Living Room Furniture
Eco-friendly living room furniture can be found, unfortunately
it can be expensive but some people think the enviroment is worth
spending a little more time and money on.
Just ask Jill Salisbury, a former model who now designs and sells
furniture with more than just style in mind.
Her company el: Environmental Language is based in Salisbury's
Barrington home and debuted its furniture at the recent Chicago
Design Show at the Merchandise Mart.
Her line features sofas, beds, armoires and more that are nearly
100 percent biodegradable. She chooses her materials - from the
inlays to the fabrics - with environmental concerns in mind.
The idea for the company came when Salisbury, an interior designer,
couldn't find stylish furniture for a client who wanted a "green"
project.
After two years of research, she now sits in her living room full
of her new furniture and talks about tagua nuts as a substitute
for ivory, finishes made from tree sap and chromium-free leather.
"I think interior designers are starting to realize the demand
for eco-chic is growing," Salisbury said.
'Really green'
Made in Chicago, the five series of el furniture are not inexpensive.
For example, the eye-catching Orion ottoman with table - actually
four upholstered ottomans on hidden casters that slide under a diamond-shaped
coffee table - is $6,825 plus the fabric for the ottomans. The Zen
Armoire in walnut or maple is almost $10,000, and the distinctive
Orion lounge chair costs more than $5,000.
While this is custom-made designer furniture that will always be
pricey, the cost of biodegradable and nontoxic products will drop
when more are demanded and sold, said Paul Clark, who worked with
Salisbury to determine what materials were natural enough to go
into the furniture.
"Many products use a combination of synthetic and organic
materials," said Clark, whose company is Metanova Studios of
Eugene, Ore.
"They're kind of green, not all-the-way, really green. Jill's
all the way. I think el makes a real statement about where we need
to go. You don't see a lot of people doing that yet."
More biodegradable products, and other eco-friendly materials,
are becoming available for projects like this, said Salisbury and
Clark.
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