RECENTLY . . .
By Valarie Schwartz
So, you think you’ve got the whole “green†thing covered. You regularly shop at the farmers’ market, where you buy organic, “slow†food; you recycle everything that Orange Community Recycling will accept; you buy products made of hemp and other natural, organically grown materials; and you drive a fuel-efficient vehicle. What more, you may wonder, can you do to help sustain our environment?
What about that couch or chair you’re sitting on – have you ever considered where the products for your furniture come from? Chapel Hill’s Susan Inglis has done more than think about it; she has become part of a movement to help us minimize our carbon footprint while furnishing our homes. Inglis is the executive director of the Sustainable Furnishings Council (sustainablefurnishings.org), and has been a long-time supplier of sustainable home furnishings.
Raised out in the country of Chowan County, Inglis moved to Chapel Hill in 1975 and earned a degree in anthropology. Both of her parents were amateur craftspeople – her mother a weaver and her father a woodworker – who taught their children how to create things with their hands. Inglis started a knitting business that supported her and her two children when her marriage ended and she moved to Dogwood Acres in 1989.
“I got a knitting machine and began to make custom sweaters,†she said. “I started selling the sweaters to stores.†Sweaters from her line, called Susan’s Sweaters, were sold here at the former Chinaberry Craft Gallery, and eventually she had sales reps in markets across the country.
“But the fashion industry moved so fast, I was looking for something more gently paced,†Inglis said. She became involved in an economic-development program in West Virginia with women making knitted pillows and sofa throws, which led her to transition her business into home textiles.
Next for Inglis came From The Mountain, which she started in the Himalayas of eastern Nepal in 1994. The company’s first new products, after those sweater-like pillows, were placemats and table runners made of a native nettle that villagers processed and wove into fabric.
From The Mountain has become a brokering business focusing on handmade and sustainably manufactured products for home, fashion and gifts. It provides examples of how remote villagers can use their indigenous materials and knowledge to support themselves while providing sustainable products to others.
But back to that comfy chair where you’re sitting – let’s assume that it’s made of leather. Inglis says that much of the leather in furniture comes from the cows of Brazil.
“The hides are exported to Italy, where they are tanned into beautiful leather, then sent to Asia, where they become leather chairs, then sent to California for distribution to all of the U.S.,†Inglis said. “Your leather chair made a trip around the world before you did!â€
Since 2006, when she helped found the Sustainable Furnishings Council, Inglis has been committed to educating the industry and consumers. She has been invited to speak at the New York International Gift Fair from noon to 1:30 p.m. on Monday.
“I’ll be having a discussion with Susan Szenasy, editor-in-chief of Metropolis Magazine, about helping businesses operate in an environmentally sustainable, as well as an economically sustainable, manner,†she said.
For those of us staying closer to home, a free webinar will be available on Monday from 1 to 2 p.m. Register for it at nyigf.com/register, and keep thinking green!
Contact Valarie Schwartz at 923-3746 or valariekays@mac.com