When we think of all the ways we could be designing better buildings—especially commercial buildings like office towers or education spaces—there’s one lever that people still don’t pay enough attention to: furniture.

Some numbers for context—about 8 million tons of office furniture end up in U.S. landfills every year. And for a standard office renovation, furniture and furnishings account for about half of the space’s carbon footprint.

So yes, furniture can help prevent harm in the world. It can help us make better buildings. But here’s the exciting part: furniture can also be a tool for doing a whole lot of good.

We touch and interact with furniture every day. Well-designed furniture can make a big difference to our health and well-being. It also takes skill and craft to produce, which means furniture can uplift and empower communities and involve them in finding solutions for people and the planet.

In this episode of Deep Green, created in partnership with Allsteel and recorded live from NeoCon 2025, host Avi Rajagopal sits down with two guests who’ve been helping organizations make real impact through their furniture and architectural product selections: Lisa Brunie-McDermott, Director of Corporate Social Responsibility at HNI Corp., and Madison Gentry, Architectural Product Sales Enablement Manager at Allsteel. Listen in as they discuss how using healthy, beautiful materials in furniture and furnishings can have a multiplier effect on our buildings.

Resources:

“How the Furniture Industry Is Stepping Up on Circularity”

Allsteel Sustainability

HNI Corporate Sustainability

This episode was produced in partnership with Allsteel and recorded live in the NeoCon Podcast Lounge Powered by SURROUND. Thank you to our Lounge sponsor, Material Bank, and product partners: HÅG, Stylex, KI Wall, and Turf.

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