Our Commitment to Sustainability
Our commitment to a sustainable material culture stems from our long family history in the craft of furniture making. It is evident in the holistic nature of our manufacturing processes and the quality of the products and services our client receives. Many decades after Lasse was first immersed in furniture making in his father’s workshop in Finland, he continues to develop high quality furniture using his formidable craft skills and design knowledge to run Deka’s workshops in Australia and Finland.
We maintain high standards in selecting and using materials and processes which reduce the impacts on environment throughout the life of the furniture: from the material input stage, through production and the delivery, installation and after sales service, to end of life. In addition to this we are equally concerned with developing a sustainable material culture, and at each opportunity we promote local design and manufacture which enhances material sustainability, and provides a viable local furniture industry that can drive sustaining livelihoods and a culturally relevant built environment. Part of this is to also support learning of craft skills that used to be part of the everyday, and now have become endangered. We believe these skills are crucial to us in that they make us consider materiality, they facilitate the connection between the head and the hand, and can increase our wellbeing. For this we hold furniture restoration courses and demonstrations.
Environmental Statement
Deka Design’s Environmental Policy has been prepared by using as a starting point the requirements of Good Environmental Choice Australia – Environmental Performance Standard for Furniture and Fittings (GECA 28-2010). Given our hundreds of standard products and the continuing custom work we undertake, formal compliance with this ecolabelling standard has not been pursued. Rather we use the standard as a framework for establishing best practice, continuous improvement in our processes and illustration of internal compliance with environmental standards in relation to our manufacture.
Our furniture is manufactured on the Gold Coast, Australia and at our Fiskars, Finland workshops, drawing on our reliable network of local subcontractors for specialised processes. We use local material suppliers who can demonstrate compliance with relevant standards and/or have relevant certifications for the materials we purchase such as FSC certified plywood. Our own production aims to comply with and exceed environmental requirements, and at the core of our production is designing to a classic aesthetic and using high quality materials and processes to produce items of longevity.