On this episode of the Lead With Purpose podcast host, Tze Ching Yeung talks to Chloe Wynn, director of Maven Design Studio, about sustainability in traditionally one of the most environmentally impactful and wasteful industries: construction.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Unfortunately, the construction industry is incredibly wasteful. Similarly to fashion trends come and go quite quickly in interior design. In our homes we’re encouraged to revitalise with a new kitchen every 5-10 years. What do we do with all that stuff that gets thrown away? Maybe it goes to a second-hand selling site, but sadly a lot of it is cheap, disposable items that people don’t have an emotional connection to, so they don’t care what happens to it next and it ends up in landfill.
• Most of my work is in the commercial space and a lot of the briefs I get are from development managers who say they need to change things because their customers need to see something different as a reason to visit the premises, just for the sake of it. 
• One of the trigger points for me falling out of love with the construction industry and wanting to change it to become more sustainable was a time when we wanted to reuse a granite work surface. The contractors accidentally cracked it, so I told them to find out how much it would cost to be fixed and the cost was more than buying a new piece of granite that was extracted from Italy and shipped to the UK. I was infuriated.
• It’s not just about carbon, it’s about water pollution, air quality, what are we doing about waste, what are we doing about labour exploitation, mental health pressures from capitalism. We need to find a better way of doing things.

BEST MOMENTS

‘If we’re refurbishing sites every 5-7 years, which is the standard cycle is, we’re just getting a bigger and bigger pile of chairs for example, because they’re not cost-effective to take apart.’

‘It’s not your fault, but it is your responsibility. I can see the problem and I choose to try and do something positive about it.’

‘Good maintenance is a huge factor of being sustainable, if you look after things they last longer.’

’10-15 years ago no design studios were talking about sustainability, whereas now it’s really encouraging the amount of studios, architects, and even some clients talking about it, because it’s important to their customers.’

ABOUT THE GUEST

Chloe Wynn is a designer inspired by nature, culture, and the senses, with technically considered solutions and circularity in mind.

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ABOUT THE HOST

Tze Ching started her entrepreneurial journey back in 2007 with the launch of a sustainable clothing & home furnishing ecommerce business. Next, she created a sustainable fashion brand.

In 2019, she launched a social enterprise to help raise awareness about the negative impact of fashion at schools & colleges. 

Through the 15-year journey, she learned so much, but easily the most meaningful lesson learned was about the importance of marketing. She now focuses on channelling those insights to help others succeed through We Disrupt Agency, a business coaching, mentoring & digital marketing company. 

Tze Ching’s mission is to create a community of global change makers and to contribute to positive change in both people & planet.

CONTACT DETAILS

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