Sustainability report Carbon fiber in interior design industry Almost everyday watching the news I hear that new

kind of disease or virus was discovered. Every minute people around the world die from different diseases that may be twenty or thirty years ago did not even exist. The average life of a person becomes shorter through out the years. It seems we find a way how to escape one fatal infection and with that gave a chance for another one to be created. But overall what is the cause for new diseases, viruses and infections to appear? There are a lot of opinions on that subject but I personally think that our irresponsible use of natural recourse and inconsideration towards recycling and waste materials are the main factors for a lot of environmental as well as health problems that we are experiencing today. I think that issue is important for every field of industry. This sustainability issue for interior design industry means wisely using and conserving todays natural recourses so that future generation will have recourses available to meet their needs. Another reason why that issue is significant to our industry is that it affects the cost of materials and therefore products. Every consumer is concerned to acquire better quality for the lower price. Describing the third reason for that issue to be important in interior industry it is better to say that in our days designers expect and rely on fast renewable materials. The more we progress the more we want service around us to speed up. And my final reason is that recycling is an important issue in interior design because it tells us of how durable is the product and therefore how it will last. Talking about recycling problem and renewable recourses I always think about the trees. We use trees in the wide range of industries starting with paper and ending up with furniture. Cellulose treated different acids and

used for a specific purpose of the industry. We write on paper, we use it to produce manufactured fibers which later create garments and finally we sit and sleep on the wood which one of the celluloses donors. We use it so widely that it seems we are no longer keeping our planet green and try to cut down every tree just to satisfy consumers. And that is my first concern about that issue we have to preserve natural resources as much as possible. Another reason why I think we have to find reasonable substitute to the wood is that recycling of the wood usually brings to the production of wood waste or wood recycled materials which are toxic for humans such as sheathing CDX. A lot of furniture businesses especially in Europe use wood recycled materials to make their products cheap and therefore affordable to the majority of the population. In that case furniture loses its quality and more than that becomes harmful to a consumer. My third reason for given sustainability issue is that a lot of recourses for cellulose based fibers are time consuming (planting and growing plants) and with fast growing market where consumer wants to receive their product faster and faster I think it is reasonable to look for faster produced fibers. My fourth reason is that a lot of cellulose based fibers are not very durable. For example manufactured fibers produced from cellulose have rather low abrasion resistance and strength which leads to a conclusion that product will have comparably short lifetime.

After some research and studying I think I found a fiber that has great potential for a lot of industries including interior design; a fiber that can if not fully at least partially substitute use of wood fibers and cellulose. It is a carbon fiber. Carbon fiber is nothing new to the world it was widely used in aerospace industry starting from 1960s.

And eventually this fiber found a lot new applications in commercial and civilian aircraft, recreational, industrial and transformational markets. Carbon fibers are manufactured by the controlled decomposition or transformation by heat (pyrolysis) of organic precursors (a biochemical substance, such as an intermediate compound in a chain of enzymatic reactions, from which a more stable or definitive product is formed) in fibrous form. Based on precursor fiber materials it can be classified into three usual groups: PANbased, pitch-based and rayon-based carbon fiber. These fibers can be converted into a wide variety of textile forms and nonwoven materials. No matter what form carbon fiber will acquire it always keeps its unique qualities: -Low weight -Strength, high resistance to fatigue -Excellent corrosion resistance -High stiffness -Extreme abrasion resistance -Excellent flame resistance -Biocompatibility i.e. does not produce a toxic, injurious, or immunological response in a living tissue such as skin -Good stability and conductivity Coming from its qualities listed above carbon fiber is a good fit to some areas of the sustainability issue. First of all its durability increases its lifetime which means less waste. Secondly, if recycled it is very flexible and can be used in variety of industries but most importantly it is non-toxic and friendly to skin. Thirdly, since it has variety of based materials it has greater chance of getting more renewable recourses. Some of the based

materials are manufactured therefore their recycling may become carbon fibers renewable material. And finally because the fiber has more sources of renewable materials it might increase the speed of its production which will benefit consumers as well as producers. Carbon fiber furniture was made as a museum or collection item and cost a great amount of money because carbon fiber recourses were expensive and not always available. However, in the latest years a lot of automobile organizations began their work towards developing high-volume renewable sources of carbon fiber feedstock in an attempt to lower the cost of carbon fiber composites. And more or less the price of carbon fiber materials began to drop which made it possible for designers to use it in variety of different industries including interior design. Therefore, in the fall of 2004 two carbon fiber chairs created by different designers became available for public. V2.3 chair (on the left) designed by Japanese designer Sugi Yamagata and was available in October 2004. The frame is constructed entirely from carbon fiber and the seat and back from lightweight polyester mesh. The designer reassures that The ergonomically shaped mesh seat and back support all of the body's contours and also allow the skin to constantly breathe. This makes the V2.3 supremely comfortable over long periods. The V2.3's clean; simple and elegant form is naturally pleasing to the eye and is at home in almost any habitat. The Talon chair (on the right) was designed and manufactured by Talon Technology (Pty.) Ltd. and Bang Design and became available for public in September 2004. It was priced at $450 USD.

(V2.3 chair)

(Talon chair)

Why is carbon fiber such a good material for furniture? To answer this question I should obviously come back to carbon fiber characteristics. Fist of all I find its flame resistance as an excellent trait in furniture especially if we are talking about commercial design. It definitely raises safety of the public places to the next level. And if furniture and upholstery designers will continue experimenting with carbon fiber they might come with new more fire resistant fabrics which will be a great achievement in safety issues. Another perk of carbon fiber furniture is durability issue. The research showed that the lifetime of carbon fiber furniture is much longer than for example wooden. However, my favorite aspect of carbon fiber furniture is its recycling. Carbon fiber material can be decomposed into fibers and composed into absolutely different form. I would like carbon fiber furniture to be introduced to interior design industry asWoven furniture. I think that name sounds quite interesting to attract consumers and it is also shows how carbon furniture is built. On the close up sample of the V2.3 chair it is shown that the frame of the chair, which is carbon fiber, is woven material. That very unique use of material in furniture business allows a lot flexibility and great variety of designs. And I consider that to be the furniture of the future.

(V2.3 carbon frame chair close up) Although carbon fiber furniture began to appear here and there I assume it will take another decade for it to gain popularity and more available prices. And while consumers are waiting designers should do their best. On the first place we should do deeper research on given fiber; to learn more about its qualities and possibilities. Also designers should be the first ones looking for more renewable resources for carbon fiber in order to lower its cost, since that is the main obstacle on designing carbon fiber furniture. And the third step applies to some designers who are against of carbon fiber as furniture material. That step would be called simply as that - acceptance. There are a lot of innovations which sound ridiculous and impossible to us but it is important to give them a try. Who knows may be they will prove themselves to be materials of the future.

Bibliography

a) Kannadaguli, Monica. Carbon Fibers Webutk. April, 2004. April 2006 <http://web.utk.edu/~mse/pages/Textiles/CARBON%20FIBERS.htm>

b) About Carbon Fiber Hillbrick Racing Frames. 2005. April 2006 <http://www.hillbrick.com.au/index.php? option=com_content&task=view&id=47&Itemid=58>

c) Klesius, Michael. The Future of Flying. National Geographic. Dec. 2003: 2-33.

d) Walker, Kate. Steel. Smart Apple Media, August 2004