Throughout its online catalog, you’ll find items stamped “Green” indicating that the item is either sustainable, organic, or made from FSC-certified wood or paper.

In addition to partnerships that support independent and local designers, West Elm also highlights the ecology of its products. West Elm also maintains close ties with its Brooklyn roots, working with DUMBO neighbor Etsy to highlight handmade products, collaborating with the Pratt Institute on lines of eco-friendly furniture, and featuring curations from BK-based design blogger Grace Bonney of Design*Sponge.

Its ongoing collaboration with Aid to Artisans has yielded fair trade papier-mache sculptures from Haiti, handspun silk pillow covers from India, and found handmade rugs from Morocco, while its alliance with the 20×200 gallery makes framed artwork from emerging artists available at affordable prices. West Elm has been particularly successful at securing great partnerships. But with a popular mail-order catalog, strong online presence, and 40 retail locations in cities like Seattle, Austin, Denver, and New York, West Elm has quickly become a go-to destination for decorators who want a step up from IKEA but can’t yet afford high-end contemporary design. Launched in 2002 by the Williams-Sonoma group – which also owns Pottery Barn and Rejuvenation – West Elm is a relatively recent addition to the home furnishings scene. Indie artist collaborations and eco-friendly materials play a large role in West Elm’s marketing, with the chain proclaiming that it aims to “get a little greener every day.” But what exactly does that entail? In this week’s Behind the Label, we take a look at West Elm’s sustainability practices – at least those that are visible to the public.

“In a way, our office is our lab, where we can see how people use and live with our products every day.West Elm loves stamping their products “green,” but what exactly does that mean?īrooklyn-based home decor store West Elm caters to urban design lovers with its aspirational blend of minimalist furnishings, global influences, and sustainable practices. “It’s a unique opportunity to design things and live with them,” they said. Situated on Brooklyn’s waterfront in the historic Empire Stores Warehouse - a long-lived 19th-century brick building - the team set out to effectively un-office their office. West elm WORKSPACE tested its new line of research-driven designs in the outfitting of its new, 300-person headquarters in DUMBO. They use research-driven design concepts to produce products that break the boundaries of traditional office furniture - items that make a workplace look more like home than a cubicle-clad, fluorescent-lit office designed in the 1970s. That’s why west elm WORKSPACE, a new division of the New York-based lifestyle brand west elm, is a collaborative effort with office furniture manufacturer Inscape to change the look and feel of the modern office. In short, the 21st century office needs to be a place where people want to stay. Especially in a booming metropolis, where the workday extends into the late evening and people are attached to their computers for six hours or more, it’s important for companies to create spaces that cater to employees’ comfort and productivity levels. Today’s modern employee spends well over the typical 40 hours per week at work, a standard set decades before digital technology changed business entirely.

West elm dumbo