Functional Furniture 101 (for Green Modernists)

Functional furniture is green in a way that you may not have ever considered.  While there are furniture companies that make pieces with organic fabrics, local sourcing, and non-toxic materials, the functional furniture pieces that I'm going to mention may (or may not) be that kind of green.  It depends on the company.  The essence of functional furniture--stuff that can be utilized widely in various situations--smacks of green.  Just like it's better to have one car than two, it's better to have one piece of furniture than two. 

There are a few companies out there that make incredible, modern pieces...you ought to consider the availability of these options when building your home.  Functional furniture allows you to do more with less space, which allows you to build a smaller home.  We all know what the benefits of a smaller home are, too. 

Let's use some furniture from a company in New York called "Apt."  Apt means "exactly suitable."  They have a lounge sofa bed (designed by Muller + Wulff) that acts as both a sofa and bed.  It's similar to a sofa-bed, but notice one thing:  there's no huge steel framing wound up inside the sofa.  Nice.  The alternative to purchasing this item, if you need both a sofa and an extra bed, would be to either purchase a sofa-bed (metal frame and all) or purchase both a sofa and a bed.  Which one do you think is the greener option?  Right, the apt. 

This is what I'm going to call the alternative purchase theory of going green.  Sure, you'd like to buy organic, local, and non-toxic everything for your house, but businesses may not have caught up to that demand and the products don't exist.  Is that a reason not to live in style?  No.  Functional furniture provides an option for consuming less, while still staying modern and sophisticated.  The basic test to determine whether your functional furniture is green is to ask this question:  is this better than the alternative? 

Extra Links:
Mobelform:  Modern + Contemporary European Designed Furniture
Solas Contemporary Furnture (Transformable)
Re:Modern Furniture