What are fast interiors?
Much like the world of fashion, interiors have seen a huge increase in mass produced items from furniture to soft furnishings. Recently, the demand for beautiful interiors has grown in popularity, our Instagram feeds and Pinterest boards full of gorgeous inspirational homes.
This, along with the fact that more people are renting rather than buying their own homes,not to mention the links between the interior decor we live in and our mental health, means that more and more people are turning to fast interiors to make their houses feel like homes. The least expensive way for people to do this is through soft furnishings, like cushions, throws and curtains to create homely cocoons.
These items are designed and marketed to be disposable, ready to throw away to make way for next season’s must haves, or when we move house. The man-made materials used in their production mean that they usually end up in landfill rather than being recycled. There’s a mentality of not re-using, donating or selling on items that we bought cheaply, as it’s usually almost as cheap to buy brand new items. In the same way that we are moving away from fast fashion, we should also be looking to move away from fast interiors.
While it would be lovely to be able to re-purpose, re-use or buy high quality, long lasting pieces, for most of us, the reality is that we simply cannot. Budget and time constraints are what lead us to these products in the first place. For the majority of people, the convenience of being able to browse online, find something in our budget and have it delivered directly to our doors is too easy to turn down.
We have come up with a few ideas to help towards a more sustainable interiors future.
What can I do?
Be mindful in your purchases, really consider what you are buying, what it’s made from and how; how can it be used, can it be multi purpose? Can it be stored from season to season?
Make investments in key pieces that can be adapted when you move or think about whether it will be easy to sell on or donate in the future.
Really assess the furniture you already own - could you love it more if it was in a different room, painted a different colour, used in another way? Contact us for a quote on upcycling your furniture.
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