On Thursday, September 5th, Alexander Collot d'Escury,
the CEO of Desso, a leading global carpets, carpet tiles and sports
pitches company presented to an audience of architects at the
annual World Interiors meeting held in Amsterdam, a three-day event
that attracts hundreds of top architects from the Netherlands and
around the world.
Collot d'Escury talked about the benefits of the Cradle to Cradle®
approach to innovative product design and manufacturing and the
long-term challenge of moving towards the more restorative circular
economy, away from the current 'take, make and waste' linear
model.
Desso facilitated two other talks from leading speakers at the
event on Cradle to Cradle® and sustainability: Dr. Michael
Braungart, a co-founder of the Cradle to Cradle® concept and
co-author of The Upcycle (Melcher Media: 2013) and Juan-Carlos
Baumgartner, Mexican architect and founder of the international
architectural firm, SPACE based in Chicago.
Since 2008, Desso has been following Cradle to Cradle® principles
in order to design its products in such a way that they can be
safely disassembled and recycled at the end of the product's
life.
As we spend 90% of our time indoors, Desso's corporate vision is
to 'make the floor work for our health and wellbeing'. With its
focus on material health and material reutilisation, the Cradle to
Cradle® principles have enabled Desso to develop products that have
been assessed against a set of human health and environmental
criteria, making them safer for use and safer for recycling.
“It is always a pleasure to be involved with such an important annual event, providing plenty of opportunity to discuss the critical issues of health and wellbeing indoors and sustainability as well as cutting edge creativity and functionality with world leaders in the architecture and interiors profession”
Alexander Collot d’Escury, CEO of Desso
Desso is committed to making environmentally responsible
flooring products that deliver outstanding value in design and
functionality and producing stunningly designed carpets that have
smart functionality built in.
Its innovation platform of Creativity, Functionality and Cradle to
Cradle® has led to health and wellbeing product innovations
including the DESSO AirMaster®, a carpet designed to clear the air
of fine dust, which can be a cause of respiratory and vascular
disease. The carpet has been shown to be eight times more effective
at capturing fine dust than hard floors and four times better than
regular carpets1).
Alongside the vision for health and wellbeing and sustainability,
Desso is committed to exceeding customer expectations through
design excellence across all of its business divisions.
"We are inspired by the latest trends in areas such as fashion,
architecture, art and interior design," says Collot d'Escury. "Next
to that we want to stimulate the co-creation of stunning new
designs either via our international Circles of Architects®
platform or by successful partnerships with leading architects and
designers. That is also why it is exciting to be an event such as
this, where you can tap into the latest thinking from top
architects and designers."
Desso will be at the event from September 5th-7th, showcasing its
latest Carpetecture® Materials in Touch collection, designed to
create a unique sensory experience indoors. In particular, it will
show 8m2 of the new Tweed carpet which has a two-directional
pattern that evokes the tactile effect of fashion fabrics.
In September 2013, Desso is also participating in discussions with
world business and political leaders at the World Economic Forum's
Annual Champions Meeting2) in Dalian, China during
September 11-13 on how to scale up the circular economy. Involving
leaders from the world's top companies, these discussions will
continue at further World Economic Forum meetings including the
Davos Summit in January 2014.
1) Based on GUI tests, whereby
DESSO AirMaster® was compared with a standard structured loop pile
carpet.
2) For more information go to: http://www.weforum.org/events/annual-meeting-new-champions-2013