Investing in high-quality, durable furniture that stands the test of time can feel at once aspirational and daunting, especially if you're worried about coming to regret your choices in the long run. And that's understandable: no one wants to spend however many thousands of dollars on a kitchen cabinet they will grow out of love with within a matter of years — not to mention the negative impact of discarding perfectly functioning, mint condition homeware purely because our personal taste has changed.
Across the United Kingdom alone, "nearly 22 million small items of furniture are thrown away each year," the majority of which goes straight to landfills, recent research by the North London Waste Authority found. So, how can we solve this problem and invest in timeless furniture instead? British designer William Floyd Maclean might have just come up with the answers we have long been waiting for.
Launching today, as part of the London Design Festival, Somer, Floyd's latest venture, is a locally made, modular timber cabinet system and online marketplace that promotes the re-use of the brand's furniture products. Based on an innovative circular model for both design and production, the project crafts wooden kitchen units designed to actively contribute to a low-carbon future. The furnishings prove that planet-conscious alternatives to decor are not only possible, but also skillfully conceived, stylish, and fun.
Already known for his Somerset-based, namesake carpentry and joinery firm — the powerhouse behind a range of acclaimed bespoke furniture commissions, large-scale wooden structures, as well as exhibitions and public art installations — William Floyd Maclean approaches every new professional enterprise with the same ethos. Putting traditional woodworking at the heart of their practice, he and his collaborators incorporate multidisciplinary expertise, enriching personal experiences, and a solution-oriented, forward-thinking use of new technologies to propel it into its next chapter through "responsible design and making".
Long committed to this cause, Floyd Maclean looks at Somer as the project he is most proud of. "My ambition with it is to demonstrate how craft values at scale can have a positive impact on the wider environmental issues we face globally today," he tells me of the goal behind the business which, just like his wider studio, finds its home in Frome, Somerset. Acknowledging waste as a design floor, "Somer addresses the need to critically reassess our wasteful material culture by delivering products created for disassembly and reuse, along with a platform that facilitates this cycle."
On display at Haggerston's Tuscany Wharf through September 21, Somer's London Design Festival showcase marks its official launch on the market. A collaboration with Turner Prize-winning architecture and design collective Assemble, the exhibition offers an exclusive first look at the freestanding, demountable cabinets which, obtained from responsibly sourced, FSC certified timber, constitute Somer's offering. Here, Floyd Maclean's creations, presented as an immersive installation, cast light on "a design and manufacturing process which champions natural regenerative materials and closed loop supply chains," he explains.
Somer's participation in the event acts as a tangible demonstration of the methodology that the British furniture manufacturer has adopted in order to fight against the wasteful practices of the homeware industry and the mass-market as a whole. How? By bringing the very values of circularity and responsible design into practice in the show. With the exception of promotional materials, which have been printed on deadstock paper that would otherwise be discarded, "nothing has been made specifically for this exhibition, but all elements of it are either part of the Somer workshop, belong to our customers, or are stock that normally lives on the shelves of our factory," Floyd Maclean adds.
With their linear, effortlessly elegant look, Somer's units exude the rustic charm of Scandinavian design while simultaneously fostering a creative interaction with the furniture that shapes our domestic spaces. Their light, smooth surfaces and geometric silhouette make them ideal for modern homes, restaurants, or hotel design projects in need of characterful pieces that will never grow old. Thanks to mechanical fixings, each component can be easily disassembled wear- and tear-free, and reconstructed to match your desired house design at any given time — whatever the mood, space requirement, and style.
Going a step further than cradle to cradle — a sustainable design practice which, monitoring the lifecycle of products and materials from the moment they are manufactured until when they are disposed of, can direct us towards the least deleterious decor choices for the planet — Somer makes that cycle eternal. Thanks to its integrated buy-back scheme and resale platform, the brand's customers will have a reliable ally in reducing their carbon footprint: people wanting to return their Somer purchases will be able to do so seamlessly, playing an active role in keeping those items in circulation for longer and, quite literally, granting them a brand new life.
Somer is launching today at Haggerston's Tuscany Wharf 4B, Orsman Road, London, N1 5QJ. Visit London Design Festival's website to learn more about the exhibition (through September 21)
