A Designer’s Guide to Selecting Safe and Sustainable Materials
Healthy Homes Start with Healthy Materials: Why What You Design With Matters
Clean ingredients are essential when it comes to eating healthier and living well. We’ve all heard “you are what you eat.” But what about the environments we live in every day? The same principle applies: you are what you surround yourself with. Just as we read nutrition labels before putting food into our bodies, we should be paying attention to the “ingredient lists” of the materials that make up our homes, offices, and public spaces.
So what does this actually mean in practice? Where do we start, and what do we look for?
Designing with Intention: Asking the Right Questions
When I design, I like to think far beyond how something looks. I focus on the lifecycle of every material I select. That means asking questions like:
Can this be reused or recycled when its life in this project ends?
What kind of adhesive or sealant is being used and/ or will it off gas or release toxins over time?
Is this product biodegradable or made from renewable resources?
Was it produced domestically or shipped halfway around the world?
And most importantly, what happens to it after it’s replaced, can it be upcycled or will it end up in a landfill?
These questions help me make design choices that support both human health and environmental longevity. It’s a practice that requires curiosity, but also commitment because the healthiest materials often don’t come with the loudest marketing.
Knowing What’s in Your Materials: Certifications That Matter
Just like food labels, there are ways to “decode” materials and finishes. Certifications act as our nutrition facts for the built environment they tell us what’s safe, what’s sustainable, and what’s not.
Some of the most trusted labels in this space include:
Declare Label (International Living Future Institute) – lists all ingredients, showing if a product meets the Living Building Challenge Red List standards.
Cradle to Cradle (C2C) – evaluates material health, circularity, energy use, and social impact.
GREENGUARD / GREENGUARD Gold – ensures products have low chemical emissions, improving indoor air quality.
Health Product Declaration (HPD) – offers transparency about chemical ingredients and health impacts.
SCS Indoor Advantage / Gold – certifies furniture and finishes for low VOC emissions.
When it comes to textiles, keep an eye out for OEKO-TEX Standard 100 or MADE IN GREEN by OEKO-TEX labels, these indicate the fabric is free from harmful substances. Others like GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard), Green Label Plus (Carpet and Rug Institute), and NSF/ANSI 140 (Sustainable Carpet Assessment Standard) take it a step further, addressing everything from environmental impact to ethical sourcing.
(And yes — if you’ve read my blogs before, you already know the A&D community has an abbreviation for just about everything!)
The Power of Dual Verification
If you remember just one thing from this post, let it be this:
When selecting materials, aim for dual verification; one health-based certification (like Declare, HPD, or GREENGUARD) and one environmental or sourcing certification (like EPD or FSC).
Why? Because this combination ensures your design supports both human well-being and planetary health (The foundation of Sustainable Interior Design).
Designer Resources I Love
If you’re anything like me and want reliable sources without investing in a massive specification library, here are two digital tools I swear by:
Mindful Materials Database: Not a certification, but a curated platform that consolidates information from EPDs, HPDs, and Declare labels, making sustainable material comparison much easier.
Just Label (International Living Future Institute): Focuses on social equity and ethical manufacturing practices, adding another layer of accountability to the design process.
These platforms are invaluable for designers who want to specify responsibly without wasting hours chasing down documentation.
Why It All Matters
So, why care? Why not just pick the cheapest option and move on?
Because quality is an investment, not an expense. The materials we choose today shape not only the aesthetic of a space but the health of its occupants and the planet. Cheap, short-lived products often come at a hidden cost more waste, more toxins, more replacements.
If a surface, floor, or finish needs to be torn out in five years, it’s not just poor design; it’s a missed opportunity to do better.
We, as designers and consumers, have the power to shift that cycle. Every material choice from a countertop finish to a paint color is a vote for the kind of future we want. By choosing clean, durable, and transparent materials, we can reduce landfill waste, protect our health, and create spaces that actually sustain us.
These are big impacts made by small, intentional decisions the kind that start with awareness and end with accountability.
So next time you’re designing a space, remodeling a room, or even picking out new flooring, pause and ask yourself:
“What’s this made of — and what will it leave behind?”
That one question might just change everything.
