5 ways Studio Tuft rugs are Eco- friendly, Green & sustainable .
Welcome to part 1 of my green blog series. Sustainability and eco friendly practices are really important to me and something I think a lot with my business. Here are a few of my thoughts and how I try to keep sustainable.
Sustainably sourcing yarns
Here at Studio Tuft I use sustainably sourced dead stock wools, often picking wools that would otherwise not be sold as they are such a small quantity or they are the result of over dying from large companies.
When large carpet manufactures order wools for carpets and rugs they often either over dye or over order wools leaving a surplus of the colour. This is what I buy from distributers.
It is high quality and usually some very unique colours.
The wools that I use are all from the UK and from small business’s in Britain.
2. Studio Tuft uses recyclable Packaging
I try to make sure my packaging is 100% recyclable which is why I now wrap each rug in brown paper and corrugated card for postage securing it with paper tape.
It is important to me that I lower my impact on the planet and make my packaging easy for the customer to recycle and dispose of in the most eco friendly way. I wanted to choose packaging material that would be instantly recognisable as recyclable and not cause any confusion.
For orders out of the UK I do use a plastic bubble wrap as they will be traveling further and for longer time and be man handled more. I see this as reasonable as the alternative could be a damaged product.
3. Studio Tuft is a small batch maker
It’s just me making the rugs and so I am only using the resources for 1 person and only using what I need to make each rug. I am not over making, the act of small batch production is the greener practice of making what is needed leading to less waste.
The quality of my rugs is high and I expect them to last a long time, that means people make a considered purchase and it wont end up in landfill in 2 years.
I try to have between 10-40 rugs in stock so I am not over making work and using up un-nessesary resources.
4. Using up waste products
I try to use everything I possibly can and not waste anything but this is not always possible.
I reuse and re purpose the offcuts of fabric when I can to sew to smaller pieces to make smaller rugs or wall hangings.
There are lots of excess strands that happen when tufting and the finishing I will be creating some large floor cushions which I will aim to fill with the excess wool.
I am also constantly working towards making a collection of glass ballballs filled with these strands for Christmas trees and decoration.
5. Using electricity sparingly
My compressor takes up a bit of energy I try to not keep my tutfing gun blowing out air if im not using it, as the more air used means the compressor will kick back in to top up the pressure.
The ceiling on my studio is corrugated plastic so it doubles as a large window so I often don’t need the light on at all. Its an ingenious design so when I have been tufting all day I dont feel like I have been cooped up indoors.
The roof also acts as a heater when the sun shines in the winter and lets the hot air out in the summer.
I am always striving to do better but I believe I run my small tufted rug making business is fairly sustainable and green way.