Finally! A central resource hub of sustainable materials & products for the interior design industry has been created.

Finally! A central resource hub of sustainable materials & products for the interior design industry has been created.

Thanks to Fiona Lynch, Melbourne based interior designer, we now have “a globally connected network of libraries of sustainable materials, processes and ideas where designers can discover new materials and learn about sustainable practices”.

Fiona has been thinking up the idea over the last couple of years with her team and since the Covid shut down, has now co-created the resource collaboratively with the Australian design community.

She said she created the library “in response to the lack of central resource and curation in sustainable solutions”.

As a designer very heavily into supporting sustainable design, I see this as a huge advantage to my future work. The resource will not only provide a range of products, materials and ideas for my designs, but it will also save me a great deal of time in the sourcing and research phases of projects. My clients will have access to some of the best sustainably supportive materials available and I’m excited to start incorporating these into my designs.

“Collaboration is key to a sustainable, zero waste future”, says Lynch. And I couldn’t agree more! This archive will ensure fellow designers will benefit from her research and in turn, easily access these products. The more we all start contributing to this way of design, the better for all people and our planet.

Fiona notes there are many new products listed which are made from byproducts or waste materials. They’re also looking at exploring more low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) products.

To find out more, head to fionalynch.com.au/futurearchive

Celebrate the wins, all of them.

We often strive so hard to accomplish a goal and yet when we reach it, it’s like “ok great, what’s next?” I’m very guilty of this. However, I think I’ve learned now it’s so so important to just stop, and really celebrate those wins. I don’t mean you need to go out for a boozy lunch or buy yourself a new pair of shoes every time you do something well (although those things are super fun for bigger wins so I’m all for them!) It could be as simple as buying yourself a new book you’ve been eyeing off, or going for a walk or doing a yoga class in the middle of the day.

Regardless of the size of the win, celebrate it! I remember sending out my first email newsletter to my database, and honestly, at the time it felt like the biggest achievement in my world. I’d had so much unnecessary fear around sending it out, but I eventually put on my big girl pants and did it anyway. And you know what? The response was incredible! I started getting replies literally flooding into my inbox from people saying how much they loved the content I was sharing and that they were so happy for me. I couldn’t believe it.

So I celebrated! It was nothing over the top or fancy but the next day I took the morning off and went to my favourite cafe and treated myself to breakfast. As I sat there, I smiled to myself, knowing I’d done good, I’d taken one step closer to my goals, even though it was “just” an email newsletter.

I also find it helpful and motivating to keep a running list of my wins. It’s super exciting to see how far I’ve come and looking back at what was a win in the early days e.g. setting up my accounting system on Xero to now what is a win e.g. getting a project published in a major national magazine. It’s all part of the journey, every single little step forward. So celebrate those wins!