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Ask the Expert: Alex Malcolm, Jacada Travel
When Jacada Travel moved to new offices last year they saw it as an opportunity to continue their move towards becoming a more sustainable travel company. Working with local architects Peladon Rose to carefully plan the space and choosing local designers to furnish it, they went about sourcing everything ethically right down to the placemats to create an inspiring eco office.
For the windows they chose Stitched, opting for our eco roller blinds Oceana in Salt made from 100% plastic recovered from the Mediterranean Sea. We caught up with Alex Malcolm managing director and founder of Jacada Travel to find out more about the office design, how they did it and the inspiration behind it.
We love the Jacada Travel eco office, can you tell us a bit about it and what inspired the eco re-design?
A central part of our ethos is positive impact. When we moved to our new office, I was disillusioned with many of the traditional options put forward by conventional suppliers. Given that the space was essentially a sterile, industrial glass box in an urban area, I was keen to bring as many natural and sustainable options in as possible. Well-being is a very important consideration for me too, which also informed our decision to bring in elements that would ‘soften’ and calm the office environment.
Can you tell us about any inspirational eco office or interiors that you took inspo from?
Working in experiential luxury travel, we’re constantly in touch with beautiful interiors that mirror their natural environment, I think I ended up taking these as a general concept rather than a specific office.
How did you consider the environment when sourcing materials and products for the office?
Every time we looked at a supplier, we asked for natural materials where possible, then they needed to be from trustworthy sustainable sources (I even went to the workshop to see where much of the furniture was made). Where using natural materials wasn’t practical or possible we used recycled (in the case of the beautiful blinds that stitched provided) or refurbished (all of our office chairs).
Where did you source from - - - do you have a favourite find?
My favourite piece in the office is our board room table, sourced from a small independent furniture maker in Wiltshire Forest. They also helped to make all of our desks!
Why was it so important that you considered the environment during the office design?
It’s embedded in our values, we work with many partners across the world and ask them to consider the environment, we have to do the same ourselves.
Do Jacada Travel have any other eco initiatives? If so, can you tell us about them...
We have a lot of intiatives, (you can read more here) but perhaps one of the most important ones is our commitment to help protect one acre of rainforest per passenger that travels with us through Cool Earth.
What are your top tips for Stitched customers who are looking to be more eco with their homeware buys?
It’s always worth picking up the phone to the supplier and speaking with them, you’ll quickly find out how passionate they are about these issues, this was definitely my experience speaking with stitched, who were able to provide us with a brand new material (sourced from recycled water bottles taken from the sea) which wasn’t even on their site yet.
Our recycled plastic roller blinds
With three muted colours, our Oceana range is the perfect option for a calming office space.
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