the long view.
For us sustainability is not a category but an order of decisions. We design for the long term, not for trends, and preserve what exists wherever we can, rather than building anew. In every project we ask two questions: what happens to the material when the space one day changes? And what does this space do to the people who are in it every day? The first question leads to Circularity, the second to Wellbeing. The two belong together – a space that spares the environment but makes the people in it ill is not sustainable.
circularity
Studio Layers designs in a closed loop: upcycling existing furniture, recyclable and repairable materials, and makers such as nanimarquina, which keeps material passports for its rugs, Little Greene with paints from resource-conscious production, and DCW Editions with repairable lighting.
The shortest route to a sustainable space runs through what is already there. We take stock before we order anything: which piece still holds, which can be reupholstered, which can take on a second task elsewhere. Whatever is added new, we choose for whether it can one day be taken apart, repaired and returned – separated by material, not glued and welded shut. That is why we work with makers who can give an account of this. And we design for change: spaces that can adapt when life changes need rebuilding less often – for this generation and the next.
wellbeing
Studio Layers designs spaces that are good for health: daylight and warm, dimmable artificial light, good acoustics, places to retreat to, and low-emission paints and natural fibres such as wool and linen.
A space that does you good is not a matter of taste. We ask first what it feels like to spend a whole day in it: where the light falls when darkness comes early. Where someone can withdraw when the house is loud. How a room sounds when work is done in it. Where people walk, and where they come to a stop. The decisions follow from that – light in warm temperatures and in dimmable layers rather than a single ceiling fitting, textiles and rugs that take the echo out of a room, an armchair that does not sit in the thoroughfare. And they reach all the way into the material: breathable, low-emission paints, natural fibres, timber of traceable origin. What is good for the people in a space is usually good for the environment too – not by coincidence, but because it is the same decision seen from two sides.