Commercial Furniture Design Strategies for 2030
About this event
Presenter: Mark Thomson, Project Leader Furniture 360
Date: 8 September 2022 12pm-1pm
Cost: FREE event
In keeping with Australia’s carbon commitments for 2030, the need to reduce Australian landfill and societal changes since COVID, Australia’s Commercial Furniture sector requires a transformational change to a circular economy . The AFA Furniture 360 Project has now developed design principles to enable such a transformation.
Key themes
- Circular economy
- Innovation in product design
- Behaviour change
Learning Objectives
The AFA Furniture 360 Project has now identified current industry issues and will share its latest research and findings with the Furniture Industry. Participants will gain an insight to new material innovations, low carbon products and circular economy strategies required to be implemented in Australia before 2030.
The objectives of the Furniture 360 Project are to engage industry to develop solutions to:
- Promote sustainable actions throughout the lifecycle of furniture products to support a “circular economy”.
- Design out waste and toxin pollution to reduce the impact and reliance on Australian landfill.
- Reduce environmental and human health impacts of commercial furnishing products, by eliminating harmful chemicals from the manufacturing process.
- Prevent waste generation through better design, responsible material selection and maintenance programs.
- Establish an industry led Product Stewardship solution and implementation plan.
About The Presenter
Mark Thomson is an award-winning Brisbane Architect and Founder of the organization, Eco Effective Solutions. Currently he leads the Project 360 Project team for the Australian Furniture Association
Working over the past 30 years, designing work and living spaces throughout Queensland, Mark’s applied green building practices whilst practicing sustainable design and development.
Since 2018, he has been a judge for the World Architecture Festival and Australia’s (Sustainability) Banksia Awards. Mark is a QUT ex Adjunct Professor and has co-authored books, journal articles and developed industry guidelines, plus lectured on sustainable design internationally.
Understanding that by 2030, the World Economic Forum predicts there will be 3 billion middle class consumers, there is unprecedented pressure on natural resources to meet consumer demand. Mark believes designing and delivering Circular economy solutions is an urgent imperative.