"Some things become so strongly associated with a time they become timeless”.
– Kerstin Wickman, History of Design and Crafts Professor
String Furniture encourage creativity in every space, room and home.
Upholding the Scandinavian tradition for ingenious design, everything we create is elegant in form, instantly recognisable, and flexible in function. Forever inspired by the simplicity of the original String® shelf.
Designed by Kajsa and Nisse Strinning in 1949, this design icon is not only considered a masterpiece invention, but officially recognised as a work of art. Design enthusiasts, Peter Erlandsson and Pär Josefsson founded String Furniture in 2004, continuing the legacy of Nisse and Kajsa Strinning.Today, we honour their timeless vision and invite fresh ideas to the family time and time again.
Minimalist ethos, sustainable ethics.
With combinations and quality to last generations, String Furniture doesn’t need to be recycled. But that doesn’t mean we’re not focussed on sustainability. 95% of our furniture is made in Sweden from renewable, recyclable, or recycled materials, paired with careful manufacturing.
Our Commitment
Here at String Furniture, we have always been committed to continuing the legacy of Nisse and Kajsa Strinning with a responsible and conscious mindset. Producing a range of furniture including the String® System, a timeless and modular feat of design, we understand the values of longevity and quality. However, in a world where we need to take full accountability for our impact, we understand it goes further than that. And that is why we want to share our commitment to you. A commitment to change, a commitment to improve and a commitment to continually learn and adapt in ensuring we contribute to a circular economy and a positive future for both people and planet. We invite you to join us on this journey and we will be sharing updates along the way. Together, we can create a brighter future.
Taking Responsibility
Remaining accountable and reducing our footprint year on year is something we are actively working towards. With 40 direct suppliers of furniture and parts, 35 of these are based in Sweden and five are based in China. 98% of our total volume of product is purchased from Swedish suppliers. We have had a relationship with most of our suppliers for more than a decade and work closely with them in ensuring standards are attained.
This year, we developed String Furniture guidelines to conduct Due Diligence across our supply chain according to the OECD due diligence guidance for responsible business conduct. Making a detailed social and environmental risk screening, based on the country of production, the product type and production type for all parts of our supply chain, we mapped our assessments to identify potential areas for improvement. Based on our findings we have defined focused initiatives with suppliers to ensure these gaps are minimised and eliminated.
Building these close relationships with our suppliers and partners is key in refining our offering even further going forward. We are committed to change and assessing where we are now is the first step in understanding where we need to direct our energies next.
And, through sharing this journey with our audience, we want to provide you with the transparency you deserve in knowing how our products are made and our obligation to a positive future for all.
Our Vision
To actively contribute to the creation of a circular economy and an equal society, without any compromise on the safety, quality, and aesthetic of our products.
We will continue to create furniture that will last generations and remains timeless across any design style. With our multifunctional approach, String® furniture never needs to be recycled as it can be repurposed, rebuilt, repaired, and reused. While the circularity of the system speaks for itself, we are committed to ensuring the footprint behind the production methods and logistics we use is reduced.
A Current Overview
We work with third-party institutes to test our furniture according to established standards (EN).
69% of our suppliers have ISO 14001 certification for environmental management and are working with water and efficiency measures. We are looking to work with our suppliers to ensure improvements are implemented to enhance these statistics as well as the implementation of renewable energy and an increased use of recycled materials and low impact chemicals.
89% of our suppliers have signed our Supplier Code of Conduct and we are prioritising social audits with high-risk suppliers (currently just 2% of our purchasing volume comes from suppliers deemed as high risk).
Our priority is to start a systematic collection of an updated set of sustainability measures from each supplier we work with to ensure we can reduce our CO2 emissions going forward with a targeted and measured approach. Currently, we measure our CO2 footprint according to the GHG-emission protocol with our own operations running at a rate of 27 tCO2 per annum (Equivalent to a year’s emissions from six passenger cars). We are working with an external partner, Normative, to fully understand our carbon footprint.
In 2021 80% of our electricity used within the company directly came from renewable energy, with this increasing to 100% in 2022.
Materials
97% of our products are made from wood and steel, with steel being our core material. We are working with our suppliers to select the lowest impact solutions for our products and processes. While most of our suppliers are already working systematically to reduce their energy use and emissions, we will be documenting this more closely to ensure accountability and transparency is upheld.
Steel:
- 100% of our steel wires are made from recycled steel. Steel can also be recycled infinitely without affecting its quality.
- Steel is energy-intensive to produce but the energy needed for this has decreased by up to 60% in the last 50 years. We are constantly working with our suppliers to reduce this even further.
- By-products from the process, such as slag, dust, and gases, can be used for cement, iron, and electricity, helping to minimise waste and preserve raw materials. One of the biggest challenges the steel industry faces is to produce green steel – a virgin or recycled steel that is produced with renewable energy.
- Made in Sweden, our steel panels use material sourced from Norway from a manufacturer which uses 98% renewable electricity in its production and has committed to reducing its total emissions by 50% by 2030.
Wood:
- 100% of our wood is aligned to the EU Timber Regulation with 68% of our wood being FSC Certified (Sourced from sustainably managed forests with good social conditions).
- The waste from our shelf production is shredded and used as energy, covering most of the energy supply at our Swedish wood manufacturing plant.
Lacquer:
- 100% of our lacquer used on wooden surfaces is water-based and we work to the strict legislations of the European chemical regulation (REACH).
- Our powder-coated surfaces use a solvent-free technique with no VOCs.
- Care and maintenance instructions are provided to customers to ensure the lifespan of each product is sustained.
