Arper is Catifa, but not only

There is a significant difference between companies that concern themselves with making their products sustainable only after they have been created – an operation often doomed to fail due to costs and difficulties – and those that consider sustainability as an integral and fundamental part of the creative process. Andrea Mulloni, Head of Sustainability at Arper, tells Domus how in recent years the company has changed its approach to design: “For a long time, we worked on compliance, developing a product on a conceptual, material, and aesthetic level, and only subsequently evaluating the environmental response. The process began in 2005, but it was from 2021 that a turning point occurred, and the awareness grew that if a product does not function from an environmental perspective, it cannot reflect us, because the impact we have on the planet – as a company – comes from the products we produce.”

With this in mind, the question arises spontaneously: why propose the eco-sustainable redesign of an existing chair, Catifa, instead of immediately thinking of a new product? "The choice of Catifa is based precisely on the fact that it is an icon: Arper is Catifa, Catifa is Arper. For us, therefore, proposing a new version of a chair that has written the company's history means taking the 'revolution' very seriously. We have broken the mould to embrace the idea of a circular economy and we are fully committed to it. Although the design is the same as in the original project by Lievore Altherr Molina, Catifa Carta is therefore a new product, where sustainability directly enters the creative process because it is intentionally sought. Arper has made it possible to create the classic harmonious and curved line of the seat through a completely new material: PaperShell, made from paper derived from wood production waste, such as sawdust, shavings, and branches. Mulloni explains that behind the creation of Catifa Carta lies a lengthy process of testing and resistance simulations to achieve an optimal result: “I think we did more than 100 tests before we found the right shape for the paper to be effective”.

But Arper did not stop at creating a product from waste. The revolution continues with the decision to consider the entire life cycle of the chair, from its creation to the end of its use, which is perhaps the most important point to consider. At the end of its life, Catifa Carta's shell is transformed through pyrolysis into biochar, a substance rich in carbon that effectively sequesters CO2. This process ensures minimal environmental impact, closing the loop and turning waste into resources that enrich the soil and support biodiversity.

According to Mulloni, there are two other business models that ensure a useful end-of-life for the product, which Arper has recently adopted: "Refurbishment, or recovery, is based on the idea that customers tend to change their furniture after six or seven years, even if replacement is not necessary; perhaps some products have suffered minor damage. For this reason, thanks to an active partnership with companies in interesting countries - we are talking about the Netherlands and Sweden - we offer to carry out a free scan for the customer and to replace damaged parts or repair defects caused by time". In this way, in addition to the convenience for the customer, the environmental impact is also significantly reduced.

Another option is rental, which is interesting because, on the one hand, the company retains ownership of the product and responsibility for its proper functioning, and, on the other hand, waste is reduced. Items that would have been discarded after a few years of use in a purchase scenario return to the company, which can restore and reuse them, in the circular perspective that Arper supports. One of the episodes of the Arper Design Stories podcast is entitled "How can a company help design a more sustainable world?" The answer, Mulloni told Domus, is to start thinking in terms of responsibility: "We can't continue to put products on the market and leave it up to the customer to decide their end-of-life. This desire to have an impact," he concludes, "must start from the responsibility we assume".

Opening image: Photo Salva Lopez