Hydro EcoDesign supports Flokk to add a new dimension of sustainability to HÅG Celi
Flokk’s design collaboration with Hydro combines technological savviness and low-carbon aluminium with innovative furniture design, resulting in a chair with minimal environmental impact: The HÅG Celi.
For decades, Flokk has worked towards creating environmentally conscious furniture. Using recycled materials is a crucial aspect of this approach, conserving natural resources, while reducing waste, energy usage and carbon emissions.
Early in the design phase of the HÅG Celi conference chair, aluminium was singled out as a key material for many of the components, including the legs and frame. In order to ensure the lowest environmental impact possible, Flokk teamed up with Hydro to revolutionize the way Flokk uses the highly recyclable light metal.
Using the principles of Hydro EcoDesign, Flokk collaborated with technical experts from Hydro to create the perfect blend of high strength, low weight and low-carbon footprint components for its latest HÅG design.
Reducing the environmental impact of a product
Hydro EcoDesign was launched in late 2020. The concept aims to make aluminium products with greater functionality and recyclability, and with a smaller environmental footprint. Aluminium can be recycled endlessly without losing its properties – a great example of a circular economy material.
"We initially evaluated several concepts for the frame of the chair, looking for solutions and materials that would minimize our environmental impact, while at the same time answering our demands for visual design, durability, and industrialization,” says senior project manager Morten Kildahl of Flokk.
“It became clear that a welded construction from extruded aluminium would tick all the boxes. However, welding aluminum was a new production process for us, so the cooperation with Hydro was crucial in optimizing the design of the extruded profiles for this process,” says Kildahl.
Maximizing the use of post-consumer recycled material
Hydro CIRCAL is a recycled aluminium product with what might be the lowest carbon footprint around. It contains a guaranteed minimum of 75 percent post-consumer content. Each HÅG Celi contains 2.5 kgs of Hydro CIRCAL.
"Our environmental philosophy contains a number of no compromise elements. Maximizing the use of post-consumer recycled material is one of them. With Hydro we found a perfect match in this thinking, one with the technological savviness and determination to help us bring new sustainable solutions to life at scale," says Christian Lodgaard, senior vice president responsible for Product & Brands at Flokk.
He adds that with additional time and resources, the model devised for the HÅG Celi can be improved, using less metal, with thinner walls, while still providing the same desired properties. Hydro is also working on an aluminium product that contains as much as 100 percent post-consumer scrap.