Sustainability Policy

We are passionate about sustainable interior design. Therefore, sustainability is integral to everything we do at Cassandra Chessum Interior Design (CCID). We are committed and dedicated to sustainability. We regularly review our processes and projects, from initiation to completion, to ensure that they enhance the environment, health and well-being of our clients, suppliers and staff.

Projects

Sustainability not only shapes how we run our studio, but it is also a central part of our client services and the projects we work on. CCID is delighted to offer wide-ranging sustainable design services, including adaptive reuse, biophilic and circular design. We are also proud to have an impressive portfolio of sustainable interior design projects. An excellent example is a biophilic passive house in South Oxfordshire, which featured on Grand Designs. The eco home was designed to include solar panels, bio-dynamic lighting, rainwater harvesting, VOC-free paints and interior green living walls. These sustainability solutions were all specified to improve the health and well-being of the people living there. CCID strongly believes that sustainability is not just for the few, so it is integral to all our projects, not only the ones where it is an explicit focus of the client brief. For further information on how we do this, see our sustainable interior design page.

Products

The majority of the products we recommend and source for our clients are sustainable. For example, the fabrics are often made from natural (sometimes certified organic) fibres or are comprised of recycled yarns. They are also fully recyclable. The paint ranges tend to be water-based, vegan and solvent free with low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The application of some paints actually reduces carbon dioxide and eliminates toxins. We are also big fans of up-cycling. So, we often source reclaimed goods from architectural salvage yards, as well as up-cycling items to make them unique.

People and suppliers

At CCID, we are also committed to ethical trade and business practices. All our people are expected to deal with everyone they meet ethically, behaving in an honest, transparent and open fashion. We are also committed to sourcing products from suppliers who have a similar ethos. Whilst it is not feasible to visit every supplier to inspect their operations and processes, we do regularly review suppliers’ corporate sustainability and responsibility policies and performance. We also check, where relevant, that suppliers have signed up to the most robust leading environmental and social certification schemes.

Studio

It is important that we lead by example and that our studio is as sustainable as possible. Managing waste is essential and we have adopted the reduce, reuse, recycle approach. We have removed all single use plastics in the studio and, through our efforts to reduce, reuse and recycle, we aim to ensure that none of our waste is sent to landfill. All our IT equipment is reused or recycled, as are all redundant mobile phones. The studio has been designed to be as energy efficient as possible, making the most of natural light and energy efficient lighting solutions. We also source our electricity through a green energy tariff. All the paper and cardboard that we purchase is made from recycled materials, right down to our business cards, which are made from recycled cotton t-shirts.

Charities and community

We take our social and ethical responsibilities as a company very seriously. Each year, we support a number of international, national and local charities and causes. For example, we recently committed to donating 10% of any CCID gift vouchers to a range of charities and community groups. All scrap fabric and fabric samples that are no longer needed are donated to local schools and charities to help promote art and encourage creativity amongst children and the wider community. We were also delighted to work with a local school recently to help with the creation of an art studio for both pupils and the local community.