Designing Office Furniture for Multiple Lifecycles with Royal Ahrend

Rethinking Office Furniture for the Long Term 

Every workday begins with a chair designed to support hours of focused work, a desk that holds everything from morning coffees to big ideas, and a meeting table where ideas take shape. These everyday products quietly shape how we work, collaborate, and connect, becoming an essential part of our working lives. Yet few of us stop to consider what happens to them after years of use, or whether they could be designed for a second life instead. 

Behind these everyday moments lies an important question: what if the desk you work at today could be refurbished for someone else tomorrow? What if a chair wasn't designed to be replaced, but designed to evolve? 

Designing Workspaces That Last 

For Royal Ahrend, the answer starts with a simple belief: products should stay in use for as long as possible. Rather than designing furniture for a single lifecycle, the company takes a longer view, creating products that are built to last, adapt, and continue delivering value over time. 

Its Cradle to Cradle Certified® products, including the Ahrend 2020 Task Chair, Ahrend Remode Task Chairs, Ahrend Balance Workstation and Ahrend and Gispen TMNL desk, are designed with the future in mind. Materials are selected not only for performance and comfort, but also for their safety and ability to be reused. Components can be repaired, replaced, and refurbished, extending a product's lifespan while reducing the need for new resources. 

The Ahrend 2020 Luvia chair is a strong example of this philosophy in action. It is a renewed chair that combines smart, modular design with a strong focus on sustainability. By introducing the new Luvia backrest, the Ahrend 2020 chair is given a contemporary look and improved functionality, while extending the life of an existing product platform.  The A2020 is Cradle to Cradle Certified® Gold and is made from 50% recycled materials. Thanks to its modular construction, parts can be replaced or renewed, supporting reuse, repair and a longer product lifecycle. 

To sum up: we only introduced a new backrest (Luvia) to an existing chair. Only replacing what needs to be replaced so that the furniture can be used for the years to come. As Dionne Ewen, Sustainability and ESG Manager at Royal Ahrend, explains: 

"We preserve what works and update only what is necessary to remain relevant and future-proof."  

Rather than replacing the entire product, Ahrend preserves what already works and updates only what is needed. New features, refreshed components, and improved materials allow the chair to meet today's standards while remaining true to its original purpose. It's a simple but powerful shift in thinking: furniture isn't designed for disposal. It's designed to evolve. 

Built on Simplicity and Longevity 

Circular thinking is in Ahrend’s DNA. The approach is rooted in a design philosophy that has shaped Ahrend for decades. Long before circularity became a familiar industry term, the company embraced a simple idea: products work best when unnecessary complexity is designed out of them. 

Inspired by pioneering designer Friso Kramer, whose philosophy centered on simplicity and functionality, Ahrend focuses on using fewer parts, fewer materials, and creating products that are built to endure. When a design is simpler, it becomes stronger, easier to maintain, and better equipped to stand the test of time. 

The benefits extend beyond durability. Furniture that is thoughtfully designed can be more easily repaired, refurbished, and eventually reused. Components can be separated and recovered at the end of their life, helping to keep valuable materials in circulation for longer. By creating products that are simpler, adaptable, and built to last, Ahrend makes it easier for furniture to remain in use for years, and even decades. 

Making Better Decisions Through Transparency 

Ahrend provides detailed sustainability data across its product portfolio, including verified carbon footprint information that customers can use in their own Scope 3 reporting. By making this information readily available, Ahrend helps organisations better understand the impact of their purchasing decisions and make more informed choices about their workplaces. In this way, transparency becomes more than data on a page. It becomes a tool for driving measurable change. 

Giving Furniture a Second Life 

Ahrend’s commitment to circularity doesn’t stop at design it continues long after furniture leaves the factory. When an organization no longer needs a desk or a chair, Ahrend sees potential rather than waste. Instead of being discarded, products can be collected, refurbished, and prepared for a new chapter. This happens at the company’s Circular Hub in the Netherlands and in the UK, where thousands of pieces of furniture are cleaned, repaired, upgraded, and returned to use. 

In many cases, choosing refurbished furniture can significantly reduce environmental impact compared to buying new. It also challenges the idea that "new" is always better, demonstrating that high-quality furniture can continue to deliver value long after its first use.  

Since 2023, more than 175,000 pieces of furniture have been refurbished through Ahrend's Circular Hub in the Netherlands, helping valuable materials stay in circulation for longer and reducing the need for new resources. As Ahrend puts it, circularity should not just be visible, it should be practical, scalable, and accessible.