Sustainable Furniture: What Actually Makes a Piece Last

The longest-lasting chair is usually the most sustainable one. A cheap piece that wobbles after three years and goes to the tip has used its materials, its making and its delivery for very little. A well-made one spreads the same cost over twenty or thirty years.

So the questions are practical. Where does the material come from, how is it joined, which parts wear out, can you replace them, and how long does the maker stand behind it?

There is no carbon or recycled-content percentage in this guide. A figure without a measurement behind it would be a guess, and a guess is exactly what this page is trying to help you see through.

What wears out first on furniture is fabric and foam, long before a good frame. A sustainable piece lets you change those and keep the frame. A well-made one should outlast its warranty by a wide margin.

That is also why a long warranty says something: a maker only offers ten years on a frame it expects to last much longer.

Indoors, solid oak can be refinished and welded steel has no joints to loosen. Powder coating is sprayed on as a dry powder and baked, a harder layer than wet paint. Dekton tops need no sealing. Our upholstery fabrics are rated from 50,000 Martindale for bouclé to 300,000 for Valencia vegan leather, which also has a 5-year fabric warranty from its maker, Spradling.

Outdoors, most of our garden frames are stainless steel under the powder coat, the teak weathers silver-grey without treatment, and the olefin cushion fabric is solution-dyed, so the colour runs through the fibre. Our guide to weatherproof garden furniture compares them.

Seats and seat cushions for our dining chairs, and the cushions on our armchairs, are sold separately through customer service. Cushions for the Freja, Ebba and Eva bar stools are products of their own, and outdoor stool cushions are sold separately. Spare glass for the Thomas and Tom candle holders is sold too, and spare parts stay available long after purchase.

The frames can be repaired as well: solid oak can be sanded and relacquered, and a small mark in powder coating can be touched up. See replacing a bar stool seat cushion and replacing a dining chair seat.

In our own factory in Sweden we weld and powder-coat the steel, cut and lacquer the oak, upholster the seats and assemble each piece, then inspect it by hand before it ships. Our chairs and stools start as materials, not bought-in parts: steel tube, oak timber, foam and fabric. One team is responsible from the first cut to the last check.

Furniture assembled from parts bought from several suppliers is only as consistent as the weakest one, and spare parts can disappear when a supplier changes. Our guide to how our bar stools are made shows the process step by step.

• Where does the wood come from, and is it certified, FSC or PEFC?
• Is it solid wood, veneer or a printed foil?
• Is the frame welded or glued, or held by screws and bolts?
• Which parts wear out first, and can you still buy them in ten years?
• How long is the warranty, and what does it cover?
• Where is it made, and by whom?

Ask us the same questions. Our guide to solid oak furniture answers the wood ones, and our warranty page sets out what the 10 years cover.