for anyone who has difficulties with orientation. There should be markings in public buildings and in the common areas of apartment buildings, but it is not necessary to have it in private apartments. It could, however, be useful to know the guidelines if you have family members or elderly relatives with any of the above. Contrast markings can be achieved by making distinctions in color or in choice of materials: a contrast in terms of lightness of at least 0.40 on the Natural Color System between the markings and the surrounding surfaces makes it very much easier for the visually impaired to notice the markings.
• If you take black-and-white photos of the room you are designing, you will quickly see where contrasts are lacking or how the environment will be experienced by the visually impaired.
Labeling in the Furniture Trade
There are many different quality, environmental, and sustainability labels used in the interior design and furniture trade. Some of them have been thought up by the manufacturing or marketing companies themselves, whereas permission to use certain others is subject to checks and controls by independent third parties and has to be applied for. In this section, I have put together a very brief collection of the quality, environmental, and sustainability labels I think it’s currently worth being familiar with in the furniture and interior design trades.
Blå Ängeln/Blue Angel/Blauer Engel is a sustainability label organized by the German government for the protection of the environment and the consumer. www.blauer-engel.de/en
Bra Miljöval (Good Environmental Choice) is the label of the Swedish Nature Conservation Association (Naturskyddsförening). It is what’s known as third-party certification, which means that it is certified independently of both seller and buyer. The label is the only one in Sweden run by an environmental organization. www.bramiljoval.se
CE (Conformité Européene—approved by an EU directive) is a product label stating that the product fulfills the basic demands with regard to health, safety, function, and environment, and that the prescribed checking procedure has been followed. The CE label is necessity to gain permission to sell a product within the European Union. www.sis.se/standarder/ce-markning
FSC (Forestry Stewardship Council) is a certification system stating that timber products must come from forests that are exploited responsibly from environmental, social, and economic points of view. www.fsc.org/se-sv
GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) is one of the biggest international environmental labels for textiles. The label is only available for natural fiber products, such as cotton and wool, but some mixture of synthetic material is permitted. The GOTS standard has two levels:
• Level 1—organic, means that more than 95 percent of the textile fibers are ecological.
• Level 2—made with organic, means that more than 70 percent of the textile fibers are ecological.
The certification is carried out by approved certification bodies and is then followed up by random checks of the producers. The GOTS label covers the whole process from cultivation to finished product. www.global-standard.org
ISO (International Organisation for Standardi-sation) develops global standards in a wide range of different areas. www.iso.org/home.html
Möbelfakta (Furniture Facts) is a reference and labeling system run by Möbelfakta Sverige AB, a nonprofit company. Any piece of furniture that lives up to Möbelfakta’s three requirements meets the market’s environmental demands, is manufactured according to ethical guidelines, and follows international specifications for quality. Möbelfakta aims to be there to assist the producers, purchasers, designers, architects, and any others who use or work with furniture. www.mobelfakta.se
PEFC (Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification Schemes) is a certification system to guarantee that products come from forests that are used in a responsible environmental, social, and economic manner. https://pefc.se
RDS (Responsible Down Standard) is a global standard for down that makes high demands in terms of animal welfare and traceability. The labeling ensures that the down does not come from breeders who use force-feeding or who pluck birds while they are alive. The label also guarantees that the birds are properly fed and watered throughout their lives and that they are not subjected to unnecessary stress. Moreover, all the down comes from birds mainly bred for food, which means that the down is actually a by-product of the food industry. www.textileexchange.org/standards/responsible-down
REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restrictions of Chemicals) is an EU regulation that came into force in 2007. Its purpose is to protect human beings and the environment from the risks of chemicals. The European Chemicals Authority (ECHA) is responsible for the REACH regulation at the EU level. The Chemicals Inspection has the main responsibility for the REACH regulation in Sweden. https://environment.ec.europa.eu/topics/chemicals/reach-regulation_en
SIS (Swedish Standards Institute) is the Swedish member of ISO and CEN.
SS (Swedish standard) is determined by SIS.
SS-EN is an EU standard that has been introduced as a national Swedish standard.
Svanen (the Swan) is the official Nordic environmental label. The state-owned company Miljömärkning is responsible for the Swan label in Sweden. Miljömärkning Sverige works according to the instructions of government, with no interest in the line of business or profit. The same company is also responsible for the EU Flower, the European Union’s common environmental label. The Swan is a type 1 (ISO 14024) environmental label, which means that the products pass the environmental demands laid down by an independent third party, that those demands are continually being sharpened, and that they are developed with a life-cycle perspective. After passing approved conditions, a company receives a license that gives it permission to use the Swan label on their products for a limited period of time, at the end of which the company must reapply. www.svanen.se
ÖKO TEX/OEKO-TEX is the leading global labeling standard for textiles and textile-like products. It sets the limits for a number of substances known to be dangerous both to human health and to the environment. Many of these substances are already regulated by European legislation, but in some cases Oeko-Tex Standard 100 makes higher demands. In addition to that, it lays down the limits for a number of health and environmentally dangerous substances not yet covered by legislation.
• Oeko-Tex Standard 100
• Oeko-Tex MADE IN GREEN
• Oeko-Tex LEATHER STANDARD
• STeP (Sustainable Textile and Leather Production) by Oeko-Tex
• Oeko-Tex DETOX TO ZERO
• Oeko-Tex ECO PASSPORT www.oeko-tex.com
Afterword
When I changed the focus of my blog and started to write more about interior know-how than about current trends, it caused many of my readers to raise their eyebrows. Especially when I went out on a limb and criticized the kind of inspiration I had been a part of sharing for a considerable time.
But the more I learned about furniture-making and design principles, the more awkward it felt to continue praising quite ridiculous pieces and interior solutions—just because they looked good on photos. “I don’t understand your philosophy and positioning in the industry,” wrote a well-known interior designer somewhat annoyed, when he found me blunt and questioning.
Well, I hope that this book clarifies my point of view.
Not all furniture that’s available today is made with the same focus on quality and comfort and they are not always compatible with each other in a practical sense. Yet consumers are offered very little guidance in this, apart from suggestions about what will look nice together.
My aim with this book is for it to work as an eye-opener. I want to offer advice and support on how to create a home that on top of being a nice display also is a home where you really want to stay.
Frida
Sources and Further Reading
Books
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Berglund, Erik. 1988. Sittmöblers mått: handbok för möbelformgivare. Möbelinstitutet rapport nr 50. Möbelinstitutet
Berglund, Erik; Engdal, Sten. 1961. Möbelråd. Svenska Slöjdföreningen
Berglund, Erik; Engdal, Sten. 1962. Särtryck ur möbelråd. Svenska Slöjdföreningen
Bergström, Greta (red). 1961. Hemvården. Lantbruksförbundets Tidskriftsaktiebolag Förlag
Bodin, Anders; Hidemark, Jacob; Stintzing, Martin och Nyström, Sven. 2022. Arkitektens handbok. Studentlitteratur
Booth, Sam; Plunkett, Drew. 2014. Furniture for interior design. Quercus
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Articles and Essays
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Andersson, Niklas (2008). Gesällprovets tillverkningsprocess [Examensarbete grundnivå, 15 hp]. Möbelsnickeriprogrammet, Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, Tekniska högskolan, Linköpings universitet. DiVA: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:18361/FULLTEXT01.pdf
Blad, Amanda (2019). Ergonomisk möbeldesign. [Examensarbete, 30 hp] Avdelningen för produktutveckling, Institutionen för Designvetenskaper, Lunds tekniska högskola, Lunds universitet. LUP: https://lup.lub.lu.se/luur/download?func=downloadFile&recordOId=9001499&fileOId=9001504
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Hellquist, Gruv Stina; Lindberg, Malin (2015). Giftfritt och effektivt - Om att göra kloka val i tapetserarverkstaden. [Examensarbete grundnivå, 16 hp]. Institutionen för ekonomisk och industriell utveckling, Carl Malmsten - furniture studies, Tekniska högskolan, Linköpings universitet. DiVA: https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:904106/FULLTEXT01.pdf
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