»Steelcase wanted to create an example of what is possible within sustainable design and therefore aimed to develop an office chair that unites economic requirements and demands for functionality with environmental considerations and aesthetics.

Steelcase chose to pursue this idea in cooperation with IPU as part of a multidisciplinary international development team. During the project that lasted more than two years, IPU was continuously in charge of consulting in connection with selection of materials and manufacturing processes, continuous assessment of environmental effects and the overall environmental profile of the chair. Furthermore, IPU handled the elaboration of an Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Type III according to the ISO TR 14025 standard, which is used as documentation in business-to-business trade.

The office chair was named “THINK”, and today, it is sold successfully in North America, Europe and Asia. Besides having a competitive environmentally optimized product and a strong marketing instrument, we have achieved concrete understanding of the advantages of integrating life cycle thinking into product development - a way of thinking that is now spread in the entire organization.«

Steelcase S.A.

André Malsch
Leader of Sustainable Initiatives Group

56 Rue Jean Giraudoux
F-67035 Strasbourg
+33 388 13-3762

www.steelcase.com