In this week’s interview with SBID Awards Product Design judge and Director of Design at IHG, Henry Reeve talks about the most important design and functional aspects of hotel interiors, key product specifications that influence choice and shares his personal sources of inspiration.
Good Interior Design I feel can make or break a guest experience. You need both form and function, yes of course we want to wow our guests with incredible atmospheres rich in detail and finesse but there is little point creating a spectacular environment if the space just doesn’t ‘work’. It’s easy to create that spaces that impress but are poorly equipped or ill-thought through and don’t accommodate guests needs and functions. I think one of the most important aspects of hospitality interior design is to ensure our guest don’t ever feel stupid. Our guests are in an unfamiliar environment, and we want them to feel at home, to relax and unwind. Designs must be intuitive, how many times has one had to desperately search for the light switch, or struggle to find a plug socket or worse cant find the wardrobe!
Specifying product particularly recently has become even more tricky, there is a wealth of options out there but so many factors go towards influencing choice, yes of course shape and form but external factors are now more than ever influencing specification, lead times, environmental impact, over-use and of course cost are playing a huge role.
Constant innovation is mandatory in this sector, the world is moving fast and constantly looking to what’s next. Environmental factors are becoming ever more influential on both consumer choices and economic too. I feel this will become in time a far more important aspect of specification than it perhaps once was. Product life-cycle too is something I am interested to see how the wider industry addresses, how is product recycled/re-used when coming to the end of its life?
Inspiration comes from anywhere, but I must admit that Travel is certainly one source of inspiration to me that I am thrilled is now possible once again. To experience how different cultures use spaces opens ones eyes to new possibilities.
Put your best work forward, ensure photography is exemplar and try to explain your work in a succinct way. I look forward to seeing some wonderful entries!
Questions answered by Henry Reeve, Director of Design, IHG.
I’m Director of Design at InterContinental Hotels Group focusing on Kimpton and Hotel Indigo. Previously I was Associate Director at forpeople, and a Creative Director and Designer at a number of guest experience, retail, and event agencies based across London. I have worked for clients as diverse as Nike, Lotus, Peugeot, Mulberry, Bollinger, Pfizer, Coca-Cola & McDonalds. I trained as a Mechanical Engineer at Bristol University and as a Designer at Central Saint Martins, in my spare time I love to make things.
Leading supplier of solid surface materials and complementary products, CDUK, has launched sustainable material PaperStone® to the UK and Ireland markets.
PaperStone® is a new generation sustainable material, made from recycled paper with natural resin, the surface has a unique, textured effect creating an organic warmth, which can be specified in a range of natural hues and tones. Selected colours are produced from 100% FSC recycled paper and cardboard.
This environmentally friendly product is ideal for architects and designers looking for a sustainable solution and is well suited to interiors across the commercial, office, space, hospitality, residential and healthcare sectors. PaperStone® offers specifiers the opportunity to reconnect people with the natural world through design, with its tactile warmth and hint of texture this surface material is beautifully unique.
Its composition delivers high performance across a range of applications. These include but are not limited to bars and tabletops, furniture, vertical decorative wall panels, washrooms, kitchen worksurfaces and cabinet doors, and washrooms.
Andy Noble, Divisional Managing Director, CDUK, commented: “We are thrilled to be the sole supplier of PaperStone® to the UK and Ireland market. At CDUK we have seen a real shift in the market with customers becoming more environmentally conscious. PaperStone® offers our clients a sustainable solution to their design needs. At CDUK we are constantly looking at ways to innovate and expand our offer and grow with our customers. The launch of PaperStone® marks a significant stage in our development and we are excited to help our customers make the most of this unique product.”
The surface material is manufactured using FSC certified recycled paper and natural petroleum free phenolic resin with natural pigments and has obtained important environmental certifications from the Forest Stewardship Council and qualifies for bio-building use and assignment of LEED® credits.
PaperStone® is impact resistant and hard wearing, resisting temperatures up to180° without showing any superficial changes while being water and stain resistant and easy to clean. The versatile nature of the material makes it a cost-efficient solution for a range of interior applications and can be cut and engraved depending on customers’ needs.
PaperStone® colours are warm and rich, reflecting nature often with a soft and subtle variegated finish, with eleven colours across two ranges. The Solid Colour Series includes five deep, rich organic colours. Some of these colours ‘evolve’ over time mellowing and growing with their environment to become more intense and warmer. The Designer Series has more of a geological than organic finish, with 6 lighter colours.
PaperStone® is available exclusively from CDUK in the UK and Ireland from 4th October 2021. The range includes 11 colours in a range of thicknesses selected based on our understanding of our key markets and knowledge of latest colour, texture and design trends.
About CDUK
CDUK is a supplier of surface materials and complementary products to the specification market in the UK and Ireland, including architects, interiors designers, kitchen designers, fabricators and contractors. Having built a strong reputation as the exclusive distributor of Corian® Solid Surface in the UK and Ireland, CDUK now offers an extended range of services as well as products from a number of leading brands. We are a family owned business with over 40 years’ experience. We support our customers through a journey, as their design partner, from sourcing the best products and materials to helping them unlock their full potential through expert advice and technical knowledge. Our team of industry experts also provides technical advice, sampling and bespoke training courses for designers, manufacturers and fabricators.
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In this week’s interview with SBID Awards Product Design judge, Maria Vafiadis discusses the compatibility of luxury design and sustainability, addresses the unique challenges between designing private residences and hotels, and shares her views on repurposing in the industry.
The luxury experience today is defined by space and how this space encourages us to make time for rejuvenation. This is one reason why many resorts and hotels are choosing to create standalone villas, cottages and treehouses where guests can quietly share time with family and friends and engage with the natural world.
Our new luxury values are increasingly compatible with sustainability. Government regulation, the marketability of eco-destinations, consumer demand and evidence that guests will pay a premium for experiences that respond to environmental and local community issues are coming together in a union which is already having an impact on hospitality. We are seeing a new, more thoughtful attitude to what luxury means together with a growing desire among owners and consumers to be better custodians of our planet’s resources.
My single focus when designing a private residence is the owner and his/her family. It is all about the owner’s aspiration and the family’s way of life, and the end result should reflect their personalities. By contrast, hotel design has several parties to please – the owner, the operator and, of course, the guest. As a hotel designer, it’s key to create a narrative as the wellspring for the guest experience while you also have to respond to an array of commercial and operational realities.
It depends so much on the client and their aspiration; we have had amazing experiences working on both. Take for example Costa Navarino in Greece. It’s difficult to believe now but when we began our work on this resort it was no more than a bold vision to achieve a luxury destination which would celebrate the heritage and natural world of Messinia. It felt truly meaningful to work from a blank slate and create a new hospitality benchmark in the region.
Several years later, we were appointed on the recreation of The Burgenstock Resort in Switzerland. In its heyday, this had been a glamorous and pioneering destination and it was our task to take this legacy forward into a new era. This was a project that involved repurposing, refurbishment, extensions and new buildings. Its strapline ‘The Future has a Past’ was fascinating to honour and reflect in our work.
I must admit that I do enjoy delving into the past, discovering what was there and helping it to flourish again by combining the old and the new. We have just had a wonderful opportunity to do this in creating Matild Palace Budapest, a Luxury Collection Hotel. The lifestyle of the Archduchess of Austria who commissioned the original building was our inspiration and we wove our narrative around her imagined presence in the new hotel.
We love to work with artisanal and locally sourced products and, since sustainability is high on our agenda, we are always interested in re-purposed items. We believe in the inherent beauty of natural materials, tactility and in products that are well-made – longevity of things is one of the greatest gifts we can bestow on our planet.
At MKV, we believe in the power of design to affect behaviour and elicit emotion. This requires design that combines location, culture, history and modern life in any number of contextual stories which we tell. When they come together in the right balance for the particular project, alchemy results and a kind of chemistry is released between the space and its users.
Cover image: Alpine Spa, Burgenstock Resort
Questions answered by Maria Vafiadis, Founder & Managing Director, MKV Design.
MKV Design’s mission is to create environments that deliver on every level. Aesthetic, practical, commercial, experiential. We achieve this by applying intelligence to design. By developing a personal vision for every project, setting the most uncompromising standards and working side by side with our clients to bring that vision to life. It’s an approach that has cemented our reputation as world-class designers of luxury hotels, resorts and private residences
This week’s instalment of Project of the Week series features a modern high-tech office and urban farm design by 2021 SBID Awards Finalist, Wolter & Yu.
Within a factory in an industrial district of Hong Kong is the future of farming – a high-tech urban aquaponics farm, sustainably growing high quality vegetables and flowers. Part office and part grow room, the design takes the concept of flexibility and mobility to the extreme: Ceiling-mounted, bi-folding glass panels create a private meeting room when needed, but opens up the whole room for other needs. Dry erasable paint, is applied across the entire office wall, facilitating the free flow of ideas. Height-adjustable desks and ergonomic chairs create comfort for employees, behind HDTVs displaying operational metrics.
The plant room uses 3D printed plant walls mounted onto movable archival track shelves to create dense vertical grow farms. Nutrient rich water from a fish tank and electricity to power perpendicular panels of light are funnelled across the ceiling and down each movable shelf. This allows the farm to adjust the distance between each light panel according to the requirement of different types of vegetation, while excess water is filtered and returned to the fish tank, creating a closed ecosystem. The result is a sustainable, compact, flexible office and urban farm design. You can view a virtual tour here.
SBID Awards Category: Office Design
Practice: Wolter & Yu
Project: Full Nature
Location: Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R.
The brief for Full Nature was to convert a 180sqm unit in an old high-rise factory building in Hong Kong, into a high-tech urban farm that specialises in growing sustainable, aquaponic vegetables and edible flowers. The office is divided into 4 areas: 1. Entrance corridor, pantry & print zone; 2. Office Area (work zone & meeting zone); 3. Farm / Grow Area and 4. Washrooms & Shower.
The design responds to the client’s objective to find ways to improve sustainable farming. While aquaponics uses fewer resources compared to traditional farming, the design is a multidisciplinary approach to create use space more efficiently by introducing flexibility for both the company and the product. More importantly, we created a scalable modular system for the grow area by tackling product as well as spatial design.
The words flexibility and mobility really drove the concept – instead of creating spaces that are dedicated to hosting clients and visitors, or plant rooms with corridors between each rack of plants planted in soil, we sought an intersection of design: hospitality, office and coworking, product, agriculture, and technology. For example, by using 3D printing to create vertical pockets of vegetation, we reduced the amount of soil needed, vertical water pipes mean no excess water would pool in one area but not another, and the amount of light and electricity required to run the whole farm was significantly reduced. It is definitely an unconventional project. We ventured into a collaboration where Full Nature had the urban farming know how, and we brought in our design knowledge, to create a comfortable office design that was also doing something good for our planet.
Definitely space – one of the biggest tasks was to increase as much production as possible, without the detriment to the office and its employees. We wanted people to also feel happy to work there, and for guests to come in and feel in awe of the product. So we used only glass to divide the office room from the plant room: Every day you are going to work in an industrial building but no view, but you get greenery and bright warm light coming through while you work! The other difficulty was when we were designing the movable track system – trying to get water and electricity connected to long heavy shelves that move is very difficult and took some trial and error. We created prototypes with 3D printing to test out our ideas until we found a solution that worked.
The nature of the project is unique, current and forward-thinking. It’s not every day a client who wants to improve farming approaches you and says ‘I want to increase efficiency of my office and farm, but also make it look good!’ It’s a project that responds to current global issues, sustainability, limitation of resources and space. When we first started talking about this project, we found it was so well received amongst industry leaders but also the general public, so it’s a great feeling to have our design doing something good for our city, and having the great response to it afterwards.
The esteemed SBID awards is well known, well regarded and well received. We wanted to share our experience and work with other designers and industry leaders. Being an SBID finalist is an honour, and we look forward to entering other interesting projects in the near future!
Questions answered by Christina Yu, Lead Designer, Wolter & Yu.
We hope you feel inspired by this week’s design!
If you missed the last instalment of Project of the Week, featuring a modern industrial office design by JN Interior Designs, click here to read it.
The team at Graphenstone encourage designers to re-consider the process by which you specify paint for your projects. It’s more important than ever to consider both the environment and human health when it comes to making responsible design decisions for clients and end-users. So how can your decisions on paint make an impact?
Most paint brands focus your attention on one overriding priority – colour. No one doubts that this is a very important element to deliver on both design and mood. But let’s be honest, these days all the recognised brands have a fantastic range of colours, regardless of the fancy names and the marketing spiel.
In this time of overwhelming need for ecological change, we need to consider characteristics of the paint, well beyond just colour. We should seek information to evaluate:
These crucial factors can no longer be ignored or simply brushed over!
180,000 tonnes of plastic micro-beads are reportedly washed into rivers and oceans from the paints industry annually, six times the volume of micro-plastics emitted by the cosmetics industry – where they’re already banned. A day of reckoning awaits the paints industry, and you can help lead the charge.
The microscopic pieces of plastic now pour down globally in ‘plastic rain’, seeping widely into agriculture and our precious food chain, and according to the journal ‘Environmental Intentional’, in late 2020, even into the foetuses of unborn babies.
Indoor Air Quality in areas where high VOC paints are applied can be highly detrimental to the health of inhabitants, as toxic chemicals off-gas into the space, for years after application. 30 tonnes of toxic waste according to the WHO is produced for every ton of paint manufactured. And the chemical blend cannot break down at end of life, turning into plastic dust and spreading far and wide. These are just a very few examples on the long list of egregious risks and damage from a paints industry, which continues largely unchecked.
Check out the report ‘The Hidden Costs of a Plastic Planet’ here from CIEL.
It’s time to change, ‘Beyond Colour’.
Usually, you won’t see any declaration of ingredients. Neither will you find any trusted alternative to the declared list, such as a recognised ‘harm-free’ product evaluation certification, from the likes of Cradle to Cradle Institute, or Eurofins. These all require a careful and detailed inspection of all the contents, conducted on behalf of the consumer as solid verification of an ecological, or genuinely sustainable claim. So, all the usual paint additives could still be present, from solvents, de-foamers, driers, preservatives, additives, heavy metals and other harmful chemicals.
With ‘estimates of nearly 55% of raw material used by paint companies being crude oil derivatives’, the impact ecologically on our planet and the damage caused is becoming more widely known and repudiated.
“Paints, lacquers, and varnishes are among the chemical everyday products that have a particularly distinct effect on environment and health (chemicals in conventional paints can include glycols, toluene, and xylene).
Acrylic paints typically include a range of biocides to protect the latex, which can include arsenic disulphide, phenol, copper. Just because a paint says it has low VOCs does not mean it does not give off hazardous vapours.” – Architectural Digest Australia/Daniel Wurm, Greenpainters.
Mineral based paint systems are all automatically water based, since they don’t require solvents, using water as the base.
So don’t be misled by the apparent innocence of the “Water Based” paints label. It can disguise a toxic mix of polluting oil and plastic based ingredients, both highly damaging in production and no less toxic at point of use!
About Graphenstone
Graphenstone is the brainchild of a chemical engineer Antonio León Jiménez who dedicated himself to the idea of developing a natural, ecological and health conscious coating for the 21st century. Since the production of their initial range of paints and coatings, they have continued to work diligently creating ever more healthy and sustainable coatings for all manner of buildings.
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Silestone® by Cosentino, the world’s leading hybrid mineral surface for architecture and design, is launching its second series worldwide under its new corporate image. The new Silestone® emblem and character has given rise to the Ethereal collection, which also comes with a major campaign featuring entrepreneur and international fashion icon, Cindy Crawford.
Ethereal by Silestone® represents a quantum leap in terms of design, innovation and sustainability, in line with the transition that the Silestone® brand name is undergoing externally and internally with the development of the cutting-edge HybriQ® technology. This evolution of Silestone® leads to a series of patterns over a white canvas designed to become a best-seller in interior design, and which are the main reason for the title of Cindy Crawford’s campaign with Silestone® Ethereal, ‘Metamorphosis’.
This marble-inspired collection consists of four colours, namely Ethereal Dusk, Ethereal Haze, Ethereal Glow, and Ethereal Noctis, which recreate the dream-like beauty of the sky. The designs offer a deep, fine veining on a white foundation.
Ethereal Dusk showcases an urban look in which the blueish tone of its veining brings a modern and avant-garde touch to the space. It symbolises a unique, unforgettable and personal sunrise, in which peace, solemnity and tranquillity are seen on the horizon in the last moments of darkness.
Ethereal Haze includes a dynamic range of grey tones to emit plenty of personality. This colour conveys both calm and character thanks to an interplay of gradients which blend into pure neutrality. Ethereal Haze takes us to an imaginary world where the wind moves the clouds over the mountains, creating an optical illusion of tranquillity and fluffiness.
Ethereal Glow is simply pure, classic elegance. Its golden and grey veining merges with a tinged white foundation, running through the entire design and bringing an accent of colour to every corner. It is inspired by the sunset and its igneous colours and glow, a vision from which you cannot look away. It is an evolution of our internationally acclaimed Silestone® Eternal Calacatta Gold colour.
Ethereal Noctis is synonymous with sophistication. The tinged white foundation is broken up with short grey and black veins, providing contrast, depth, simplicity and modernity. It is inspired by the darkness after sunset, making us feel life with a strange halo of unreality.
Silestone® Ethereal is the result of HybriQ+®, the exclusive and pioneering technology developed for Silestone® by Cosentino. HybriQ+®, launched in 2020, is a qualitative leap in the evolution of Silestone® brand. It is a new production process characterised by the company’s commitment to the environment, the circular economy and sustainable management. With HybriQ+®, in addition to Cosentino’s environmental milestones, such as the use of 99% recycled water and 100% renewable electric energy in the production process, at least 20% of recycled raw materials are used in the manufacture of Silestone®.
Furthermore, HybriQ+® technology stands out for its new formulation in the composition of Silestone®, where the presence of crystalline silica is significantly reduced. Instead, a new hybrid formulation of mineral raw materials with equal or better performance than quartz and materials of a recycled origin is used. With this new composition, Silestone® benefits from the same mechanical and technical features and an appearance that enhance its beauty, but with a sustainable focus and new design possibilities including improved depth and translucency.
About Silestone® by Cosentino
Silestone® is the hybrid surface of premium minerals, quartz and recycled materials more advanced and sustainable on the market, manufactured with the exclusive and innovative HybriQ® technology. Since its creation, Silestone® has set major trends in its market, transforming the world of kitchen worktops and today it is a benchmark in interior design.
Bolon is recognized all over the globe for its award winning and sustainable woven design flooring. This year the design company launches a unique and bold collection created by its inhouse team. The Truly collection let flooring become the statement of any room.
“We’ve been braver than ever before; we gave ourselves the freedom to try out and create all that we have been curious about over the years. Questioning technical challenges and our own perceptions to innovate new expressions, weaving flooring in colour effects and patterns never seen. I feel we’ve really outdone ourselves this time and pushed the idea of what woven flooring can be”, says Klara Persson, the company’s Head of Product Management.
The Truly collection consists of five different patterns, all with their own expression and identity. Enlarged patterns, colour effects and hyper texture is what Truly is all about.
Bolon is bold and is always pushing the boundaries, challenging the perception of flooring design. This year more so than ever. The global campaign, created by Bolon’s in-house marketing department, focuses on brand values such as creativity, craft, passion, colour and heritage. “We love creating the unexpected, we love moving forward. This is Bolon”, say Annica, Cathrine, Klara, Lisa and Marie.
ANYTHING EVERYTHING, a graphic pattern building rooms within a room. Drifting from intense green to glossy white on dark blue.
DISRUPT AND DISCOVER, an elegant multi coloured check with soft glimmers of yellow, white and green. Dark and inky on a nearly deep blue base.
100%, a sparkling out of focus zig-zag pattern. Vibrating ultraviolet on a black, oily base.
PRECIS, a flowing pattern in magnified formations. Deep black base with a copper sheen and blue sparkles.
I SEE YOU, a collage-like pattern, layers upon layers of subtle surfaces. An experiment on a chalky white base.
“Along the way, we found ourselves right in the middle of our DNA, the very heart of Bolon. All that we have ever created and experimented with have brought us here. Five different faces of Bolon, showing who we truly are”, says Annica Eklund Chief Creative Officer at Bolon.
Truly is made in Sweden only with renewable energy, contains recycled material, is easy to maintain, has a high-performance classification, 33 Heavy commercial and a 15-year warranty. The designs comes in roll, 50×50 cm tiles and as Bolon Studio tiles, except Anything Everything, only available as roll. The collection is accessible worldwide from the 26th of January and is ideal for spaces with room for high-end design with a unique expression.
About Bolon
Bolon is a Swedish design company that makes innovative flooring solutions for public spaces. It is a third-generation family business run by sisters Annica and Marie Eklund. Under their leadership, Bolon has transformed from a traditional weaving mill into an international design brand with clients such as Armani, Google, Four Seasons Hotels, Chanel, Adidas, Apple and Missoni. With a strong commitment to sustainability, Bolon designs and manufactures all its products at a facility in Ulricehamn in Sweden. The company is recognised worldwide for its award-winning flooring and its collaborations with some of the world’s most acclaimed innovators and creatives.
Identifying genuinely sustainable and ecological paint brands requires some careful research and checking. But it’s worth it! At stake is both the health of our planet and those that inhabit your space. Here Graphenstone presents a few key pointers:
Do they claim ‘Low VOC’ levels or ‘Ultra-Low’? Low VOC can be as high at 30-50 grams per litre! Low VOC is a misnomer, it’s nothing like low enough. Even low or Ultra Low VOC products can contain other harmful additives and chemicals.
What evidence does the brand offer to validate their sustainability claims? Check to see if they provide Toxicological or Ecological data, or does it simply say ’No data available’ or not reference it?
Window-dressing; does the brand highlight positives like planting trees, or removing plastic from oceans, while explicitly avoiding any reference to their manufacturing process, the paints products themselves or their carbon footprint? Some brand use these distractions to window dress to shift your attention from other more damaging, un-ecological aspects of their offering.
Are there Independent certifications available from recognised ‘harm-free’ product evaluation agencies? These are essential to verify claims. ’Trust but Verify’ as Ronald Reagan, US President, once famously stated.
Are the paints genuinely petro-chemical, micro-bead and plastic free? Micro-beads are so damaging to the global ecology of rivers and oceans and the scientific evidence is now clear that these tiny plastic particles are now falling globally, onto land, via ‘plastic rain’.
Do they list ingredients with no verification from recognised, respected third party product evaluation agencies? How can you know if those really are the only ingredients? Check their certifications for independent evidence to confirm that all ingredients are ‘harm-free’ and healthy.
The paint industry is one of the most polluting globally. Billions of Kilo’s of VOC’s released annually into our precious atmosphere. For every ton of paint manufactured, the WHO claim that there’s 30 tons of waste water requiring processing. Only 30% of global paints are manufactured with a water base and even these can contain plastic and petrol-chemical based ingredients.
Graphenstone is certified by the most rigorous of all the ‘harm-free’ evaluation agencies including the most widely respected and holistic agencies such as Cradle to Cradle Institute, Eurofins, Green Tag and many others. No global paints brand has more certifications in the ecological and sustainable space.
Designing for Sustainable Interiors: How Can Interior Design Industry Address Climate Change?
The latest panel discussion in collaboration with Grohe, hosted by SBID CEO Vanessa Brady, addressed key considerations for effectively designing interiors with sustainability and climate change in mind.
The built environment accounts for 40 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions in 2019, according to the UK Green Building Council. Awareness over the environmental impacts of the construction, architecture and interior design industries is growing, as concerns over climate change and the sustainability of our cities, societies and lifestyles continue to rise. As a result, more clients and interior designers are seeking to incorporate sustainable principles into the design of their interiors.
The panel discussion explored the role interior designers and product manufacturers play in improving the impact of the industry and driving sustainable developments. From material selections and FF&E specification, to carbon neutral manufacturing, minimising waste and optimising energy efficiency.
Karl Lennon | Leader for Projects at Grohe
Karl has over 15 years of experience in the specification of architectural products in the international arena, acting as a project consultant on projects worldwide. Working with Architects and Interior Designers, Karl supports projects in all sectors with a strong consideration of the sustainable impact of the products supplied. Now working for GROHE for 5 years, he offers support to leading A&D firms working on many award-winning projects. He is also the author of GROHE’s RIBA Approved CPDs on Water Saving, Hygiene, and 3D Printing.
Pia Pelkonen | Creative Director at Pia Design
Following a degree in interior architecture Pia gained experience across a variety of projects as a designer and project manager at leading design studios in London before establishing Pia Design. Everything that Pia Design does has the future of our home planet at its heart and Pia and her team actively champion more sustainable ways to remodel. They reuse, repurpose and refurbish before replacing, working with the belief that longevity is the best form of sustainability and that by taking inspiration from nature, they are able to create spaces that improve with age – interiors with a green soul.
Cecilia Halling | Creative Director at Elicyon
Cecilia Halling is the Creative Director of Elicyon, with over 10 years’ experience in luxury interior design. Originally from Sweden, Cecilia specialises in highly bespoke residential interiors that are tailored to ensure each project is innovative and unique. She leads the vision for a 30 strong team, delivering projects all over the world.
Cover image credits: Interior design by LIA Design.
Silestone® by Cosentino, the leading global hybrid mineral surface for the world of architecture and design, presents Sunlit Days, the first carbon neutral collection in the quartz surfaces and engineered stone industry.
This milestone demonstrates the brand’s commitment to sustainability and highlights the excellent environmental management that the Cosentino Group has been carrying out for years. To reach this new milestone in the industry, Cosentino commits to offsetting the CO² emissions of the entire life cycle of the Silestone® Sunlit Days series. To this end, the company relies on different voluntary offsetting projects, duly certified and in the framework of the Voluntary Carbon Market. This initiative is also complemented by a partnership programme for the preservation of the seabed.
Sunlit Days is a collection of five colours inspired by the Mediterranean, the connection with nature and, above all, colour, the distinguishing feature that has made Silestone® a distinctive leader in the industry since its inception. Sunlit Days is a journey through light and colour, with a fresh style and Mediterranean tones, inspired by human values and simple and profound ways of living.
Faro White, Cincel Grey, Arcilla Red, Cala Blue and Posidonia Green are more than just the names of these five colours. They are stories, experiences and expressions. They are a tribute to the way of life of real people who have found their true essence by the Mediterranean.
Faro White represents the white of the Mediterranean and its sun-drenched walls, symbolising purity, simplicity and serenity. Inspired by the lighthouses that point the way for ships, this colour is also characterised by a silky, smooth texture. Faro White is a hymn for life loving people.
Cincel Grey is a fine-grained, silky grey, a shade that performs at its best when bathed in light. It is neutral and versatile, balanced between warm and cool. Its soft texture is captivating.
The Mediterranean breathes fire, and blood seems to flow in some parts of its geography. This is just what Arcilla Red is, an earthy red shade that makes you fall in love, tastes like wine and smells of petrichor. Essence, burst of colour, strength, passion and a lot of character. Its soft texture blends harmoniously with its beauty.
Talking about the Mediterranean means talking about the sea, its breeze, its vastness and its infinite horizon. Cala Blue is a deep and sophisticated blue colour that vibrates with the rest of the elements that surround it. Its texture feels like the caress of the sea.
The treasure of the Mediterranean Sea gives its name to this green colour that conveys the beauty of the Posidonia meadows. Energy, joy and nature come together in this proposal ready to surprise, ready to hypnotise. Its soft and delicate texture is complemented by this harmonious shade, ready to conquer.
Sunlit Days is a collection created with the exclusive and pioneering HybriQ® technology by Silestone®. This new production process is characterised by the company’s commitment to the environment, the circular economy and sustainable management. The manufacturing process of Silestone® with HybriQ+ uses 99% reused water from the production processes, 100% renewable electric energy and a minimum of 20% recycled raw materials in its composition.
Furthermore, HybriQ+ technology stands out for the new formula used in the manufacture of Silestone®, which significantly reduces the presence of crystalline silica. Instead, a hybrid formula made up of mineral raw materials and materials of a recycled origin is used. With this new composition, the outstanding mechanical and technical performance and timeless beauty of Silestone® remain intact.
About Cosentino
Cosentino Group is a global, Spanish, family-owned company that produces and distributes high value innovative surfaces for the world of design and architecture. It works together with its clients and partners to provide with solutions that offer design and value, and inspire the life of many people.
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