Architects and designers have developed a love/hate relationship with material samples.
On the one hand, materials are of course essential to the design process. There is just no substitute for a physical example of a product in hand.
On the other hand, in an industry where sustainability is both highly valued and highly scrutinized, sampling can be tremendously wasteful.
In fact, one might argue that the process itself is wasteful. Cutting down a product into pieces that no longer serve a long-term purpose, shipping them across the country and expelling carbon emissions from packaging and transit, and then expecting the pieces to be disposed of within weeks is not a particularly sustainable process.
That’s why it’s important to consider alternatives to the traditional methods that architects and designers have used for sampling in the past. This week, a company called Swatchbox announced that it intends to provide just an alternative at the prominent London design event Clerkenwell Design Week.
Swatchbox is opening its doors in the UK to offer a more sustainable approach to sampling for architects and designers. We spoke with the team at Swatchbox at Clerkenwell Design Week and they told us how the design community is shifting toward sustainability with samples.
- Only Ordering the Samples Needed for a Project
The most obvious solution to excessive disposal of materials is to choose them more carefully at the start. After all, if someone set you free to go shopping where everything was free, you might not be inclined to be selective.
Part of the responsibility for this falls on architects & designers to realise that in a free marketplace of samples, there is a very real cost to the environment.
But another part of the problem is that there are not easy tools to determine the appropriate product for a project before placing a sample order.
Visualisation is certainly helping push the industry forward in this direction, but architects also need more tools to help them research products digitally so they can narrow down their options before requesting a sample. Research platforms (like BIMsmith, Modlar, or other construction data sites) can help architects compare product data online and evaluate it in a virtual environment before placing a sample request.
Swatchbox is taking the reins of this problem in the UK by providing a platform where architects and designers can browse materials from different brands across all types of categories – all on one site. They can then place a sample request to have those items packed into a single box and shipped to arrive the next day. Providing a single source for material data not only saves designers time, but it allows them to make more educated product comparisons and decisions.
- Combining Multiple Sample Requests Into a Single Order
On the topic of shipping, when you order directly from manufacturers, each sample typically needs to be individually wrapped and shipped out.
If you consider the total number of product samples that might be required for a project, then the environmental waste incurred from packaging and shipping alone is colossal.
Swatchbox’s aim is to equip designers to order from a central sample hub instead of individual sites. With its UK and European operations headquartered in central London, Swatchbox’s London fulfillment center is able to fulfill thousands of product samples co-packed into single shipments, saving an estimated 43% of carbon emissions.*
- Returning and Recycling Samples
The most wasteful part of the sample process is when an architect is finally done with materials. Many samples become outdated within a year or two or simply take up too much space in an office. As materials are often designed to be resilient, there is often not much choice other than to dispose of them.
Swatchbox invites designers and architects to return any unwanted materials free of charge by requesting a prepaid shipping label. Any undamaged samples can go back into the library and others are sustainably recycled. This includes all varieties of materials, such as brick samples, paint samples, carpet samples, and more, to ensure that architects can still order samples without harming the environment.
Sustainable Sampling in the UK and Europe
Sample sourcing and management can be a lot more efficient and sustainable with just a bit of buy-in from architects and manufacturers. We are eager to see how companies in the UK and Europe like Swatchbox get on with their sustainability goals, as we must remember that we all share this planet.
Take a look at Swatchbox to learn more about what the company is doing in the UK or to order UK material samples for your next project.
*Estimates based on an assumed residential project of 15 samples.
