[Forward: Learn about The Arrangement’s commitment to sustainable luxury furniture. The Arrangement is a member of Sustainable Furnishings Council (SFC), which teaches “GreenLeader” programs to advance awareness of conservation values, what conflict timber is, and what best practices in wood harvesting looks like. Katherine Snedeker has been a “GreenLeader” for the past six years.]
Sustainable Responsibility
For more than three decades, The Arrangement—under the guidance of Katherine Snedeker—has made wherever possible responsible wood sourcing decisions regarding product development and curatorial purchasing. The Arrangement has policies and practices that reward suppliers using wood and fiber from handmade, reclaimed, eco-friendly and recycled products. These same policies discourage suppliers using wood from unknown, illegal or otherwise controversial sources.
The Arrangement’s Commitment to Sustainable Luxury Furniture
The Arrangement’s proactive plan for the past 30-plus years has been to increase responsible wood sourcing, conservation and energy usage awareness. The Arrangement offers continuing education to employees and to clients to share eco-friendly best practices. In addition, The Arrangement works with vendors that are members and founders of SFC—members committed to best practices for minimal environmental impact from shipping solutions, water-based stains and low VOC sealers to ensure a better world.
The Arrangement has committed to sourcing products originating from responsible vendors. We expect the same commitment from our vendors to not knowingly purchase from illegal logging and to avoid sourcing illegal or controversial wood that we are aware of at the time of this statement.
Small and local—with showrooms in Dallas and Houston—The Arrangement has always used found objects and responsible purchasing. The need to sustain raw material supplies and to satisfy the ethical concerns of Katherine Snedeker as a furniture designer is passed down to consumers, shareholders and employees. Responsible purchasing from small artisans as well as members of the Sustainable Furnishings Council is the means by which The Arrangement distances itself from the problems of unsustainable logging and forest destruction. The Arrangement furniture design and manufacture of wood products helps conserve valuable forests, respects the interests of local communities and artisan workers, and does not deplete the world’s resource base.
The wood frame for upholstery chairs and sofas is still largely uncertified at this point. The Arrangement primarily deals with oak frames, and the lifespan of a given piece is 20 to 50 years, which helps qualify it for “green” status. The Arrangement has a commitment to certified wood usage and purchasing it when available in our style. Because The Arrangement designs a large amount of its product, its preference is to use certified wood or recycled materials.
When we started tracking our total ratio of reclaimed, recycled materials and the use of SFC member products, we were at a 46% success rate. To-date with continuing education of our entire staff, from purchasing to sales, our goal has been achieved by 10% increase, which we published in a monthly email. But we do send out emails regarding the state of recycling and growing awareness with our client base once a year. Many of our vendors have a re-forestation program to actively put back by planting trees where the timber is manufactured into furniture.
Due to the longevity of the products, we make every attempt to refurbish, recover and renew our products with our existing client. We have also extended a fact sheet to consign furniture locally as well as donate to local furniture banks to extend the life of our products and keep them out of landfills.
Learn about The Arrangement’s commitment to sustainable luxury furniture.