Sustainable furniture-maker in Finland flies high

• Ecodesign and full lifecycle thinking permeate Finnish furniture-maker's production
• The company has achieved a Nordic Swan Ecolabel for several products 

Isku is a leader in furniture know-how and industrial innovation. The company's goal is to provide customers with high-quality furniture while ensuring responsible production. The Isku factory in Lahti, Finland, is one of the most modern production facilities in the European furniture industry.

The firm's systematic investment in environmental responsibility is part of its 'quality' offer, and as a testament to this work, it has been granted the right to use the Nordic Swan Ecolabel for four products – two Tendo cabinets, Lightness chairs, Matrix I desks and Kivikko seats. Products and services that carry this label meet extremely strict environmental requirements based on their full lifecycle, including the sourcing of raw materials, energy consumption during production and use, and the use of chemicals and generation of waste during production and the product’s entire service life. The criteria are extremely strict and only a small proportion of the furniture available on the market can meet them.

Kivikko seating, one of Isku’s products to carry this ecolabel, is made from surplus foam materials from cutting-process waste, and any surplus material from the production stage is recycled for reuse. Kivikko’s designer has also optimised the use of material by designing seats of various sizes in such a way that they can be transported in a space-efficient manner.

Key benefits

• Products and services that carry the Nordic Swan Ecolabel meet extremely strict environmental requirements based on lifecycle philosophy; this means they are safe for both people and the environment
• Ecolabel criteria cover sourcing of raw materials, energy consumption during production and use as well as the use of chemicals and generation of waste during production
• Isku uses and recycles surplus materials from process waste
• The use of materials has been optimised