Spotted: The global subscription e-commerce market size is growing at a rate of more than 64 per cent each year, with analysts predicting a value of more than $904 billion by 2026 (around €850 billion). With consumers able to access many products so quickly and directly, adding circularity to the process could help reduce substantial volumes of waste and pollution. With many people keen on updating their devices as regularly as possible, e-waste is a mountainous problem affecting almost every region of the world.
Australian and Singaporean-based Circular is a subscription service designed to completely change how people consume technology. The company offers the latest devices at affordable monthly prices, and when someone wants to upgrade, the phone, laptop, or other device doesn’t just languish in a desk drawer. Instead, Circular refurbishes the device and offers it for lease to someone wanting a newer device that isn’t necessarily the latest model. When a device reaches the end of its useful lifecycle, Circular recycles it via sustainable, traceable processes.
Customers choose the length of their subscription and after being approved by Circular, receive their chosen device. Subscriptions are available for individuals and businesses, and Circular covers 90 per cent of all damage repair costs. After paying an initial launch fee for the chosen subscription length, customers pay a monthly cost that ranges from around A$44 to A$180 (from around €27 to €109), depending on the type and power of device chosen.
Despite the ubiquity of subscription services, innovators continue to find new ways to update the idea for new products and processes. In Springwise’s database, examples include a subscribe and recycle model for kids’ bikes and toys and a subscription app that provides access to electric vehicle charging availability.
Norwegian brand Minus is looking to disrupt the interior design industry by offering carbon-negative furniture on a subscription basis.
Minus debuted its first furniture collection, designed by Oslo studio Jenkins & Uhnger, at the biennial Designers’ Saturday event in the Norwegian capital.
The ambition is to go “beyond zero” by creating timber products that are carbon-negative across their lifespan. This led the brand to develop a rental service model.
“We started Minus to realise an optimised value chain for both production and consumption,” said Kristian Notland Harnes, the brand’s CEO and co-founder.
Minus staged an exhibition for Designers’ Saturday in Oslo
The strategy, he told Dezeen, is to design with “a 100-year perspective”.
This means taking responsibility for a product after it has left the factory, ensuring it stays in use as long as possible and is recycled at the end of its life.
“In the western world, a chair generally lives for 10 years,” Harnes said. “If the wood takes 100 years to grow, there is an imbalance there. It’s 90 per cent deforestation.”
“It’s about material control,” he added. “That leads us to subscription because it enables us to take responsibility for the material lifespan.”
The brand produces its furniture in pine wood
Minus’s first product, the Minus Chair, was launched as part of the Norwegian Presence exhibition in Milan last year and has since been longlisted for a 2023 Dezeen Award.
The brand has now added a stool, a bench and a table to its collection, all produced in pine wood.
When the pieces are no longer serviceable, Minus says it will take them back and convert them into a charcoal-like substance called biochar, stabilising the carbon contained in the timber and preventing it from being released into the atmosphere.
The result is a kind of fertiliser that can be added to soils to help them sequester more carbon.
The furniture is designed for both subscription and sale
According to Minus’ calculations, the chair produces -2.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) emissions throughout its life when rented or 1.9 kilograms when purchased outright, compared with an industry standard of 27 kilograms.
Minus plans to offer all of its products for sale or subscription, although the subscription model is currently still in the trial phase and only available to select businesses.
“Customers initially sign a 30-month subscription period, which basically covers our production cost,” said Harnes.
“The price falls 30 per cent every three years, giving you an incentive to keep the furniture longer. It is also possible to subscribe to used chairs at a lower price.”
The products are designed to be carbon-negative across their full lifecycle
Designers Thomas Jenkins and Sverre Uhnger played a key role in shaping Minus’ manufacturing operations.
With a brief to “design the most environmentally friendly chair possible”, they took a holistic look at how the production process could be adapted to minimise energy use and make optimal use of materials and resources.
This led Minus to adopt a decentralised approach. Instead of setting up a single production facility, the company manufactures in various factories and sources timber from as close to those locations as possible.
The furniture, meanwhile, is designed to require as little machining as possible, with few curves and no unnecessary details. The goal was to make the designs highly efficient but still functional and attractive.
By being involved from the project’s outset, Uhnger and Jenkins were able to impact the carbon footprint across every aspect of Minus’ business.
“Quite often it’s too big of an investment for a manufacturer or the brand to change all these aspects for one product or one product range,” Uhnger said.
“Therefore it is almost easier for a start-up to make real change than the bigger brands.”
The inaugural collection includes a chair, table, bench and stool
Customers can choose to leave the furniture unfinished or have it treated with linseed oil. Colour can also be added, with either a paint or lacquer finish.
“We wanted to offer different ways of purchasing the chair and different finishes, all with different levels of CO2 consumption, and allow the customer to make the choice themselves,” Jenkins told Dezeen.
“It’s a way of challenging and disrupting the industry, just as much as our work on the production side.”
The products are deliberately oversized to make them more robust, which also means they can be sanded down and/or retreated if they get marked or dented in the future.
Customers can choose the level of finish they want based on its carbon footprint
Jenkins said that “emotional durability” was also an important consideration. The designs are very simple, but they do have some defining characteristics.
Flat surfaces are made up of two pieces, meaning they can be made from standard-sized planks while legs are cylindrical.
The chair also features a double-curved backrest – a playful element that makes it comfortable from different angles.
“One of the key aspects of circularity is keeping the product in use in its original form for as long as possible,” said Jenkins. “We need people to still want to use these products for 20, 30, 50 or even 100 years.”
Minus’ process includes converting waste wood into biochar
Minus launched its collection in a pop-up exhibition for Designers’ Saturday, which took place in Oslo from 8 to 10 September.
Here, the company showcased new black and blue stain finishes for the Minus chair as well as seaweed-based bio-foam seat cushions by its partner brand Agroprene.
Minus plans to further improve its processes over the next 12 months, with the belief it can bring the CO2e of each chair down to as low as -15 kilograms.
One challenge the brand faces is that it can’t back up its claims with an environmental certification, as the end-of-life benefits of biochar are not considered within Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and there is no guarantee they will ever be.
Minus is partnering with Agroprene to offer bio-foam cushions for its chairs
Yet Harnes is confident of its effectiveness, pointing to research stating that the production of biochar can stabilise 50 per cent of the carbon in biomass such as pine.
The brand has big ambitions for the future but needs to build its audience in order to make that happen.
“Getting the contract business going is a very important part of the Minus project succeeding,” said Jenkins. “Then we can start looking at bigger projects. We want this to be sourced by local councils for schools.”
The photography is by Kristianne Marøy.
The Minus exhibition was on show as part of Designers’ Saturday from 8 to 10 September 2023. See Dezeen Events Guide for more architecture and design events around the world.
Spotted: The average baby goes through approximately 7,000 nappies before they are potty trained, and the vast majority of nappies used around the world are disposable. Considering that there are over 400,000 babies born in Rwanda and over 46 million across Africa annually, the number of nappies generated is staggering. The problems posed by single-use nappies are two-fold: there is a financial burden, with some mothers even needing to delay changing to reduce cost; and the environmental impact of disposing of that many plastic-based nappies.
Founded with the goal of helping mothers and families provide their babies with a sanitary and dignified alternative to rationing disposable nappies, Kigali-based Toto Safi gives mothers the ability to subscribe and save money on reusable nappies, while also eliminating the wastefulness of single-use alternatives.
Toto Safi’s nappies are designed and produced in Rwanda through partnerships with local women tailor cooperatives. By choosing Toto Safi, parents can not only make a positive impact on the environment, then, but also contribute to community development and the well-being of local economies.
The final products are high-quality, affordable, adjustable, and environmentally sustainable. They are also made with breathable and waterproof materials like cotton or bamboo, which means the nappies are gentle on babies’ skin, highly absorbent, and free from chemicals. Customers can either purchase the reusable nappies outright or subscribe for weekly sanitised nappy deliveries, along with the pickup of soiled nappies for cleaning. This system reduces waste and offers parents long-term cost savings.
Toto Safi is currently testing and developing new product lines, including two-in-one diapers, pocket diapers, and adult diapers, to meet diverse customer needs. The aim is to offer a comprehensive range of reusable items like padded underwear, period pants, and incontinence products, providing sustainable and comfortable solutions for people of all ages.
Springwise has recently spotted other sustainable nappies, such as a reusable nappy made from seaweed, and another disposable one made from biodegradable bioplastic.
Spotted: Following the COVID-19 pandemic and the rise of hybrid work models, companies need more flexibility than ever to scale their physical presence up or down as circumstances change. But as companies optimise their offices to fit changing working practices, there is a nagging problem: furniture.
Danish startup Nornorm has developed a new model for circular office furniture – one that is based on subscription rather than ownership. Under the startup’s system, companies pay a monthly fee that starts at €3 per square metre (with a startup fee of €12 per square metre).
At the start of the process, the company provides a floor plan and information on functional needs and personal style, and with this input, Nornorm creates a bespoke furniture solution. Before final sign-off, the company is provided with a 3D model of the re-configured workspace so they can add or remove elements as needed.
Once the design phase is over, Nornorm installs the furniture at the company’s office – but this is not the end of the collaboration. Companies are free to alter their design at any time, scaling up or down as circumstances require. If a change is requested, Nornorm will deliver any additional furniture required and disassemble any items that are no longer needed. Companies are also free to cancel their subscription at any time, in which case all their furniture will be collected and re-used with another business. To minimise waste and extent the lifespan of each item, any retired furniture is repaired and refurbished for use elsewhere.
Throwaway culture is leading to increased waste, and that includes our furniture. Springwise has spotted many innovations tackling this issue in the archive, including customisable and dynamic cork-based furnishings and a marketplace for second-hand furniture.
