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Joe

SOFT TOUCH Really give recycling the hard sell

At Salone Del Mobile in Milan this year, upcycling Danish design start-up Really, which was recently purchased by global textile manufacturer Kvadrat, launched its leading sustainable material for archictecture and product design: Solid Textile Board. Founded in 2013 by Wickie Meier Engström, Klaus Samsøe and Ole Smedegaard, Really was put together in response to the urgent global issue of waste after Samsøe discovered that in Denmark alone, 1,000 tonnes of textiles are thrown away each year and incinerated. Upcycling end-of-life textiles, Really’s materials challenge the design industry to rethink their use of resources and work with a circular economy in mind. Solid Textile Board is an engineered board made from upcycled cotton and wool waste from the fashion and textile industry. Its production does not use water, dyes or toxic chemicals, generating only recyclable waste. Supported by designers Max Lamb and Christien Meindertsma who were each commissioned to make work with this new material, Really’s work at Salone Del Mobile showed how versatile this new material is, with Lamb designing a line of benches and Meindertsma producing a series of photographs showing how remnants of tea towels, sheets and dish cloths are transformed into one board. After becomming part of Kvadrat who believe that Solid Textile Board is the next breakthrough product in sustainable design, the future of Really and design industries across the board look greener than ever. www.reallycph.com