Sussex S.E.E. chairs - Social value through nature-net-gain

Sussex S.E.E. Chairs aims to deliver a new ecosystem of benefit between the landscape, the timber supply chain, land management and charitable sector in our region. This it seeks to achieve through the co-design and production of everyday products (chairs) that directly and demonstrably benefit Society, the Economy and the Environment.

‘Making it out’
We work in collaboration with regional land management, retail and main charitable partners ‘Making it Out’ (MIO). MIO provide constructive and socially beneficial making opportunities to people moving on from prison, addiction and homelessness.

Together we utilise the power of design research to accelerate sustainable economic growth, skills development and health and well-being opportunities for a charity and its beneficiaries whilst delivering positive change for the local landscape, through habitat conservation, better woodland management and biodiversity net-gain.

‘A chair is not just a chair’
Our project references the product and embodied principles of William Morris and company’s archetypical Sussex Chair. As one of the company’s most successful products, The Sussex Chair was imbued with the socialist and environmental principles advocated by Morris and his manifestos for change. We will reinterpret the Sussex (in Sussex), remaking it as a product for modern times where many of these underlying principles are values are valid.

‘Making is good for us’
Our chair designs will map out and market the social, economic and environmental opportunities when making products that are expressly made to be good for health and well-being. This research will drive product design variants that maximise the impact on the health and well-being of underrepresented and disenfranchised members of the community.

‘Making Nature’
Through collaborations with land-owners, land-managers and wildlife advocates we will co-create products that provide a direct link to habitat conservation, woodland management, restoration and nature-net-gain. This directly delivers on national and international demands for sustainable development (United Nations) and new national legislation and policies for Local Nature Recovery Strategies (LNRS) and Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG).

Variations of the Sussex S.E.E. chair will be defining values for a new regional brand that quality research helps to authenticate and accelerate. The commerciality of our products will be encapsulated by their ability to materialise tangible, regional benefit to people and place.