Awards Sponsor: Q&A With Swatchbox

We asked Antony Fuller, Managing Direcor of Swatchbox to tell us more about their mission for change.

Please Tell us About Swatchbox

Collecting samples for a project can present a huge time loss for design professionals and generates significant amounts of waste. To solve this, Swatchbox is out on a mission to help design professionals in the UK, by offering a curated selection of interior and exterior samples from global brands in one place, at no cost. Swatchbox are a rapidly growing material platform employing a team of architects and designers to curate a range of fabric, tile, carpet, and paint finishes through our website and mobile app.

Swatchbox was founded by architect Benjamin Glunz in the 2018 and established in London in 2021 as a fast and sustainable way to facilitate the discovery and delivery of material samples to architects and designers. By co-packing the selected products from multiple brands into one returnable or recyclable box, the company provides building professionals with a sustainable and responsible alternative to traditional sampling methods.

How Can Designers Help Bring Change

Designers are under increasing pressure to demonstrate that they are making more sustainable choices on projects. Reducing the amount of waste associated with ordering samples is one way of being able to achieve that. Many firms are now starting to track how much carbon waste they are generating and developing solutions to reduce the carbon impact they are having. Working a little smarter with sourcing and managing samples. can have a huge impact. For example, having a more organised sample room could avoid a duplicate sample being ordered and ultimately sent to landfill. 

Swatchbox created the worlds first CPD that addresses the sample waste issue. Most designers are unaware of the carbon impact that the sample waste is having on their business. The CPD is a great way for people to become more aware of the issue and to also kick-start conversations internally and with suppliers as to how we can do things better

Can Unwanted Samples Be Returned? 

Yes, and it is free! The greatest gap in the typical sample process is when the user is finally done with a material, whether because the product becomes outdated or simply takes up too much space in the office. Often, there is no alternative but to discard the old materials. To prevent this unwelcome waste, Swatchbox invites designers to return any unwanted materials, completely for free, meaning that no material is thrown away after use. The vast majority of these samples can be put back onto the platform for someone to re-order them. This “circular sample” concept is the most sustainable way of addressing the problem as it avoids the sample being sent to a landfill site altogether, which could still happen if they were donated to a third party.