A Keilhauer craftsperson working on a carbon neutral Dally ottoman.Provided
Keilhauer Ltd. chairs have appeared in episodes of popular television series and movies, and in the situation room at the White House. But the Toronto-based contract commercial furniture designer and manufacturer is known not for its high-profile clients but for its longtime commitment to sustainable design activism.
When the Keilhauer family established their company in 1981, they wanted to ensure that they didn’t negatively impact the environment, so they pledged to design and manufacture their products responsibly. “Reducing our carbon footprint is incredibly important to us, and it always has been,” says company president Meghan Sherwin. “Recognizing the importance of the Architecture 2030 Challenge carbon-reduction goals, we are excited to move our product line up toward carbon neutral.”
From the beginning, Keilhauer has been working toward a closed-loop manufacturing process, in which all materials are recycled back into the system. “We have a very robust waste-management and recycling program already in existence, and our diversion rate is approaching 85 per cent,” says sustainability officer Joshua Belczyk. “We work hard to understand the range of the environmental impacts of our products from cradle to grave.”
Part of Belczyk’s focus is launching more certified carbon-neutral products, which “is the biggest story in sustainability right now.” Currently there are 17 such products among Keilhauer and its Division Twelve line, including Swurve, the first of its kind in the industry. He’s also focused on a more sustainable wood-supply chain and moving toward achieving product-wide Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) industry standards to ensure furniture comfort, safety, sustainability and durability.
In fact, not only are these steps desirable, but there’s also a growing demand for them. “The people in the architecture and interior design communities who specify our products are becoming increasingly aware of the environmental and sustainable decisions they’re making.” says Belczyk.
Keilhauer’s people take pride in their products’ timeless designs. “That’s another aspect of sustainability, along with durability,” says Belczyk. The furniture must be timeless and beautiful, and also offer ergonomics, form, comfort and ease of use – it’s a tall order.
“It costs us time and energy to be design activists, in researching and testing the processes, but we’ve worked really hard not to charge clients a premium,” says Sherwin. “It’s a lot harder to do meaningful work, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Take the Red List, for example, which identifies toxic materials, chemicals and elements known to pose serious risks to human health and the greater ecosystem that are prevalent in the building products industry. “These can be minor ingredients that are challenging to get out of the supply chain, but we are committed to the important process of removing them,” says Sherwin. “We have already successfully removed those toxins where they exist in most of our products, and we continue to do so, with the goal to have all of our products labelled as Red List free in the future.”
In November 2023, Sherwin was among 30 people in the design and fashion industries who spoke at the United Nations Partnership Council in New York City. Participants exchanged information about their industries in relation to their impact on carbon footprints. They shared knowledge and asked each other how they could “hold hands” to innovate their industries.
“The environment and what we’re doing to it, and the impacts, are always changing,” says Sherwin. “We can only improve if we’re communicating with each other. Keilhauer really lives its values, and I respect that – and we’re also very innovative, which excites me.”
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Advertising feature produced by Canada’s Top 100 Employers, a division of Mediacorp Canada Inc. The Globe and Mail’s editorial department was not involved.