Green products - from Düsseldorf
Made in Düsseldorf. Made for tomorrow. We introduce to you six products and services that hail from our city and that all share the same core essence – sustainability.
atisan creates fair interiors.
“There is a lot of talk about fair fashion, but hardly any about fair interiors,” says Daniel Pabst, who founded the start-up enterprise ’artisan’ in 2019 in Düsseldorf with Dorka Görlitz. The online business sells handmade interior design accessories made out of natural materials, for example seagrass, bamboo or rattan. In order to ensure that their products have been created in good working conditions, they visit the craftsmen and women, who are mainly based in Asia, and get to know them in person. •
Doli-bottles replace plastic.
Many of Sarina Vieth and Anatoli Teichrib’s customers remark upon just how amazing it is that an every-day product can initiate such – sustainable – inspiration. The couple decided in 2014 to ban plastic bottles from their daily use. A reusable alternative made of borosilicate glass had to be found. Not only does it weigh less than conventional glass, it also is able to withstand scalding hot liquids. What started off as an idea with 2,000 trial bottles in their home in Düsseldorf, is now known all over Europe as ’Doli-Bottles’. •
CANO creates traceable shoes.
Philipp Mayer discovered leather sandals called ’Huaraches’ in Mexico in 2014, and introduced them to Düsseldorf just three years later, when he and Lukas Pünder launched the label ’CANO’. The aim is not only to produce the vegetable tanned leather shoes in a fair way, but to make the course of the entire value chain more transparent. This is the reason why every pair of shoes has a NFC code. By scanning the code with your mobile phone you can find out where the shoes were made and who was involved in the manufacturing process. •
Olav gives pans a fresh coat.
According to the consumer organisation Stiftung Warentest most frying pans have a limited life span. The moment the coating comes off, the pan is binned. This is exactly where ’Olav’ comes into the equation. Till von Buttlar and Christina Neworal created the recoating service based in Düsseldorf to increase the life span of their frying pans. The motto is to recycle and not to throw away. They state that with this service the yearly production of metal can be cut by 50,000 tons through-out Europe. •
OSKAR® develops natural skincare.
Jonas van Blanken combines gourmet cuisine aromas with natural skincare. In 2018 the perfume and organic skincare range ’OSKAR®’ was founded in Düsseldorf, each product vegan and unisex. “I would like our consumers to know the exact amount of nature that can be found in our products,” Jonas explains. This is why the exact percentage of natural ingredients is listed on the packaging, which is, naturally, made of recycled materials. •
Wunderwerk creates sustainable fashion.
The production of a normal pair of jeans requires the use of between 40 and 160 litres of water. During the rinsing process poisonous chlorine is frequently used. Heiko Wunder, founder of the fashion label Wunderwerk based in Düsseldorf, shows that there are indeed sustainable alternatives to conventional production methods. Since its inception in 2012 the brand has refrained from using chemical treatments, uses untreated materials as much as possible and manufactures mainly in Europe – and has already been awarded prices from the Department of Environment and PETA Germany. •
Words: Nils Buske
Pictures: PR