Sustainable Living: Wehlers

20 Jul

The design furniture brand behind the R.U.M. Chair

by Zsófia Frei

Credit: wehlers.com — *Credit:* *wehlers.com*

Let us introduce you to the studio behind the award-winning, sustainable outdoor chair, the R.U.M. (short for Re-Used Materials). Wehlers is a Danish design furniture brand that cares about the future of the world, while still focusing on the quality and design. They create furniture for conscious consumers who would like to have beautiful and timeless pieces made from sustainable or recycled sourced materials.

Philosophy of Wehlers

The founders of Wehlers, Henrik Holm and Maria Fryd Wehler established the studio in 2014. Their philosophy states; “We don’t think the world needs more designed furniture. However, we do think that it needs more options for conscious consumption. The result is Wehlers furniture for good. We founded the company to be the positive change we wish to see in the world. For the sake of our children and their children. Our place in history depends on the choices we make.”

(Source: wehlers.com)

Credit: www.architonic.com — *Credit:* *www.architonic.com*

The circular economy is an important principle that the studio follows, meaning that they design their products to be repaired and reused or recycled at the end of their “life cycle”, in order to minimise waste and maximise the value of raw materials. They have also designed an intelligent ECO-system. This means that Wehlers helps its designers, suppliers, and customers to become more sustainable since all of their furniture is made in Denmark with recycled or sustainably sourced materials, like steel, foam, and textiles.

“We produce furniture with a background in circular economy. All our products are part of an ecosystem. When a product is no longer used, it will be returned to us and will be disposed by our suppliers. We guarantee to recycle the parts to new Wehlers furniture. We hope that in this way we can make a positive contribution to the world we live in. We can’t stop consumption, but we can help make consumption sustainable.”

- Henrik Holm

"There is enough design furniture in the World, but we missed finding a sustainable design furniture brand offering the circular economy principle to avoid waste. When private consumers choose a piece of furniture of which we offer, they do not need to think about sustainability and responsibility. They have enough concerns about this in their daily lives.”
- Maria Wehler

Credit: wehlers.com

The idea behind the design

Wehlers’s design is defined as Scandinavian minimalism whilst still focusing on function and quality. The studio cooperates with various Danish designers to develop furniture that emphasises the country’s Modernist heritage while combining simple forms with special attention to details that brings their design right up to date.

With architects increasingly looking for ways to incorporate sustainable thinking into their projects, Wehlers’s design is a natural and new extension to comprehensive architecture. Since their goal is to make design matter while reducing their environmental footprint in the making. They design furniture that will both stand the test of time and inspire their consumers to cherish and savour them.

“Architects and furniture professionals are demanding our furniture for their prestige projects, and are impressed by our solutions. We allow them to choose with their heart because we have taken responsibility and made sure everything is 100% sustainable.” - says co-owner, Maria Wehler for wehlers.com.

From Ocean plastic to design chair - R.U.M.

One of Wehlers the most well-known products is a sustainable chair called R.U.M. (Re-Used Materials), designed in collaboration with C.F. Møller Design studio, which belongs to the C.F. Møller Architects, one of the leading architectural firms in Scandinavia with the goal to improve life for people and the planet.

R.U.M. is made entirely from ocean plastic, such as granulated fishing nets and recycled steel. This special piece of furniture was designed from the very beginning to fit the circular economy.
The project was inspired by the fact that there are 8 million tons of plastic waste yearly entering the oceans and Wehlers wanted to solve this problem by giving ocean plastic new life in other forms, and creating something beautiful and functional out of it. Maria Fryd Wehler said in one of their press releases; “For every R.U.M sold, we remove *2 kg of fishing net from the oceans* and save the environment from around *82% CO2 emissions* compared to the use of virgin plastic.”
C.F. Møller Design describes the R.U.M. as a comfortable, practical, and friendly designer chair that is meant to be used in private households and public buildings.

Credit: wehlers.com

R.U.M. won the Green Product Award 2020 as the best innovative and sustainable product. Jon Brøcker, head of C.F. Møller Design said in the interview with EuropaWire; “With the R.U.M chair, we have made a small contribution to solving the problem of plastic in the oceans by working with it as a resource. It has been a major driving force in the design of the chair to document that it is possible to up-cycle plastic from the ocean into beautiful and usable furniture. It is great that others also think we have succeeded, and we are happy and proud to be recognised with a Green Product Award.”