SONDRE chair by 2050 Furniture

The Sondre chair from 2050 Furniture is made solely with wood from waste streams in a local, innovative and cooperative furniture production focused on environmental sustainability, social responsibility and community empowerment.

Ecological designer Pieter Van Tulder in FjordMoods developed the production model 2050 Furniture out of care for the environment and to not add to the emerging climate crisis.

The innovative, eco-friendly production takes place in Hardanger, Norway, and is based solely on reclaimed wood from local waste streams. This avoids depletion of virgin resources and human interference in natural ecosystems.

The production empowers individuals by providing low-threshold, meaningful employment opportunities. Local, non-structural waste wood is upcycled into a strong base material for furniture in a local sheltered workplace.

The production process is ultra-local and decentralized, which supports local economies.

Every Sondre chair is unique.

The target audience is the contract furniture market and companies who seek to reduce their climate impact. The Sondre chair is a true environmentally and socially sustainable product.

Social and environmental innovation

The innovation in the Sondre chair and the 2050 Furniture production is a design process that starts from a structural waste problem and seeks to include both material and people in an eco-friendly production process.

The innovative use of non-structural wood from local waste streams to create a strong base material for quality furniture is enabled by Pieter Van Tulders ecological design thinking.

To ensure efficient and maximized use of the diverse wood from waste streams, Van Tulder designed a wooden building block for the 2050 Furniture production. With this building block 2050 Furniture can use as much as possible of the diverse wood from the waste streams without having to preselect a certain wood type or certain wood sizes. Rather than downcycling structural wood from waste streams, the building block makes it possible to upcycle non-structural waste wood into a strong base material for furniture.

The building block allows combining different wood types, which results in an inclusive production process and a variety of eclectic looks for the Sondre chair. Every chair is a unique play of lines, colors and texture.

Van Tulder designed the 2050 Furniture production in a methodical way. This is crucial to create a socially inclusive production and enables the lamination of the building blocks into rough shapes of the Sondre chair to take place in a local sheltered workplace. This provides a low-threshold, meaningful employment opportunity for people with special needs.

The finished parts for the chair are shaped in a cnc-mill in a later phase of the production process. Two local furniture factorys are involved in the production, and the intercommunal waste management company delivers waste wood for furniture.

By prioritizing environmental conservation, social responsibility and community empowerment, the Sondre chair carries the values of a more sustainable and inclusive future.

Care for nature, people and the future

The Sondre chair is made in a local cooperation with only wood from local waste streams. This benefits natural ecosystems, individuals and local economies, and offers a solution to society's waste problem.

The 2050 Furniture production benefits both nature and people. The low-threshold production process allows people with special needs to take part in a meaningful production. This creates a sense of achievement and the feeling to belong. 

Upcycling waste wood into furniture extends the life of the wood and allows it to keep storing carbon. It also preserves natural ecosystems by avoiding depletion of virgin resources. This benefits our natural environment.

2050 Furniture emphasizes environmentally conscious practices like minimizing waste and using only a non-toxic glue. The carbon emissions related to transport are minimal due to the hyper-local production.

The Sondre chair is made to last and is easy to repair. Since the chair is made from only non-toxic, biodegradable materials, 2050 Furniture's preferred end-of-life scenario is composting. Compared to incineration, which causes a fast release of carbon dioxide from the wood, composting in a natural ecosystem ensures a slower emission and might even allow nature to take back some of the carbon dioxide the wood releases during composting. FjordMoods is currently researching this topic.

FjordMoods is also currently involved in a research project with one of Europe's largest independent research organisations, Sintef. The aim is to find ways to make a representative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a furniture production using only wood from waste streams. Doing this, FjordMoods seeks to empower the incentive from the EU to reuse.