Werbung | Mit Stühlen aus Polycarbonat gelang Kartell 1999, nach jahrelanger Forschung und dank einer bahnbrechenden Innovation, als erstes Unternehmen der Welt Möbel aus diesem Werkstoff zu fertigen. Gleichzeitig auch der große Durchbruch für das italienische Unternehmen mit 70-jähriger Geschichte. An erster Stelle steht dabei die Verantwortung für die Umwelt und die stetige Weiterentwicklung einer nachhaltigen Produktion. So sind alle von Kartell verwendeten Rohstoffe vollständig recycelbar und das gilt auch für die diesjährigen Neuheiten.

Die Sitzmöbel La Marie und der Louis Ghost Chair haben viel zur Wahrnehmung der italienischen Designmarke beigetragen. Transparente Entwürfe in einer minimalistischen, zeitlosen Gestaltung aus einem Werkstoff, der bis 1999 nicht für die Herstellung von Möbelstücken in dieser Form genutzt wurde. Dabei wurde Kartell bereits 1949 von Giulio Castelli gegründet und schuf in jenen ersten Jahren die Grundlagen für ein Design, das zu einem der Hauptvertreter des Made in Italy werden sollte. Seitdem waren Designer und Architekten wie Philippe Starck, Ron Arad, Antonio Citterio, Ferruccio Laviani, Piero Lissoni, Patricia Urquiola, Mario Bellini, Alberto Meda und Vico Magistretti für Kartell tätig und prägten mit ihren Entwürfen die Marke.

Re-Transparency & Re-Chair - Polycarbonat 2.0

Kartell hat eine ganz neue Version von Polycarbonat 2.0 entwickelt, bei der es sich um ein erneuerbares Polymer der zweiten Generation handelt, das per Synthese hergestellt wird und größtenteils aus industriellen Zellulose- und Papierabfällen mit ISCC-Zertifikat* (International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) gewonnen wird. Dieser Prozess gewährleistet eine Reduzierung der Kohlendioxid-Emissionen und somit der Umweltbelastung von bis zu 60 % gegenüber der Polycarbonat-Produktion auf fossiler Basis. Das neue Material, für das Kartell in der Einrichtungsindustrie über eine Exklusivität verfügt, wird für alle Kartell Bestseller sowie für neue Produktentwicklungen verwendet und ersetzt nach und nach das traditionelle Polycarbonat in der gesamten Produktpalette. Dieser Schritt ist der jüngste in der Verpflichtung des Unternehmens, innovative industrielle Design-Produkte zu schaffen und diese zunehmend nachhaltig und umweltfreundlicher zu gestalten.

Polycarbonat 2.0 bewahrt das gleiche Maß an Transparenz, thermischer und mechanischer Beständigkeit, Robustheit und Stabilität wie die Originalversion. Hinzu kommt die Nachhaltigkeit dieses neuen Materials, das sich in Kartells Circular-Economy-Ethos einreiht und sich der Verwendung von Recycling- und Bio-Materialien anschließt.

Das Engagement für Nachhaltigkeit und Umweltschutz gehört als fester Bestandteil zur Unternehmensphilosophie. Wir haben uns mit Lorenza Luti, Marketing & Retail Director Kartell, die in dritter Generation (Enkelin der Gründerin Anna Castelli-Ferrieri und Tochter des CEOs und Inhabers Claudio Luti) bei Kartell die Geschicke des Unternehmens gestaltet, unterhalten.

Q&A mit Lorenza Luti, Marketing & Retail Director Kartell

'Kartell loves the planet' is the company's own manifesto with which your commitment to sustainability and environmental protection can be summarized. How exactly would you describe the activities?

The relationship between Kartell and the environment already has deep roots in the history of our Company and there are some beautiful examples inside the museum, which date back as far as late Fifties, with posters which aimed to explain the material and the value of the various innovations. So, yesterday as today, respect for the environment and sustainability is a value at the heart of the brand and to strengthen this commitment we gave birth to Kartell loves the planet an industrial manifeste with which the company focuses on responsibility for environment and attention to good sustainability practices. Research and technological development, today as seventy years ago, allow us to continue to identify materials that can be regenerated and that do not have negative impacts on the environment. All our products are totally recyclable as each part from which they are made can be disassembled and properly recycled or disposed of.

What hurdles does Kartell face in this?

For companies, sustainability represents a development direction necessary to respond to a consumer who is increasingly attentive to new needs and new shopping experiences. An essential choice that involves the company's processes and products. lt is a path that requires investments and a predisposition for innovation and change. Only by building a streng, effective and credible path of sustainability can this become a fundamental element of a marketing and communication strategy. For Kartell, for example, the narration of this strategic vision passes through the physical or virtual store and social media. Kartell stores are strategic spaces to communicate our range of projects devoted to respect for the environment by creating experiential opportunities that give our consumers an immediate reading of our philosophy and our productions. On the virtual level, we have instead further renewed and enriched our portal which has become a real relationship platform with our customers, intended not only as the final public but also architects and designers. To support our story, we finally use the various social channels to build our communications more effectively. We continuously update our image, to enter more and more into a relationship with our consumer with stories and images of our projects that can create empathy in our interlocutor.

Are there any materials that will become even more important in the future?

Kartell is today engaged in the continuous search for sustainable and original materials. This is a strategic mission and is part of the constant process of technological innovation pursued by the company. For example, transparency, one of the characterizing elements of Kartell, is today projected within the objectives of the "Kartell loves the planet" Manifeste, based on the theme of sustainability. We have studied a new polycarbonate that we have defined 2.0 through a material that combines a second generation renewable polymer produced through a synthesis process derived largely from industrial waste of cellulose and paper certified ISCC * {International Sustainability and Carbon Certification) which ensures a reduction of up to 60 % of the environmental impact in terms of carbon dioxide emissions, compared to the production of fossil­ based polycarbonate. The new material will be used on all best-selling products and new concepts, gradually replacing those made with traditional polycarbonate in the catalog.

How much does the recycled material influence the design process?

All the innovations related to the use of new materials represent a natural evolution for Kartell that continues along the path traced by the company made of innovation and industrial products, with the commitment to make design more and more green. Recycled materials, Bio and Polycarbonate 2.0 do not affect the design process because retain the particular aesthetic properties thermal and mechanical resistance, as well as those of strength and hardness. This is joined by the sustainability component of the new materials, becoming parts of the circular economy process, adopted by Kartell.

How was the Re-Chair developed?

Re-Chair by Antonio Citterio is presented after a finalization period in which structural and functional tests have been perfected. The composition of the material with which it is produced derives from pure and uncontaminated storage materials from other sectors. The name embodies the essence of this chair: RE as recycled and CHAIR as the symbolic object of Kartell, in a perfect combination of past and fut ure. This is a seat produced in full respect of sustainability which is characterized by the square and full lines of its design which give it lightness and solidity at the same t ime . The stylistic code of Re-Chair allows it to fit into the different rooms of the house, it is perfect for Habitat use, but can become also a complement for Office use.

Which requirements should furniture be able to meet for the future?

1 believe that every piece of furniture, regardless of eras or trends, must continue to create an emotion that can be derived from the material with which it is made or from its design. Today, as in the near future, sustainability not only of the product but also of the process with which the furniture is made will play a central role and this is why Kartell is increasingly orienting itself in the search for innovative and sustainable materials.

Could 3D printing soon play an important role in furniture production?

We never put limits on technological innovations because we have shown that what is not possible today is part of tomorrow's goals. On this trend, in fact, the Smart Wood collection was born where through a special patent, only a thin layer of wood is used that is worked with a meld capable of bringing the 3D curvature of the panel to the limit and creating the seat shell with never-before­ seen roundness befo re. Kartell uses only wood from FSC® (Forest Stewardship Council® ) certified forests, thus guaranteeing the origin and correct exploitation of forest resources.

Innovations are an important part of your company DNA which topics will be important for the day after tomorrow at Kartell?

The outline is that of a path in which the theme of sustainability, contained in the Kartell loves the planet project, constitutes the very essence of the business development plan. We are committed to correspond to the guidelines of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development approved by the UN General Council for people and the planet. With continuous daily actions and concrete organizational plans, we think we can pursue the objectives in the coming years and by 2021 convert a good part of the catalog with green materials and use as much of the packaging as possible with recycled and recyclable material. Our program will therefore lead us to create emotions with our products, elements that give well-being and at the same time create solid industrial projects that build a better world.

Neuheiten

Das Engagement von Kartell für die Umsetzung und Verbesserung des Umweltmanagementsystems wird durch die Einhaltung internationaler Zertifizierungsprotokolle gewährleistet, und im Bereich des Gesundheitsschutzes hat Kartell für alle seine Produkte die GREENGUARD- Zertifizierung erhalten, die für ein niedriges Emissionsniveau und für die Erhaltung der Luftqualität in Innenbereichen steht.

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Bilder: Kartell; Tommaso Gesuato | Interview & Text: Wilkin Schröder; Presseinfos