Sustainability

Sustainability 
At Resident

As designers and manufacturers of lighting, furniture and objects, we understand our responsibility to act in the best interests of future generations by conserving resources wherever possible.

We are committed to ensuring that our fingerprint on the planet in the form of our products, is as light as possible, and that the resources used in creating and facilitating the business around them, are kept to a minimum.

Sustainability is something that we acknowledge we can do better at.
We regularly review our environmental choices and make constant improvements as part of our ongoing business strategy.

At Resident, we are guided by three core principles:

Design for longevity
Produce only what we need
No product goes in the ground

1. Design for longevity

At Resident we aim to design long-lived products that are simple, well-crafted and original, with production led by longevity, not seasonal trends.

We invest in high quality materials that give our products a physical robustness that holds up for decades even in the most demanding environments.

We pour a significant amount of investment into original creative design concepts and technical innovation, in the belief that these qualities create a higher intrinsic value for the purchasers of our products, increasing their willingness to retain them for many years.

We strive to create products with a refined and distinctive aesthetic and timeless appeal that will inspire generation after generation.


2. Produce only what we need

At Resident, we start off making our new products in small batches in New Zealand. We make only what we know we can sell. All waste from the manufacturing process is recycled.


3. No product goes in the ground

Resident makes a commitment to take back all products that have reached the end of their usable life, in any condition, so our products never need to be sent to landfill.

For each product, we provide advice to purchasers of our procedure and facility to receive back any item that has become superfluous to their requirements. This service is offered to all territories on our planet.

When an end-of-life product is returned to Resident, we assess, deconstruct, repair, recycle and/or repurpose its elements to create new value.

 

Technical information

Lighting
Resident lighting is manufactured using exclusively LED light sources to create minimal energy consumption and reduce the lifetime carbon footprint of the products.
For all geometric lighting products, we offer an end-of-life return-for-refurbishment service, whereby old metal frames are refinished and circulated back into production.

Furniture
All of our timber chairs and stools are sourced from reputable Forestry Stewardship Council certified suppliers. FSC's global certification scheme ensures rigorous environmental, social and economic standards for responsible forest management and conservation.
We regularly use timber veneer as an environmentally efficient substitute for solid wood.
We only use water-based lacquers on our furniture finishes.

Upholstery
Resident’s upholstery manufacturing and distribution is managed in three locations: Auckland, London and Los Angeles.
We aim to manufacturing larger-scale items within the territories they are sold in to minimise the volume of international shipping.
We have assessed and chosen our external fabric and leather suppliers based on their ability to provide assurances of sustainable production practices.

Stock & Warehousing
We endeavour to be as efficient as possible with our use of energy.
We only manufacture what we know we can sell.
We have three international warehouses for efficient delivery across our global market.

Packaging
We use recyclable packaging and are working to reduce our packaging to the lowest practical level.
In Resident's warehouses and offices, all team members are educated about local recycling processes and actively practice these systems.