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In the early 90’s, British native David Weston was a gentleman farmerliving off the grid in theDordogne in France. But he wasn’t the steriotypical salt of the earth small holder; he kept an office in Paris and was a sought after interior designer.”I jumped into the green thing in a big way” David says.”I was raising horses and I didn’t want to give them chemical de-wormers. I read that if you ran sheep, cows and horses together, the parasites would be minimal. So I ended up with cows that needed milking. We had our own water supply and ended up being 97 percent self sufficient.
David left his idyllic life for New York in 2004. He continued to design and wrote for Marie Claire Home, but he soon grew tired of the urban lifestyle. He met a native from Grand Rapids and the two decided to relocate to Michigan. In 2006, David, along with friend Melanie Rogers, opened Think Design , a company that employs a fresh way of looking at environmentally friendly design.
“I always explain to people that you don’t have to have that stark over contemporary look” David says.”You can do a lot with fabrics and linens,too. I’m a great believer in recycling. Reclaimed wood flooring has a beautiful patina. Antiques lend so much to a design, mixing past and present. I love putting a crazy contemporary fabric onto an antique piece. It jazzes it up and adds a contemporary twist”.
David sources furniture with frames from sustainable sources, recycled wadding and, and natural fabric upholstery. He finds tables made from old railway ties merged with reclaimed steel for the bases.
“I think for me, it’s all about your environment,” he says. “I’ve had cancer twice twice, and I convinced myself it had to do with toxic chemicals and food preservatives,” David says. “I had to live and eat very healthily because of my compromised immune system.There can be such horrible chemicals in carpets for example. That new “fresh smell” really comes from toxic off-gasses. I think we need to go back to basics, before all these hideous chemicals were used in processing. Houses in Europe still have silk curtains from the 18th Century. If you use natural materials, they will last much longer. Green design isn’t really new; everything is truly a reflection of the past”
Reported and Written by Sharon Biggs Waller
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