In 2015, thinkstep-anz supported David Trubridge in developing an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) which became the first to be registered under the Australasian EPD® Programme. The internationally renown designer went on to win the prestigious Red Dot Design Award for two of their lighting designs within the same month.
The EPD covered 12 product families of their pendant lights and used data from an earlier Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). “I design to communicate. thinkstep provided us with the facts to support our story from a complex LCA study in a simple and easily understandable manner”, says Trubridge. Made with bamboo plywood, the lights reflect David Trubridge’s belief that design should be in harmony with the environment. The New Zealand based, award-winning designer and manufacturer of premium furniture, lighting and accessories focuses on low environmental impact with his designs. Delicate, yet lasting products with ‘delicate footprints’ are an intrinsic part of the David Trubridge brand.
The company uses LCA in its strategic decision- making with the help of thinkstep-anz. LCA studies are a prerequisite for EPDs, as an EPD is based off the results off an LCA study for the same product. The company has been embedding sustainability into the full life cycle of its products for a decade with their first LCA study completed in 2010 by Landcare Research. The company redesigned some of their products to be flat-pack and assembled by customers as a direct result of the study. The benefits of the design change include reduced package volume, significantly lower freight costs and increased number of products that could be warehoused.