Deco winter 2017 edition

Put eco at the heart of your interior design

Christmas gift guide an inspiring panoply of ideas for all age groups and genders

Oil paintings impressive works from members of the Royal Institution of Oil Painters

What’s on your mantelpiece?

winter 2017/18 www.decomag.co.uk

Wood-burning stoves Is it time to bid them adieu?

Lagom

move over hygge, it’s time for lagom

Colour of the year: two top paint brands reveal theirs

Meet the new generation of mattresses in a box

Home Biogas 2:0

Turn food scraps into cooking gas

Contents 3. News

Editor’s Letter The Christmas curfew tolls the knell of parting 2017...to bring a little Thomas Gray into the mag.. and we hope despite this year’s many ghastly global goings on that you’ve had a good year.

With increasing signs that climate change is happening apace, and causing mass migrations which in turn breeds hostility, it’s certainly crucial that we all do more for the environment.

Obviously it’s down to governments to legislate to drive industry to reduce carbon emissions, but there are things we can do at the micro individual human level to cut our carbon footprints and lower demand for ‘stuff’.

Such as give Christmas presents that a. will be used b. won’t fall apart within six months and c. are made from sustainable/recyclable materials.

So enjoy our gift guide and our eco decorations guide too. If you’re after bathroom inspiration, see Paul Warren’s porcelain tiled bathroom..it’s SO beautiful. And we start a new series looking at what’s on our mantelpieces as these give us an insight into people’s tastes and priorities. We also consider a survey that found we don’t buy new all the time just for the hell of it and Niki Brantmark, who married a Swede and lives in Sweden, explains why we could all benefit from taking ‘lagom’ to our hearts and minds.

If you would like a printed issue of this magazine - and it’s always nice to have a hard copy - we’re delighted to be able to provide you with this service, so email us at info@decomag.co.uk.

Wishing you all a very happy 2018, Abby xx COVER: Photograph courtesy of John Lewis PUBLISHER ABD Associates, London N4, UK t +44 (0)20 7561 0675 E: info@decomag.co.uk Twitter@deco_mag CONTENT TEAM Editor: Abby Trow Deputy editor: Kay Hill Advertising manager: Ajay Duggal Photographer: Mike Trow

See deco online: www.decomag.co.uk

5. Mattress in a box How eco is the new generation of mattresses?

6. All present and correct It’s our fabulous 2017 Christmas gift guide 10. Decorations for joyous celebrations Choose eco-friendly decorations for a greener Christmas (no plastic!)

12/ Paint in oil Wonderful works in oil by members of the Royal Institute of Oil Painters (ROI) 18. Porcelain perfection Interior designer Paul Warren talks us through his bathroom renovation 21. Home Swede Home Niki Brantmark explains why lagom is a concept she’s taken to her heart 22. Pride of place on the mantelpiece Readers Kate & Nigel Grose talk us through what’s on theirs 24. What makes you buy new furniture?

A recent survey suggests we’re not all rabid neophiles 26. Wood-burning stoves Kay Hill asks how eco they are in the light of research into small particulate emissions from them

from the renowned architect

29. Miscellaneous matters Some eco minded projects

31. Home Biogas 2:0 This latest unit from Israel’s Home Biogas allows people to generate cooking gas from their food waste

30. David Adjaye Living Spaces New book looking at nine residential house designs

32. Colour of the Year Dulux has gone soft and mauve while it’s a bold red from Benjamin Moore

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News

Clothing brand Joules partners with DFS for its first furniture range

LAGOM: Niki Brandmark’s new book

If you’ve just got to grips with Denmark’s hygge, well, move on because now we’re all talking about Sweden’s Lagom, the latest ‘zen’ lifestyle trend from Scandinavia which you can apply to your living space, relationships and day-to-day life.

Lagom simply means ‘just enough’ and its core idea is that we can strike a healthy balance with the world around us.

Author Niki Brantmark - founder of interior design blog, My Scandinavian Home - explains in this book what ‘lagom’ is getting at, which she describes as a ‘slower fuss free way of living’. The book is divided into three sections; Lagom in your personal life, Lagom in family and relationships and Lagom in the wider world. Lots of handy hints and things you can do, such as embracing the art of buying second-hand, how to plan a lagom Christmas (don’t overload your kids with expensive presents...) and how to improve your indoor air quality with houseplants (Niki let’s us in on six plants that will survive anything. And there are some nice recipes such as Potato Pancakes and Lingonberry Jam. Lagom is published by Harper Collins, £9.99

Everlong Paint rebrands as Sarah Jayne Signature Chalk Paint British-made Everlong Paint has changed its name to Sarah Jayne Signature Chalk Paint. The company, owned

by Sarah Weightman, offers eco-friendly paints in myriad colours which are popular with furniture upcyclers.

Clothing brand Joules has teamed up with UK furniture manufacturer DFS to produce the Joules seating collection. Handmade at the DFS factory in Derbyshire, sofas offer a colourful twist on classic styles with upholstery in fabric printed with Joules’ distincitve handdrawn designs.

The collection, available at DFS, encompasses a range of country, coastal and colourinspired pieces and consists of four sofa styles with accompanying armchairs and footstools, available in a variety of fabrics. Pictured above: Cambridge sofa in floral grey. Sofas from £998

AkzoNobel opens sustainable paint factory

AkzoNobel has opened a new 100,000m2 factory at Ashington north of Newcastle which it says is the world’s most sustainable and advanced paint factory.

Costing more than £100m, it’s the company’s largest ever global investment and will become the new centre of production for Dulux paints.

The factory has capacity to double current UK production levels to 200 million litres per year - the equivalent of 80

million 2.5 litre cans in up to 33,000 different colours enough paint to redecorate every living room, bathroom and kitchen in Britain.

The plant uses a variety of renewable energy sources and AkzoNobel estimates the carbon footprint per litre of paint produced here will be reduced by 50 per cent compared to the facilities it’s replacing. *AkzoNobel has received the Carbon Trust Triple Standard Award.

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summer ‘17 edition Advertisement

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The Northern House: Swedish vintage rag rugs

www.thenorthernhouse.co.uk

www.nudoadopt.com

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Paul Warren Design Beautiful interiors with eco chic

www.paulwarrendesign.com

Blissful sleep without any chemicals

www.cottonsafenaturalmattress.co.uk Handmade in Devon, our sumptous mattresses contain no foam and no fire retardant or other chemicals so you sleep in peace.

Cottonsafe Natural Mattress. deco mag 04

mattresses

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Mattress in a box: how eco is it?

There’s been a plethora of mattress-in-a-box launches...with mattresses seeming to be anthropomorphosised with names such as Emma, Bruno, Casper and Simba. They’re modern, they’re easy to buy and manage, they promise tip-top sleep..but are they eco? Text: Abby Trow ‘I think within the next 5-10 years we will have very different foams to work with,’ he asserts. That’s because governments are now demanding the chemical industry supplies products that are eco-friendly and meet C2C standards - when it comes to cutting carbon emissions, it’s legislation not light touch regulation that drives change.

Mass and mid-market mattresses are full of foam which doesn’t biodegrade and so end up in landfill sites. The argument of mattress-in-a-box brands is that the chemical industry will soon be making bio-foams and their products will cease to be an end-of-life environmental problem

Emma, Bruno, Casper, Simba...they all sound super-friendly and they’re super comfortable too by all accounts. But these compressed mattresses that come to your door in a box are made to be affordable.. which means they contain memory foam, a petrochemical derived material that’s not biodegradable.

‘There is no perfect solution’ says Max Laarman of Emma, the new German mattress-in-a-box brand, when you ask him to assess the eco friendliness of this new genre of mattresses.

However, he does want to point out that they do have a lot going for them: they’re compressed so they take up less space in lorries, minimising delivery costs.

There’s minimal packaging around them. Emma Mattress offers a 100-night trial and should a mattress be returned (fewer than 10 per cent are), it will either be shredded and recycled as

backing for carpets, or it will be collected by the skin charity Debra and sold in its shops to raise funds. (Debra is the charity that supports people who suffer from Epidermyolysis bullosa, a painful condition that causes skin to blister.)

Emma mattresses are vegan - they contain no animal products - and crucially they have been designed to last a long time. Forget the bed industry’s entreaties to people to change their mattresses every eight years, Laarman says an Emma should give you 15 years of good sleep.

And by then he’s confident mattresses will be much more widely recycled and won’t be deposited in landfill. Oh and sticking with the eco plus points, Emma mattresses are made in the UK for British consumers - in Derby to be accurate, while those sold in other EU countries are made in Germany and Switzerland.

But to cut to the chase, these

mattresses, as is the case with many mid-market mattresses, contain metal springs, which are recyclable, and foam which is petro-chemical derived and is not bio-degradable. And it’s the foam in mattresses that make them such an environmental problem because they sit in landfill and don’t decompose, rather they add to the formation of harmful landfill gases.

Foams must become more eco-friendly Laarman says mattress makers are in the hands of the chemical industry on this, because it’s the chemical companies that need to develop a new generation of bio foams that are degradable or which can dissolve.

And that research and development work is underway and for that reason he’s confident mattresses will become part of C2C - cradle to cradle - manufacturing.

Now you might be thinking about brands of mattresses such as Vi-Spring, Savoir Beds, Cottonsafe Natural Mattress which don’t use PU foams and whose mattresses can be taken apart and the fillings of wool, cashmere, cotton and horsehair popped in the ground to biodegrade.

And you might think well, if they can do it, why can’t Emma and Simba and Bruno?

Laarman says they could, but they’d be making a premium product which would cost thousands and not hundreds of pounds. ‘You can’t make premium mattresses cheaply.

The natural materials they use are very expensive.

‘But we wanted to make a mattress that’s mid-priced, so it’s accessible to lots of people, and very high quality so it will give you years of good sleep. For that reason we have to use foam - and I would add that we use the best quality memory foam.’

Emma mattress has Which? ‘Best Buy 2017’ endorsement. Which? is the UK’s largest consumer body.

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christmas gift guide

Left: a cracker that will have its recipient licking their lips..giant food cracker from quintessentially British brand Crabtree & Evelyn Below: Persia 001 scented candle by Hossein Rezvani, £65. Hand-poured vegetable wax with essential oils of Damascene rose and exotic fruits

Above: unbleached cotton screen printed Animal Ink tote bag from Perkins & Morley, £8.99 Below: a brilliant book for design lovers, Modern Scandinavian Design, £60, published by Laurence King Right: mini ceramic loaf tins for

the cook in your life, £26 from Anthropologie Below right: Beefayre scented candles and diffusers use vegetable wax and recycled re-useable glass containers.

And 3 per cent of profits go to bee conservation projects

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christmas gift guide

All present and correct It’s coming up to Christmas so time to get your thinking cap on and choose gifts for your nearest and dearest that they’ll like.

We have some ideas - eco of course Left: My Billet Doux, silk cushions with a hidden pocket for a notebook and pen so you can leave your loved one a note. From £185 Below: vintage style letters made from recycled oil drums, 50cm high, £49 at Lovestruck Interiors

Right: The Swimmers, new artwork from UK screen printers Bold & Noble.

Unframed, £45 Below centre: Small plaster figures and architectural models from model makers, the Modern Souvenir Co, from £18 Bottom right: Beautiful Turkish coffee set with copper pot by Selamlique at Jardins Florian, £115 Below, top: recyled glass vases at Pastel Lane, form £10 Below, bottom: mini succulent box, from £15 at Geo Fleur Bottom left: Iris recycled skateboard skateboards at Jardins Florian, £165

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christmas gift guide

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Try to see the festive season as a time to buy from small independent shops and makers. For eco-minded presents, root around Hen & Hammock; Ashortwalk; Ethical Superstore, and Green Fibres. For luxury ethical-eco see Jardins Florian. Check out The Northern House for vintage Swedish rag rugs or AntikBar for original vintage posters, while for modern screen-printed artwork, we love Bold & Noble. For scented delights, see Savon Stories for bodycare, Beefayre and Crabtree & Evelyn for candles/diffusers.

Above: Dalit lavender-scented mini candle in a reuseable clay pot, handmade in India from beeswax to raise money for disadvantaged Dalit street children, ÂŁ8 from the deco online shop. Email your order to info@decomag.co.uk Right: Fenella Smith Flamingo & Pineapple bakeware, with pouring porcelain mixing bowls ÂŁ40 at www.fenellasmith.co.uk

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christmas gift guide

deco mag 09 Left: Madrid-based mad lab makes lovely little things designed by top designers out of sustainably sourced wood. Choose from decorativeor useful pieces that are also decorative, such as the Floating Houses containers for your desk..never lose pens etc again Below: Kids Rule personalised wooden height chart, from £139 at Lovestruck Interiors Centre, left: a super present for anyone starting out in their new home..a vintage Swedish rag rug from The Northern House, from £75 Bottom left: very affordable ceramic mugs and cups in nice muted colours from Danish retailer Sostrene Grene, from £1.69 Bottom right: all cooks should have one..a Tog knife. Made in Japan from high carbon steel with a Kebony handle, Togs can also be personalised, with engraving from £35. Knives from £99

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christmas decorations

Suspended: Meri Meri hanging Reindeer and Mushroom wood/ wool garland with gold bells £20 at Printer+Tailor Top right: recycled ribbed antiqued glass tealight holders, £12 for 3 at Home Sanctuary Below: beautiful Citrus & Spice wreath made from real foliage, herbs and dried oranges, £85 at The Real Flower Company Bottom left: fair trade giant recycled paper snowflake, £4.50 at Ian Snow

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Decorations for joyous celebrations

This image: multicoloured C7 LED bulb light string, £32.99 at Lights4Fun Below: felt wool treetop dove from Anthropologie’s Christmas decorations collection, from £8

Choose decorations made from wood, wool, paper, cardboard..anything but plastic! deco mag 10

christmas decorations

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Pictured above: Set of three wooden Christmas trees made by Devon wood turner Adam Cornish, £32 at Made By Hand Online Top centre: little red painted wooden Christmas sleigh, perfect for sweets and chocs, 21x13x9.5cm, £8.95 at Melody Maison Far right: Albero De Natale recycled cardboard red Christmas tree which can be lit from within with an LED bulb, 180cm high at www.lessmore.it Central garland: felt wool Merry Christmas garland, fair trade, £28.99 at Ian Snow Ltd Right: Wooden star with battery operated LED lights, £43.20 from Dar Lighting Group

Far left: Set of 3 self-assembly wood Meri Meri Reindeer with wool scarfs, £18.50 at Printer+Tailor Left: heart shaped wooden Robin hanging decoration, £3 at The Contemporary Home

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royal institute of oil painters

Paint in oils

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters recently held its annual exhibition at Mall Galleries in London, wowing audiences with the vibrancy of this genre

The Royal Institute of Oil Painters was founded in 1882 and is the only major British art Society that promotes and exhibits work of the highest standard exclusively in the oils.

The ROI says it ‘provides a centre of excellence and encouragement to all who love this robust medium’ and is based at the Mall Galleries, London SW1.

Above: Portuguese Bowl with Apricots, still life by ROI member Lucy McKie Below: Gail’s Amaryllis

by Valerie Smith Below right: Mountains by Alice Hall

Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. Commonly used drying oils include linseed, poppy seed, walnut and safflower oil.

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royal institute of oil painters

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Above: Roses and Fruits by Peter Graham, a painter widely considered to be one of our best modern colourists

Meet some key ROI artists: The Royal Institute of Oil Painters is known as a the ROI and its members are based all over the UK. Lucy McKie ROI is a still life and portrait painter based in Yorkshire. The clarity of her award-winning art is entrancing and it’s no surprise that her works are in private collections across the world.

Lucy’s work focuses on great

attention to detail and she has a meticulous and highly accurate approach to painting. Her still life paintings often feature ordinary everyday objects shown in a contemporary and sometimes quirky style.

Peter Graham was born in Glasgow 1959 and has gained a reputation as one of Britain’s foremost modern colourists. His work is often

related to the modern Scottish school of painters, but Peter has a flamboyant style which is unique – detailed brush work combined with looser fluid strokes creating vibrant contrasts of pure colour, line and tone. From 1976 –’80 Peter trained at the Glasgow School of Art under David Donaldson and Barbara Rae. He has maintained a lifelong preoccupation with light and intense colour,

gaining a reputation for his highly distinctive style. Peter likes to work outside, painting what he sees be it the harbours and cafes of France, coastal scenes around the Scottish isles, or the grandeur of New York and London dining rooms. He says of his approach ‘ I can attract onlookers, which can be quite revealing as you can see what kind of reaction you are getting to your painting – a deco mag 13

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royal institute of oil painters

Top left: Dreaming of Cobalt Tides by Peter Wileman Top right: Breakers’ Yard by Valerie Smith Left: Bill Dean’s Wet Day Oxford Street Above: David Curts’ The Old Forge Bolham Manor

sort of instant criticism.

Generally people understand that the painting is in progress and still developing.’

Susan Bower studied biology and psychology at university but in the mid ‘80s decided to become an artist. Trained by fellow Yorkshire artist William Selby, she’s a keen observer of behaviour and has developed a singular and witty painterly interpretation of

situations she observes.

She uses oils and paints in a spontaneous, unconventional format. Her paintings take on a force of their own, resulting in tableaux of life that make sharp comments on the human condition.

capture light. ‘My painting is all about light and how we see it and react to it. It is what drives artists on. It is why most of us paint. Yet light can be as elusive as a wisp of smoke as we try to capture it in all its many moods,’ he says.

A former ROI president, contemporary landscape painter Peter Wileman’s work demonstrates his mastery of using paint to

Malcolm Ashman is another wonderful contemporary landscape and figurative painter whose use of colour gives his work tremendous character.

‘Two subjects have engaged me over many years, the landscape and the figure,’ he says. ‘I don’t maintain a single cohesive style but prefer to allow each piece to dictate how I will respond.

As a child the landscape was a place of escape, I could draw, paint or just observe and imagine.

An early lesson in the joys of solitude that’s stayed with me.’

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royal instutute of oil paints

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Top left: Breton Window by Jo Haidee Summers Top right: Tulips in Bloom

by Peter Graham Centre left: Snooty Mice, Wine Flight by Susan Bower Above: Adlestrop by Malcolm Ashman Below left: Venice by Alice Hall

‘Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt.....’ Leonardo da Vinci deco mag 15

housing crisis

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Housing in crisis

At the recent Grand Designs Live in Birmingham, ‘Mr Grand Designs’ Kevin McCloud led a discussion looking at ways to improve social housing and crucially to provide urgently needed accommodation for growing numbers of homeless people

From left: Kunle Barker, Kevin McCloud, Jasper Thompson

Housing, or lack of it, is a problem around the world as it’s become an investment commodity for the wealthy while growing populations also mean housing is in short supply.

Kevin McCloud, designer, commentator and presenter of Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme, takes a keen interest in housing issues and is concerned about rising levels of homelessness.

At GDL in Birmingham he took part in a panel discussion about social housing in the UK with season 16 Grand Designers, Jon Martin and Noreen Jaafar, property expert and TV presenter Kunle Barker and Director of Help Bristol’s Homeless, Jasper Thompson.

Jasper, who describes himself as a restaurant owner

who wanted to ‘do something more’ to help Bristol’s homeless, has pioneered the idea of converting shipping containers to provide a temporary home for those sleeping rough. The importance of having a home, even if temporary, is a key idea behind Jasper’s passion for this project, as well as a crucial step to getting homeless people off the street and reintegrated into society.

Kevin McCloud described the psychological phenomenon of ‘place connection’, and the importance that a home space has ‘in allowing us to feel comfortable, to aspire to more, and to plan for the future.’

Kunle Barker talked about his experience with a recent social housing project in Camden, north London,

which allows residents to personalise their homes, for example by painting their room in the colour they want.

This gives a sense of ownership and links back to the idea of connection attachment.

Considering whether the use of shipping containers to provide temporary accommodation for homeless people could be expanded to more cities in the UK, Kevin says projects like Jasper Thompson’s are a speedy way of empowering people through the provision of a home. The panel all agree it’s vital government, local government and housing charities consider new options for providing quickly and efficiently affordable social housing. And we need to think more creatively so we’re not stuck in the rigid mindset that only fixed and permanent

bricks and mortar buildings can work to house people in emergency need. Converted shipping container units can be craned onto available land (and there’s the rub of course..) and modular construction too should be used to make good homes/ shelters quickly.

Kevin emphasises though that it’s the role of government to ensure the country has the homes needed for people from all walks of life, from retirement communities to first time buyers and those dependent on the welfare state. And Kunle urges everyone involved in housing to get behind innovative projects and to lobby their councils and MPs. It is, after all, in everyone’s interest that we call time on homelessness. helpbristolshomeless.co.uk

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fruity idea

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Wall-mounted fruit

well it’s certainly fruit for thought... if you want to eat more fruit then keep it on the wall by the door so you grab a piece as you rush out, says design graduate George Woolley Kingston University Product and Furniture Design student George Woolley thinks filling a bowl with fruit isn’t the best way to get us to eat the stuff because we can easily ignore it, while pieces at the bottom invariably go rotten and have to be chucked out.

His solution? put fruit on the wall, by the door, so you can grab a piece as you head out.

Or it’s there in your face when you come in.

His metal Fruitopias are easy to fix to the wall, the fruit looks pretty and decorative and as air keeps circulating around it, it should stay fresher for longer. Could be good for veg too - no more forgotten mushy courgettes at the bottom of the fridge...

Oh, and no need to invest in any more of those expensive still life paintings of fruit. Joking aside, Fruitopia is, says Woolley, designed for people on the move. ‘I picture it hung by the front door - you leave the house, grab your keys, coat, wallet and a piece of fruit. It’s easily accessible -

like picking fruit from a tree.’

With recent reports suggesting eating 10 portions of fruit and veg a day could prevent 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide each year, the space saving product encourages healthy eating while clearly displaying any need for produce replenishment.

Woolley, 23, from Derbyshire, says his love of food planted the seed for an idea for his final year project: ‘I was frustrated at the amount of food I was wasting and wanted to revolutionise how fruit and vegetables are presented in the home - as well as making it easy to see how many you have left.

The modern minimalist approach to kitchen design may have altered eating habits, especially with people living in smaller apartments with less space for kitchen worktops, suggests Woolley: ‘The modern kitchen hides things away. It’s very easy to forget what we actually have

and to overbuy.’

His own research found the fruit bowl to be one of the main culprits when it comes to food waste, with newly bought bananas, apples and pears piled on older fruit left forgotten, bruised or squashed.

‘My focus was to give people the opportunity to display their fruit in a different way, to present it beautifully with a simple frame showing off the natural forms.’

Fruitopias are made from metal and can come in a variety of sizes

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bathroom design

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Porcelain perfection

London interior designer Paul Warren wanted a white marbled look without the maintenance problems of marble for his own bathroom. The answer: bookmatched porcelain tiles which will stay pristine with just a weekly wipeover

Above: Paul’s bathroom has a fresh white look with its marbled porcelain tiles, bookmatched in the shower enclosure.

With water-saving equipment, LED lighting and hard-wearing porcelain, he designed it to work efficiently, economically and to last for decades Below: a wall hung basin storage unit, with a mirror cabinet recessed into the wall

‘I love designing bathrooms and I’m delighted to say that this year I finally got round to doing my own,’ say interior designer Paul Warren. ‘As rooms go it’s not an ideal shape in that it’s a rectangle that kicks out on a diagonal and it’s got a sloping ceiling, so the question has always been how to bring it together as a coherent space...’

He likes bathrooms that are fully tiled and while he loves the clean yet opulent look of white carrara marble, he knows too well that marble is a pain to look after because it needs regular sealing due to its relative porosity and proning to staining.

‘I’m an absolute convert to porcelain tiles over natural stones because manufacturers can now produce designs that look so like real stone or wood.. it’s incredible...

‘And porcelain is made from clay and while clay is dug from the ground, clay pits don’t involve blasting vast areas of land unlike stone quarries. Porcelain is hugely

hard wearing and inert in landfill, so for me it’s a material I’m comfortable with. Its longevity is incredible. My bathroom should be looking like this in 100 years’ time assuming whoever moves in after I’m gone cleans it at least weekly!’

The bathroom proved quite a tricky build as the builder had to straighten walls and install a sliding pocket glass door and recess the mirror fronted bathroom cabinet into the wall. ‘The project was supposed to take three weeks and ended up as seven!’ says Paul. But it was worth it as he’s delighted with its cool modern glamour.

Paul’s bathroom tips.

1/ Find a good builder, plumber and electrician.

2/ Buy the best quality products you can. Choose water-saving taps and showers and ensure your loo has a short flush option 3/ Wall hung is best for loos and basins and ideally have a basin on a storage unit 4/ Lighting is crucial...both task and mood lighting.

Choose LEDs. 5/ Electric blanket-style underfloor heating makes tiled floors nothing to be feared in winter. deco mag 18

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bathroom design

Paul’s bathroom products:

Tiles: 600x1200 mm Italian porcelain Corona Royal Calacatta.

Suppliers: Porcelain Tiles Ltd T +44 (0)20 8731 6787 All bathroom equipment supplied by The Showroom Ltd, London W10 6SZ Wet room shower tray: Wet Room Materials, Ireland Shower head: Clubmaster by hansgrohe.

Shower valve made by Crosswater Toilet: Catalano Toilet frame: Geberit with dual flush plate Corian basin: Antonio Lupi Basin taps: Crosswater Mirror cabinet with integral lights: Keuco Royal Integral Bath towels: House range, John Lewis Glass vase: Tom Dixon Soap dispenser: Conran Soap tray: Tom Dixon

‘This bathroom should be looking like this in 100 years’ time..with a weekly clean.’ Paul Warren, interior designer

Total bathroom spend: £24,600

Left: The wall that kicks out on an angle has mostly been replaced with a large piece of frosted glass which is top lit with an LED strip

www.autentico-paint.co.uk

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Deco Promotion

Lüks Linen: ethical,

natural, affordable luxury Thick fluffy towels are delicious but there are disadvantages to them, the obvious ones being their weight and the time they take to dry.

Which is part of the reason why Rachel Ward, founder of Lüks Linen, fell in love with Turkish peshtemal towels.

She loved their long history and their practicality: they were woven for use in the hammams and so don’t weigh much and dry very quickly.

For frequent travellers, they take up very little space in a suitcase and they can have many identities - they can be towels, throws, blankets, scarves, baby wraps and picnic blankets, while Ward is also offering cushion covers made from peshtemals.

Peshtemals have been woven on hand-looms in communities throughout Turkey for generations, explains Ward, using locally-grown cotton. While this cotton hasn’t been certified organic, it is mountain-grown in parts of the country.

Lüks Linen works with small family weavers to high ethical

Above: Lüks Linen cotton peshtemals come in a wide range of colours, sizes and weaves

and fair trade standards.

Prices for peshtemal products start at £22 for a towel. Look out for the distinctive traditional diamond weave and choose from a variety of colours from subtle neutrals to stunning jewel brights. www.lukslinen.com

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lagom

Niki Brandmark, author of Lagom, explains what this word’s all about and why it’s so captured her heart

Home Swede home

Above: Swedes don’t really do the luxury thing, preferring comfort over ostentation. Their long tradition of making rag rugs is very much part of the lagom approach.

The Art of Lagom I first encountered the word lagom at a dinner party in my adopted home town of Malmö in southern Sweden, which has been home for the past 13 years.

‘Do you know the word lagom?’ the other guests asked me.‘You don’t have a direct translation for it in English.’ ‘Perfect?’ I ventured.

Pronounced ‘lah-gom’ and loosely translated as ‘not too much and not too little - just right’, lagom centres around finding the right balance for you. The word can be used in just about any context for example tea can be lagom warm, trousers a lagom fit and you can work a lagom amount.

The origin of the word is

largely unknown, however it’s commonly thought to derive from Viking times and rooted in the term laget om (around the team). It’s said a bowl of mead would be passed in a circle and it was important to sip just the right amount so there was enough to go round.

Whether applied to work, leisure, family and relationships, holidays and celebrations, the way you decorate your home or living in a way that’s kinder to the planet, a Swede will often tell you lagom är bäst - the right amount is best.

Over the years I’ve been living in Sweden I’ve slowly learned that moderation is key - and striking a balance really does lend itself to a calmer, stress-free way of living.

One obvious area for this is in the home.

It’s no secret that Swedes take a lot of pride in creating a beautiful living space, often characterized by clean lines, a minimalist look and feel and light colours. In today’s fast-paced world, wouldn’t it be wonderful to create a home with less clutter and more space to enjoy doing the things you love - in a comfortable, inviting way?

You see, Swedes simply don’t have much stuff and don’t tend to hoard - instead they take the time to choose items which are both aesthetically pleasing and serve a purpose. And they’re certainly onto something! A slew of studies show the positive effects of a clutter-free home - ultimately

pointing towards a much calmer mind.

Having said that, the minimalist look is a fine balance. Rid your home of too many things and it may feel empty and cold, add too much stuff and it will feel messy and chaotic. The key to achieving a warm and inviting look is to think about the practical nature of the space first - what items do you need in the room to be able to fulfill the purpose?

Anything you neither love nor need can go.

Once you’ve established the basics, adding natural textures such as wood, clay and glass, as well as layers of textiles in the form of blankets, throws and sheepskins, will ensure a cosy atmosphere.

Lagom, £9.99 Harper Collins.

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eco travel

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mantelpiece

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Pride of place on the mantelpiece Our mantelpieces offer a snapshot into our lives. We’re being very nosy and asking what’s on yours? Kate & Nigel Grose, keen Deco readers, talk us through what’s on theirs. Photograph: Mike Trow

Facing page: a photograph of Audrey Hepburn by Gian Paolo Barbieri sits above the marble fireplace that was in the house when Kate & Nigel bought it in the early ‘80s. The floral ceramic bowl is by Shelton Pottery and the fat black chicken was bought on a holiday in southern Spain. The fluted edge cream bowl is a Coalport original

Kate & Nigel Grose live in a large old rectory in a village in south Wales. They’re keen collectors of books, pots, vases and ornaments and say until recently their sitting room mantelpiece was ‘groaning under the weight of decorative bits and bobs as well as millions of photos.. snapshots of the children and grandchildren...but so many you couldn’t really see anything with any clarity,’ says Kate.

They had their sitting room repainted recently in a soft green that manages to be both minty and apple-y - it’s Green Almond by Sanderson and they took the opportunity to ‘rationalise’ what is on the mantelpiece. Which should be said is the top of the marble fireplace surround which was in the house when they bought it in the mid ‘80s.

‘We don’t think it’s the original fireplace because the rectory dates back to the mid 17th century, but we suspect it’s been in the house for a good hundred years or more,’ says Nigel, whose career spans commercial photography and art education. He adds it’s a

good mantelpiece because it’s wide and therefore capacious...though capacity has its drawbacks if you’re of the super eager collector persuasion..

So back to the mantelpiece now. ‘Well, we took away the photos and the snapshots because they were piling up and taking over. We’ve put them in an album instead and can enjoy looking through them when we feel in the mood to reminisce.

‘We have 11 pieces on the mantelpiece now. The two bowls mean a lot.. one is a Coalport fairly shallow cream bowl with a fluted edge and that’s been with us for decades. I doubt there are many such bowls in existence today....’ (Coalport, for those not familiar with the name, was a brand of china set up in the late 1700s and in the 20th century it was subsumed into Wedgwood.) On the left hand side there’s a deeper bowl decorated with lillies and that was made by Shelton Pottery and we bought it in The Guild in Bristol a few years ago.

‘I love the handpainted lillies. It’s an exuberant one-off

piece,’ says Kate. (Shelton Pottery in Cheshire is run

by Ken and Valerie Shelton, who handmake their pieces.)

Another ceramic piece the couple adore is the fat black chicken bought in a market in Andalusia many years ago, in which they planted some orange silk flowers.

Fresh flowers are also on show too..roses in the textured round frosted glass vase that was a gift from one of their five children. A cherished painting of Kate by the father of a friend is propped up against the wall, with a vibrant royal blue bowl to one side. ‘It’s not a special bowl in any way..we just like the colour.’

And hanging over the mantelpiece is a stunning black and white photograph of the beautiful Audrey Hepburn taken by Gian Paolo Barbieri for Vogue in 1969.

‘It’s a very arresting image of her, while the black frame adds to its impact,’ says Nigel. So it’s not naff to have photographs of famous people? ‘Well, if you like something, I can’t see a problem. And we like this picture. A lot,’ he says.

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What makes you buy new furniture?

It would seem we’re not a nation of spendthrifts when it comes to furnishing our homes How often do you think about buying new furniture or decorative accessories? and how often do you actually change things such as sofas, beds, blinds - or even cushions?

of us go for well over 15 years with the same mattress and sofa, while things like carpet stay with us for decades... even when worn, motheaten or very grubby.

New research from an online furniture company suggests loads

Obviously big ticket items can be very expensive and we don’t

This image and below courtesy of John Lewis

want to rush into a purchase. And of course it’s not remotely eco-friendly to keep replacing old with new - although if we recycle items by selling or giving them away that lessens the impact of the new puchase deed.

But some general

The Deco verdict is that this research is encouraging from an environmental point of view. It suggests we’re not a nation of rabid neophiles who buy new because we’re bored, while surprisingly few of us are tempted by so-called ‘bargains’. Retailers, on the other hand, will be less delighted by the findings.

pointers emerged from the survey which seem fairly universal, so which ones resonate with you?

More than 2,000 British adults were asked what motivated them to change their soft furnishings:

Item looks worn or tired – 65 per cent It is broken – 53 per cent I was redecorating and it no longer fit with the style/colour/ look of the room – 39 per cent It’s no longer comfortable – 36 per cent I was bored of its appearance and wanted something new – 30 per cent It is unhygienic – 19 per cent I saw a new piece of furniture that I liked more – 14 per cent I got a bargain on a new item that I liked more – 14 per cent

Deco Promotion

gandía blasco

Rugs in Focus:

Textured designs by Gandía Blasco

Ask Spaniards to name their country’s top design companies for home and garden, and they’ll more than likely put Gandía Blasco in the top 10. This Valencia-based company, known since the ‘90s for its distinctive contemporary outdoor furniture, is a brand defined by its innovation and commitment to using sustainable and recyclable raw materials.

More recently it’s launched its own rug brand, GAN, which works with leading independent designers including Patricia Urquiola, Charlotte Lancelot, Claire Ann O’Brien and Hector Serrano.

Gan rugs are made from sustainable fibres predominantly wool - and they’re hand-knotted,

hand-tufted, hand-loomed or hand felted in small workshops in India and Nepal. It brings in new designs each year and one thing customers know is that Gan never does the same old same old.

New this year is the twocolour Damasco NZ wool rug, an intricate piece inspired by historic Moorish design. Made with a flat red base, the raised blue pile is carved into the pattern, with cut-away areas that allow the red to show through. It’s a rug that manages to combine the

Above: Red Flower, rug with white relief petals on a red wool base Below: Damasco rug, new this year. Gan offers distinctive contemporary wool and natural fibre rugs. Prices are in the medium to high-end categories

contemporary with the traditional to stunning effect.

Find Gan rugs in the UK at Heal’s

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woodburning stoves

deco mag 26 additional heat where it’s most needed, rather than heating a whole home.

As the winter blows chills into even the best insulated homes, the need to stay warm - and the financial and environmental cost of doing so - is a major concern.

particularly popular at the moment. Sales of wood-fired stoves have shown considerable growth since gas prices first started rising rapidly from 2000.

With the possible exception of wearing lots of jumpers and doing star jumps in the living room, all types of heating do, of course, have some environmental impact.

Fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil are come with a heavy carbon footprint as they release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere when burnt and are a nonsustainable resource.

And reports suggest that more than 250,000 woodburning stoves are being fitted in Britain every year; with estate agents saying that they can add up to five per cent to the value of a home. Newton Aycliffe fireplace manufacturer Spirit Fires, for example, is predicting increased sales of up to 20 per cent, despite the growing cry of voices saying burning wood has no environmental benefit over burning fossil fuels.

While electric heating at its source doesn’t generate pollution, it is only as green as the power station that produced it – which in England remain predominantly run on fossil fuel. According to recent statistics - from 2015 - the Government reported that 30 per cent of English power was generated by natural gas, 22 per cent by coal, 21 per cent by nuclear and 25 per cent by renewable sources such as wind and tide.

With this in mind, many proponents of greener living are looking to alternatives for heating that are more eco-friendly, with wood and bio-ethanol proving

While it is possible in a few cases to run a full central heating system from a log-burning stove, most of the one million home owners in the UK who have a log-burner, and probably all of those who have chosen bio-ethanol, use it as a secondary form of heating.

Don’t worry; secondary heating doesn’t fall into the wildly profligate category of having a second home, or even perhaps a second car – in fact, doubling up on heating possibilities can reduce your energy consumption by targeting

We all know the flashpoints when you’re sitting on the sofa on a wintry evening and suddenly what felt like a perfectly comfortable temperature when you were rushing around making the dinner now feels just a little bit chilly. And those times in early October and late March when you don’t really need the heating on, but would just like things a little cosier of an evening. Those are the times when an eco-friendly secondary heating system can really come into its own, so Deco has been finding out the facts and figures surrounding wood-fired stoves to help you make a green choice.

Wood-fired stoves: Phil Wood, chairman of the Stove Industry Alliance chairman, says these products can get your energy bills down - though of course you do have to buy the stove, ensure your chimney is lined and you need a supply of wood: ‘In the face of increasing energy prices, consumers are turning to stoves as a secondary heating system and reaping the rewards with significantly reduced heating bills.

‘And the considerable environmental advantage to using wood as a fuel really seems to be striking a chord with homeowners - many consumers say a desire to reduce their carbon emissions was a key factor in their decision to install a stove.’

How well do they heat the room?

Improvements in woodburner design mean that energy efficiency levels greater than 70 per cent are commonplace, with some

reaching 80 per cent.

According to figures from the Stove Industry Alliance this compares with just 32 per cent efficiency for an open fire and 20 to 55 per cent efficiency for old-fashioned open gas-effect fires (although it’s worth noting that they don’t mention modern balanced flue and flueless gas fires that can also top 85 per cent efficiency). Wood-burning stoves vary considerably in their heat output, with 4 or 5kW being at the lower end, suitable for a modestly sized room, up to 16kW models for large open-plan areas.

How green are they?

Most wood-burning options are inherently carbon neutral – that’s because allowing a tree to fall to the ground and rot naturally actually causes more CO2 emissions than allowing it to dry in the fresh air and then burning it, when it only releases the CO2 that it captured during its life.

Figures from product testing company Kiwa Gastec confirm that replacing a standard open fire with a wood burning stove will reduce the carbon footprint of a house by 14 per cent, replacing a decorative gas fire will reduce the carbon footprint by 22 per cent, and replacing an LPG decorative gas fire will reduce it by 36 per cent.

What about the fuel?

Beware of buying kiln-dried wood that has been trucked in from far away, as this increases the carbon footprint of the fuel. The greenest fuel is local wood you have seasoned yourself over one or two summers. Burning green wood reduces the efficiency of your fire and causes greater pollution, so is to be avoided. Scrap wood offcuts like pallets can also be used,

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woodburning stoves

Wood-burning stoves: how eco are they?

More of us are investing in wood burning stoves to keep our homes warm - and make us feel less dependent on big energy suppliers. But as concern grows about small particulates emitted from stoves, are they a good buy? asks Kay Hill but avoid burning mdf, painted or varnished wood as this can release more pollution into the atmosphere.

Do they cause pollution and health problems?

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has voiced concern that wood burning stoves in London are adding to the capital’s serious air pollution problems There are plenty of scare stories around wood-burning, as despite its great carbon neutral qualifications it also produces dangerous particulates (the same reason we’re all now being urged to get rid of our diesel vehicles).

Lower CO2 emissions are definitely better for the planet, but high small particulate emissions are far worse for people, so the two things need to be held in balance.

Mostly to blame for particulate emissions are old-fashioned open fires and older log burners (ie those made more than five years ago), which may release up to 100mg of particulates per cubic metre of air. However, if you live in a big city you probably aren’t going to be that precious about potential particulate emissions from a stove, since you’ll be exposing yourself to air that’s far more polluted every time you go outside...

That said, particulates cause

health issues for young children and people with heart conditions or breathing problems such as COPD or asthma.

areas, or that meets the Norwegian standard NS 3058 or US Environmental Protection Agency Methods 28 and 5G.

Many newer designs produce as little as 14 micrograms of small particulates per cubic metre of air, which is well within what is considered by the US Environmental Protection Agency to be non- hazardous to human health (up to 40mcg per cubic metre). One way of ensuring that an appliance is particularly low on particulate emissions is to select one that is approved by Defra for use in smoke control

What fitting do they need?

Log burners must be fitted by a qualified company as there are important Building Regulations requirements about ventilation, hearths and flues to be followed. Most products will need a chimney which may have to be lined or replaced if it is not in good condition, or a flue.

Are they difficult to use?

Log burners do of course have one big requirement –

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woodburning stoves

you have to keep putting logs into them, and at some point (usually around once a week) you need to take out the resulting ash. Stoves which are classed as ‘ntermittent operation’may need refuelling every three-quarters of an hour to maintain heat output, while the slightly inaptly named ‘continuous operation stoves’ still need refuelling every hour and a half or so, but can be kept going on a low burn for up to 10 hours so they don’t go out overnight.

You will need your chimney swept at least once a year.

How much do they cost to run?

If you have a huge garden, run a carpentry workshop with lots of offcuts or live near a friendly farmer, the wood can be free – but you will need to have the space to season it somewhere dry for up to two years.

If you have to buy logs, Which? notes that freshly-cut logs cost around £85 per cubic metre, (but have a moisture content of up to 90 per cent so would only produce around 1kWh per kg if burned straight away); ready-seasoned wood costs around up to £123 per cubic metre (40 per cent moisture and a heat output of 3kWh per kg), and kiln-dried wood is up to £145 per cubic metre (20% moisture and a heat output of 4.5kWh per kg). A modest log burner used for a couple of hours a night during the winter would use around a cubic metre per season, while one in constant use would get through up to six cubic metres.

Working out the cost per kW hour of energy is fiendishly complex, mainly because logs tend to be sold by volume rather than by weight, but retailers Stovax, Perge and

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Chesney’s have all come to the conclusion that it is around 4-6p per kWH.

The Deco View

Price comparison website ConfusedAboutEnergy. com claims that it has used recent Department of Energy figures to calculate the cost at nearer 7.1p per kWH for dried logs, compared with 4.8p per kWH for gas, 5.6p for oil, 6.3p for LPG and15.5p per kWH for electricity.

It’s hard to ignore the growing evidence of dangerous small particulate emissions from burning wood..So if you own a wood-burning stove and live in the centre of a polluted city, it’s probably best to get using it occasionally...for example when the temperature heads towards the minus zone..

Taking into account that it costs between £1,350 and £3,750 to install a new wood-burning into a room that already has a functional chimney and you can see that it is unlikely to make you rich overnight; although it will give you the warm glow of lowering your carbon footprint as well as having toasty toes in front of the TV.

If you live in less populated parts and you’re you’re thinking of buying a stove, choose one that features the most advanced technology to deal with emissions..ie that one that has the best particulates filter. Ask questions, read the bumpf.

Manufacturers/ stockists Firebelly Stoves designed and made in the UK Aga - British brand Stovax - British brand Charnwood - British manufacturer, based on Isle of Wight Bronpi - Spanish manufacturer - available in the UK Jotul - Norwegian brand Hwam - Swedish manufacturer - available in the UK Rika - Austrian manufacturer - available in the UK Nordpeis - Norwegian brand, available in the UK Find out more Kiwa Gastec Energy Saving Trust Defra

Pictured overleaf, main image: Charlton & Jenrick’s PureVision PVR stove, £1,950 at Ludlow Stoves Top left: Broseley Evolution Hestia 7, made in the UK, 7kw heat output, £799 This page, left: Modern circular white Fortuna Panorama by La Nordica, 8kw heat, £2,266

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word up!

Miscellaneous matters Eau Good! fruity idea for more tasty water

Dutch start-up Sustonable wants to give recycled PET a second chance so it’s developed a composite material consisting of quartz and PET. In 2015 alone, more than 1.8 million tonnes of PET bottles were collected and recycled across Europe; the base material is thus available in large quantities.

Sustonable offers a material harder than granite that is also 100 per cent degradable. The product looks incredibly like natural stone, comes in several colours, and can be used in many ways: as kitchen worktop, for bathroom cladding, or in furniture production. (*Material is not yet on the market).

Sustonable is one of six finalists in the 2017 Green Alley Awards (organised by Landbell Group) which promote start-up companies working towards a truly circular economy.

Sustainable design studio Black+Blum are looking to raise £15,000 on Kickstarter to produce its new Eau Good Duo. It’s a take-with-you water bottle with a charcoal filter and a wide neck so you can add your favourite fruits for flavour. It also has a strap so you can run with it in the palm of your hand.

The bottle costs £24 and it’s made from Triton plastic which is clear like glass but won’t shatter. It’s also BPA, BPS and phthalate-free.

‘Consumers want sustainable solutions to help them get their daily intake of water without continuing to pollute our planet and oceans with plastic bottles,’ says designer Dan Black.

Sustainable worktop from Sustonable

Miscanthus bale house is built in west Wales What’s thought to be the world’s first miscanthus bale house is going up in west Wales. It’s a project between the Centre for Alternative Technology, Aberystwyth University and Terravesta, experts in the miscanthus supply chain, to see if using this perennial carbon-negative renewable energy crop can help to decarbonise construction. Miscanthus is grown on around 8,000 hectares of low-grade marginal land in the UK and it’s been identified as having outstanding building credentials and excellent insulation value following a successful test build last year. The bales are used as in-fill for a timber frame in the same way as wheat straw bales are often used, with the surface of the bales providing a ready medium for internal clay plaster and external render.

Waste bottles to beautiful lights Brighton-based designer Claire Potter is concerned about the 38 million plastic bottles thrown away daily in the UK. So she set about upcycling this waste and has developed a range of pendant lighting made from discarded single use plastic bottles. Called The Smack, the jellyfish-like shades are paired with LEDs for stunning lighting that won’t melt!

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david adjaye book review

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A house of wonder Or nine houses in fact, as David Adjaye Living Spaces is a new book that takes a close-up look at nine houses designed by the award-winning architect

Sir David Adjaye’s architecture and urban design schemes have met with critical acclaim around the world. After 20 years in practice and a raft of high profile projects - not least the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC - Adjaye’s houses now represent a smaller portion of his work, but are more potent as a result.

Selecting projects that are challenging for their location and architectural possibility, Adjaye has both expanded and sharpened his domestic design taking it in new directions.

Born in Tanzania to Ghanaian parents, Adjaye opened his first office in London in 1994. For many young architects, houses or domestic buildings are among their first commissions and his projects got him noticed because of his artistry, clever use of space and inexpensive, unexpected materials, which resulted in many innovative houses going up in the capital.

David Adjaye: Living Spaces presents, in rich detail, nine outstanding projects in diverse settings on four continents.

Each one engages sensitively with its location and pushes the boundaries of spatial invention whilst challenging the perception of domestic space in the 21st century. From Victorian London, Ghana and Brooklyn through to desolate farmlands and urban jungles. Living Spaces presents projects that are testament to the importance of Adjaye’s growing inventiveness andpowerful new design ideas for residential architecture.

‘Working with Sir David on the design for our home was such fun. He had a wonderful ability to interpret our practical needs into a design that is both ergonomic yet aesthetic. The house has become a tool to add efficiency to our living habits whilst providing visual treats around it for those moments when we can stop and appreciate it.; Ed Reeve, photographer and owner of Sunken House, London.

Pictured above: Hill House, Trinidad Below: Sunken House or Ed’s Shed in London. Living Spaces is published by Thames & Hudson, £48

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homebiogas 2.0

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Make your own biogas People around the world wanting or needing cheap and readily available gas can make their own...and no, not through baked bean consumption!

Meet HomeBiogas 2.0

Pictured above: Home Biogas is an Israeli project that lets people turn their food waste into natural liquid fertilizer and a gas for cooking on. Its potential is great for people living in poor parts of the world where they presently cook on open fires using charcoal, as well as for people living off-grid. It looks like a small bouncy castle!

HomeBiogas 2.0 is an at-home biodigester ...so be warned, it won’t work if you live in a flat with no outside space... The inventors, based in Israel, have developed an easy-to-assemble system that can sit in the garden and produce liquid fertilizer and up to three hours’ worth of cooking gas a day. All from leftover kitchen scraps combined with water.

Families around the world produce up to 105 kilograms of food waste per year with every dinner prepared, school lunch packed and leftovers left to go mouldy. Households looking to go green and cut down on wasteful practices, usually turn to traditional composting, which does require upkeep, can become smelly and attract pests.

HomeBiogas 2.0 breaks down organic waste and creates reusable biogas, giving families the opportunity to:

Cook Green - HomeBiogas 2.0 provides a clean alternative to electricity, propane, and natural gas for cooking and lighting your home.

Live Green - HomeBiogas 2.0 up- cycles organic waste in landfills that emits potent greenhouse gases, a major contributor to climate change, alleviating these harmful emissions.

Grow Green - HomeBiogas 2.0 recycles nutrients from your household’s organic waste turning it into a natural liquid fertilizer that is rapidly absorbed into the soil The appliance, equipped with a water-resistant outer layer, is fed with equal parts food waste and water.

Installation is simple - just fill the digester with water, mount the gas container with the sandbags HomeBiogas supplies and the machine is ready to go. Inside the

system, waste material is broken down naturally by bacteria, releasing biogas.

The gas tank gradually inflates with ready-to-use gas. Through a patented mechanical pressure mechanism, the gas is delivered at a uniform rate from system to a stovetop.

The HomeBiogas 2.0 team say their product gives people the opportunity to generate their own clean energy and natural fertilizer and it’s potential could be life transforming for millions of families who live in remote communities around the world. In parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and the Caribbean, few people have access to green energy, while regular civic waste removal services are uncommon.

Standard practice in these areas is to cook on wood or charcoal, which creates harmful indoor air pollution and causes long-term respiratory health problems.

Cooking with these materials also contributes to deforestation and climate change. HomeBiogas provides a clean, easy alternative to these fuels.

‘We’re a socially conscious company at our core,’ says Oshik Efrati, CEO & co-founder of HomeBiogas. ‘Our initial design gave eco-conscious, western consumers the opportunity to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and start using renewable energy at home. We believe HomeBiogas 2.0, with its reduced price point, will have an even bigger impact on communities whether they’re in the U.S., the Philippines or Senegal.’

Vital stats Gas tank capacity - 700L Digester tank capacity 1200L 36L animal manure daily 12L food waste daily www.homebiogas.com

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paint

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It’s colour of

Heartwood is Dulux’s 2018 COTY. A soft warm mauvey pink

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paint

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the year time

And Caliente AF 290 is Benjamin Moore’s. Red hot and gorgeous

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www.naturalmat.co.uk