ByALEX launches Repair & Revive Service to coincide with Buy Nothing Day
British design Brand ByALEX launches the ByALEX Revive™ Service – a furniture repair resource – to coincide with Buy Nothing Day on Friday 24th November 2017.
Sustainability is a key approach to the ByALEX design process and while products have been built to last, Alex Swain, designer and founder of ByALEX, is on a mission to promote the circular economy and how both consumers and brands can make from sustainable materials, use, repair, reuse and recycle.
A Sustainable Future
To create a sustainable future for our finite planet, as consumers we must rethink how we use our resources to ensure we turn a linear economy into a circular economy. In this future state, resources will continuously be reused and there will be no net effect to the environment.
The ByALEX Revive™ Service has been created as a way to bring new life to furniture and ensure it lasts a lifetime. Customers can purchase a ‘Revive at Home’ kit where they can learn how to repair their furniture in their own home with support from Alex and apply this to other furniture items they own. Alternatively, the ‘Return & Revive’ service allows the customer to to return a selection of products to ByALEX for a regeneration service in their workshop. The throwaway culture can end here.
Reducing Waste
Swain has always been concerned with reducing waste when producing furniture and ensuring that all designs are made to last. Earlier this year he created a global sustainable materials report assessing current data and exploring the complex ideas and new approaches to product design which can offer a more sustainable future. The report explores statistics, research and includes a guide to current sustainable material offerings – a compendium of underused traditional, yet relevant and natural materials that are sustainable.
Speaking of his decision to launch the ByALEX Revive™ Service, Swain explains: “We all love buying new things, especially designers but this project came from me thinking about what ‘new’ really means. Does refreshing a product to it’s original status bring me the same emotional bond as something new? For me I realised it does, as what is important is that I buy things I’d like to keep for a long time. Restoring them to look ‘new’ simply means taking care of the product and giving a little TLC at times.”
The full ByALEX Revive™ service includes the below and will be available on byalex.co.uk from Friday 25th November 2017.
Revive at Home, £8
● Kit sent by post – includes Danish oil, sandpaper, lint free cloth
● Online care & repair support via video call
● Video tutorials to help consumers revive their own furniture at home
● Telephone consultation with Alex Swain to advise customers
Return & Revive, £30
● A selection of products are available to return to ByALEX for a
revive service in their workshop (A Stool, A Table, A Coat, GEO Coat
Rack).
● Transit packaging will be sent to customer, then ByALEX team
will collect the furniture and return it back refreshed and
renewed.
For further information or to access the full sustainability report please
contact Emma Jane Palin on press@octobercomms.com or +44 (0)20
7164 6265.
Notes to editors
Founded in 2011 by designer Alex Swain, ByALEX is a British design brand driven by a desire to democratise contemporary furniture design. Focused on combining minimal aesthetics with considered functionality, ByALEX are committed to offering simple yet innovative design solutions for contemporary urban life, at an affordable price point, which began with the launch of the popular A Range that is now a firm fixture in many design stores and retail spaces across Europe and the US.
A Graphic Design and Branding graduate from Bournemouth Arts School, Swain went on to obtain a Masters from the London College of Communication (LCC), where he now teaches Masters degrees in Typography Design and Graphic Design. He has spent 16 years working for graphic design agencies in London, setting up his own graphics agency, Company London, which works with a range of product design companies and entrepreneurs.
Studying Traditional Upholstery at The School of Stuff in Hackney in 2010 allowed Swain to gain hands-on practical experience and realise his passion for contemporary furniture design. In 2011 Swain designed the first ByALEX product, the A Stool, and the range has since grown to include the A Coatstand, A Table and A Desk, each designed to suit a contemporary urban environment and sit within an affordable price bracket. In 2014 ByALEX designed the Neighbourhood Chair for John Lewis; a contemporary chair made from renewable materials, and in 2015, collaborated with Kate Spade Saturday to create the K-S Bench, available in oak or white veneer. He is continuing to expand on his home office furniture and accessory range.