Ask the Expert: Alex Malcolm, Jacada Travel

A central part of our ethos is positive impact. When we moved to our new office, I was disillusioned with many of the traditional options put forward by conventional suppliers. Given that the space was essentially a sterile, industrial glass box in an urban area, I was keen to bring as many natural and sustainable options in as possible. Well-being is a very important consideration for me too, which also informed our decision to bring in elements that would ‘soften’ and calm the office environment.

Can you tell us about any inspirational eco office or interiors that you took inspo from?

Working in experiential luxury travel, we’re constantly in touch with beautiful interiors that mirror their natural environment, I think I ended up taking these as a general concept rather than a specific office.

How did you consider the environment when sourcing materials and products for the office?

Every time we looked at a supplier, we asked for natural materials where possible, then they needed to be from trustworthy sustainable sources (I even went to the workshop to see where much of the furniture was made). Where using natural materials wasn’t practical or possible we used recycled (in the case of the beautiful blinds that stitched provided) or refurbished (all of our office chairs).

My favourite piece in the office is our board room table, sourced from a small independent furniture maker in Wiltshire Forest To Home (they also helped to make all of our desks).

Why was it so important that you considered the environment during the office design?

It’s embedded in our values, we work with many partners across the world and ask them to consider the environment, we have to do the same ourselves.

We have a lot of intiatives, (you can read more here)  but perhaps one of the most important ones is our commitment to help protect one acre of rainforest per passenger that travels with us through Cool Earth.

What are your top tips for Stitched customers who are looking to be more eco with their homeware/interiors buys?

It’s always worth picking up the phone to the supplier and speaking with them, you’ll quickly find out how passionate they are about these issues, this was definitely my experience speaking with stitched, who were able to provide us with a brand new material (sourced from recycled water bottles taken from the sea) which wasn’t even on their site yet.

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