Inside the Carpet Industry: Imagining a Future for Healthier Design

At last year’s Converge 360 Sustainability Summit, hosted by IIDA in partnership with Interface in Georgia, discussions of materials, performance, and sustainability extended beyond surface aesthetics. The summit, which invited emerging interior designers to spend a few days immersed with experts, offered an open forum for exploring how the design industry can accelerate toward healthier, more regenerative practices.

Jonsara Ruth, Co-founder and Co-executive Director of Healthy Materials Lab (HML), was an invited participant, contributing to discussions that acknowledged both the progress and the challenges still ahead. Jonsara joined Stacey Crumbaker, IIDA, Assoc. AIA, Associate Principal at Mahlum Architects and Joey Shea, Manager of North American Sustainability at Interface, and Bill Browning, Partner Terrapin Bright Green, in conversation. 

One of the event’s most striking aspects was a back of house tour of Interface’s factories and laboratories, which shared the complexities behind changing material systems. Last fall, Interface received a Planet Positive Award from Metropolis for its ongoing efforts to create the most climate-positive carpet company in the world. Their approach goes well beyond offsetting emissions. It centers on recycling and reuse, keeping embodied carbon in circulation rather than sending materials to landfills. 

At HML, the ultimate goal is to radically reduce or eliminate both carbon emissions and toxics from our environment. Interface acknowledges this as the north star, and that their efforts are getting them closer.

Interface’s chemists and R+D teams have spent decades rethinking the chemistry and mechanics of carpet. Dr. Daniel Price, a longtime Interface chemist, walked participants through their core R&D lab, an “innovation kitchen” dedicated to developing new ways to make carpets more sustainable. The lab explores questions like:

• How can we transform used carpet back into new material?
• Can biobased polymers, perhaps derived from coconut oil or hemp proteins, perform as well as conventional plastics?

And at Healthy Materials Lab we add to ask:

• What if a carpet could safely biodegrade after its useful life?
• If carpets are typically replaced every 7 years, how long do we need to design them to last?
• What if we designed materials the way we think about food: you don’t want your food to last 100 years. Why should carpet? 

These are not small challenges, and Interface is going to great lengths to keep carpets out of landfills. As Jonsara observed, “It takes tremendous effort and investment for manufacturers to turn toward more sustainable practices.” From sourcing recycled Nylon-6 to experimenting with biobased binders, every step involves technical hurdles and design trade-offs.

Yet the optimism in the room was palpable. The energy and commitment among the emerging designers, many within their first five years of practice who were hand-selected by IIDA to participate, understand that the next leap forward depends not only on material innovation but also on leadership within firms. The day’s discussions and demonstrations left participants with a sense of responsibility and great possibilities.