Industrial Designer Kajsa Mayrhofer of Lappset Sweden is keenly aware of customer expectations. Being responsible for the design of street furniture, she seeks to improve the functional and aesthetic features of the products in the course of product development and manufacture.
Kajsa is very familiar with the properties of wood, having specialised in this material when studying product design at Malmstens Linköping University. She finds wood an ideal material in many ways. It is durable, safe, beautiful and warm to touch. But when talking about sustainability, she would like to highlight one particularly important aspect.
“In my opinion, you shouldn’t think of wood as a sustainable material simply because it’s a renewable resource. The earth’s resources are limited; we can’t cultivate more wood than we’re currently growing. That’s why we need to take good care of this valuable raw material that we procure from certified forests. What’s more, we can’t use wood for purposes that only serve us for a short time. Instead, wood must withstand long-term use. If not, we’re not using it sustainably,” Kajsa says.