On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to David Chenery to talk about sustainable interior design and architecture and the differences and similarities between the two.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• We work with existing buildings. In the hospitality world, which we serve, the average space gets fitted out every 5-7 years. We need to look at that in terms of our duty as designers to avoid as much waste as possible and limit the environmental impact of that change.
• Sustainability and circularity weren’t discussed in this industry for many years because the job is hard enough with pleasing the client, meeting budgets, deadlines and building control regulations, sometimes you’re just trying to get through it. We focused and dug into sustainability about 5-6 years ago because we wanted to hold ourselves to account as well as attract clients that are interested in that agenda too. The industry has got better and there are people doing good things, but I’m also aware that we’re not really representative of the whole industry.
• The first thing we look at with a fit-out project is what will be demolished or removed and how can you keep as much as possible and make best use of the space there. Then we look at low-impact design to make the least number of design moves you can, bringing in the least amount of materials, optimising the layout for efficiency, using ethically sourced materials. We also have to design for end of life so that we minimised the waste and impact of the disassembly process.
• Does sustainable design cost more money? It depends how far back you go in the design process. 80% of environmental impact is baked in at the design stage. Rather than build a cupboard from more expensive FSC-certified plywood, could you build a set of shelves? Yes, you should, because you’ll be using 20% less material which will cost you less than a cupboard made from cheaper, uncertified plywood.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Restaurants can open and fail within 2 years, all the material, energy and effort involved in getting that open is then wasted.’

‘A lot of people think about carbon and NetZero when they think about sustainability, but in the fit-out world carbon is measurable and can be important, but it’s not holistic enough.’

‘When you throw something away there is no ‘away’, it has to go somewhere, can you donate materials to charities or break it down and process the materials in a genuine recycling way to avoid landfill?’

‘The deeper we get into it the more interested I am in the principles: What is the least we can do to be excellent?’

ABOUT THE GUEST

David Chenery is the founder of Object Space Place, a sustainable hospitality design studio, working across architecture, interior design and branding. He also co-hosts the “Hospitality and the Infinite Game” series with Michael Tingsager.

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ABOUT THE HOST

Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing & home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.

In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools & colleges.

Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring & digital marketing company.

Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people & planet.

CONTACT DETAILS

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On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Joshua Prieto, co-founder of Seeds of Tao, about regenerative enterprises.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• The regenerative movement and regenerative enterprises are working towards is that we’d like to see a circular economy in the future, one that’s just and fair and actually has a right alignment with the natural systems that are at play. There’s not one circular/regenerative business out there today, we’re all very dependant on an extractive system, but we’re trying to seed the notion that business doesn’t have to be, that’s the vision we’re trying to bring to life.
• I discovered permaculture (the philosophy of moving beyond sustainability towards a more regenerative realm) around the same time I began my career in marketing, branding, sales and messaging. I found myself split; I really loved marketing and messaging and the creative outlet that provided me, but at the same time I found myself not wanting to be involved in capitalistic/consumer-driver, growth at any cost campaigns.
• Circular and regenerative are similar, though circular is more focussed on the product side. In a lot of ways, it’s harder to change a product/consumer-driver world into a more regenerative one. Its already ingrained in an extractive system. Regenerative businesses are coming up with new or different ways that detach themselves from the extractive systems that are at play.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Truly regenerative businesses are in alignment with nature, they don’t take or extract from natural systems, cultures, etc.’

‘We can do business in a different way.’

‘We should never blame the tools (marketing), we should always take responsibilities for our own actions.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Joshua Prieto is the Co-Founder and Director of the Seeds of Tao learning platform for regenerative entrepreneurs. He has over 10 years of experience creating, building, and operating startup solutions alongside entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes. That experience has shown him that entrepreneurs have the biggest role to play in the Anthropocene as we either create the solutions for, or become the root problem of, our people, planet, and future. Josh now co-creates educational programs that disrupt the current way our entrepreneurs learn. His holistically designed educational programs empower entrepreneurs to stop chasing “silver-bullet” solutions and start designing solutions that use regenerative systems.

Website

ABOUT THE HOST

Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing & home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.

In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools & colleges.

Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring & digital marketing company.

Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people & planet.

CONTACT DETAILS

Website

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On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Chris Desai, an award winning CEO, philanthropist and entrepreneur who is highly experienced in sustainability in the fashion industry and runs an environmental charity.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Through working in music and fashion I ended up in fast fashion, which we all know is a massive polluter. 10 years into my career I started to see the amount of pollution we were causing and what we were doing to our planet and I though; enough’ s enough. I can’t say I love the planet and want to protect it whilst my industry is breaking the planet.
• I would click a button and order 400,000 T-shirts for the week. You don’t realise how much water, dye, polyester, plastic that uses. Then you think of the ethics of the working conditions in certain countries. The buying behaviours of people in the UK are causing a lot of these issues abroad. It’s so easy to press a button and alleviate the responsibility.
• I got to a point where I realised that my values of protecting the planet, looking after nature and my job were completely misaligned. I had an honest conversation with myself where I discovered I was a hypocrite; I’m not living what I believe. 90% of the world are also hypocrites, not living what they believe, their actions do not equate to what they believe.
• When I left that job I took six months out and spent it sailing, it wasn’t glamourous, it was damp and horrible, but it was at a time that I really needed to connect back to the planet and understand that I had a higher purpose and a better calling that just making money designing clothes. On that six-month journey at sea with no laptop or phone, meditating every day that I truly connected with myself and whether it made money or not I was going to live my purpose and have faith.

BEST MOMENTS

‘Not many people know that the textile industry is the second biggest polluter in the world.’

‘I walked out of the big London fashion firm that I worked for because I seemed to be the only one that could see that we were killing the planet.’

‘When you ask people: “If I gave you £1million what would you do?” It’s never what they’re doing right now.’

‘We are all human and all living on one planet. Conservation is a uniting factor that transcends all beliefs, gender, race, we’re all on this planet and we can all look after it.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Chris Desai is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who set up The Vayyu Foundation in 2017, a registered charity that has made considerable contributions to the benefit and protection of the planet with its global projects UOCEAN 2050 and UEARTH 2050.

Website

ABOUT THE HOST

Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing & home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.

In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools & colleges.

Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring & digital marketing company.

Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people & planet.

CONTACT DETAILS

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

LinkedIn