156 INTERVIEW Jon Ingleton discusses how the marine interiors industry can turn talk into action with Tillberg Design of Sweden’s Helena Sawelin, a highly regarded champion of sustainable design What constitutes a sustainable ship interior? It’s a question that many stakeholders in the passenger shipping industry have asked, but to date no one has been able to provide a commonly accepted answer. “We all agree that making ships more sustainable generally means reducing their impact on the environment, but we don’t have a consensus on what criteria a material or product must fulfil to be defined as sustainable,” explains Helena Sawelin, partner and business director at interior design firm Tillberg Design of Sweden (TDoS). “In addition, we don’t have a reliable and consistent method for calculating the environmental impact of products throughout their entire lifecycle – from raw materials to end of life – so it’s difficult for suppliers to create items that would be universally considered as sustainable. Similarly, we don’t have a system for accurately comparing the sustainability credentials of different products or materials to determine which is most environmentally friendly, making it challenging for designers and shipowners to choose which to use.” The lack of a common definition also means that opinions on which materials are, or are not, sustainable often change over time too. “Aluminium was previously regarded as the most sustainable choice of metal but recently we learned it is now listed as a critical raw material due to it being a key component in the transition to green technology/ clean energy, so we need to consider metal reserves,” says Sawelin. “Many things change and it can be difficult to keep up with the latest information. If we don’t introduce a common method for calculating the sustainability of a material or product, companies may end up wasting their research and development efforts on solutions that are later decided to be unwise.” Consequently, many cruise brands focus on making big structural, fuel and efficiency-related improvements to minimise the environmental impact of their ships, says Sawelin. However, they have become increasingly interested in understanding the environmental Pursuing sustainable design ambitions Increasing circularity R0 Refuse R1 Rethink R2 Reduce CIRCULAR ECONOMY CIRCULAR APPROACHES Smarter product use and manufacture Extend lifespan of product and its parts Useful application of material R4 Repair R5 Refurbish R6 Remanufacture R7 Repurpose R8 Recycle R9 Recover R3 Reuse The 9R Framework Source: Adapted from Pottinger et al
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