What is Sustainable Luxury?

Sustainable Luxury might sound counterintuitive from an interior design perspective.

Luxury is synonymous with extravagance, things you you want but don’t really need. Sustainability on the other hand equates to conscious living and really looking at how to simplify your lifestyle.

So what is sustainable luxury and how do we achieve it?

“We believe sustainable luxury is achieved by delivering aesthetically beautiful interiors that have a positive influence on the health and wellbeing of their occupants whilst supporting responsible production & construction practices to ensure a reduced impact on our natural environment”

Whilst the idea sounds simple, we all know that renovating is a complicated process. Added to the complexity of planning, specifying materials, shopping for furniture and managing the budget, how do we make the right decision when it comes to ensuring sustainable results?

The good news is that we have distilled a lot of research into our Sustainability Playbook.

Our clients benefit from research of global best practice standards including International WELL Building Institute, Living Building Challenge, and more locally Green building Council of Australia and Breathe Architects Guidelines. Our internal guidebook covers everything from biophilia, air quality and light, right through to finishes, furniture & fabric specifications. It guides us through each project as an equal partner to the aesthetic decisions about your home.

Does that mean compromising on your design vision? We don’t think so.

Through innovative and creative thinking, we come up with a solution that will suit your design and your budget. We often find reviewing the sustainable aspects of the design can increase the level of comfort and provide health benefits through reducing pollutants. From a design point of view, it could enhance the aesthetics and individuality of your project.

A great example is in our Wamberal Residence. Our clients have a combined kitchen, living, dining room, the “great room”, a hub of entertainment and family life- adjacent to the pool and exposed to northern sun. Our design brief for the flooring was stone- a durable, practical material that will age well, and be low maintenance for our clients. It will also retain heat in winter for passive solar heat gain. However, stone is a finite resource. Where is it from? And are there ethical working conditions for those extracting it? What about the silica?(more on that subject to come). So, what is the solution?

As we have a close relationship with our client, we suggested an unusual solution. Reclaimed stone!

Borrowing from the past, where ancient Romans used slabs of marble interspersed with an aggregate to achieve an elevated but extremely functional flooring material- Palladiana Terrazzo Flooring. As our client was able to collect multiple waste slabs from building sites of their own, we curated a colour palette and calculated the area required of stone and are now looking forward to achieving a beautiful stone floor made almost entirely of waste material. Through this thinking, the concept of sustainable luxury is achievable in all our projects.

We will be sharing further insights soon!

If you would like to know more about sustainable luxury interior design, please get in touch.