About Dean
After two decades in the interior design industry, my curiosity as a design thinker led me to question the current 'take, make, waste' design and production system that dominates the commercial real estate market.
As the FF&E Creative Director for WeWork in 2019, I saw first-hand how the linear system is flawed and creates too much waste. I've spent the last five years trying to understand the problem better and searching for a way to combat it.
The Context
With social media globalisation, design trends are now accessible to everyone, everywhere, at the click of a button, putting extreme pressure on businesses to compete.
The system feeds itself by producing substandard furniture that is difficult to repair, recycle and remanufacture. This excessive supply of cheap, fast furniture to serve consumers who demand affordable 'trendy' pieces has become the norm over the last 30 years.
Obsolescence is hard-coded into the system to save production costs and increase margins. At the same time, consumers have to contend with single-use products, which inadvertently leads to excess waste.
Why I-AM.D.C?
I thought long and hard about how I could use my interior design experience to help reduce waste. I explored the circular economy, and concluded that developing a set of specific design and brand values that govern my projects would ensure that I'm contributing to driving change, one design at a time.
I-AM.D.C furniture design naturally evolved from creating bespoke pieces for my interior design projects and although the furniture market is super competitive with so many consumer options. I saw this as an opportunity to differentiate and integrate circular principles into my work, using the simplicity of nature as the brand inspiration and an ethos for sourcing materials and manufacturing.
Mindset generates aspiration. By embedding circularity at the heart of our design consultancy and proclaiming that our furniture states, "I AM DESIGNED CIRCULAR," we are setting the highest standards for our products from the outset and giving our clients the confidence that what we create will meet their sustainable goals.
Furniture waste is primarily a symptom of failed user relationships. Our designs are not merely functional objects; they are legacies meant to be cherished, adapted, repaired, and repurposed, ensuring they hold value for future generations.