Jeff Lazar, Lone MeadowThe hospitality industry is booming, but still has a long way to go in being green. I spoke with Jeff Lazar, owner of JLF, a leading supplier for custom seating in the hospitality industry, about his new collection of environmentally friendly seating, Lone Meadow and the challenges of being one of the few sustainable designers in this field.

Green Options: Why did you begin Lone Meadow?

Jeff Lazar: We have a primarily domestic manufacturing base in Southern California and in North Carolina. I had been thinking for a few years about what that means and how to take advantage of that opportunity, and what can be done better in moving forward. We wanted to tie in our manufacturing goals, which was to produce the highest quality product available and align it with my personal sensibilities - what it means to manufacture in a clean, and sustainable kind of environment.

Looking at that opportunity to improve ourselves would ultimately send a message to our industry that we have to do a whole lot better in terms of what we do for our consumers, which are the hotel guests and hotel properties. The hospitality furntiture manufacturing industry - and the hospitality industry in general in the United States - is light years behind the other markets for thinking productively about sustainable living standards.

GO: Do you feel that is changing or is there still resistance within the industry that is keeping it from moving towards more sustainable ways?

JL: There's certainly awareness of the movement. Because of all of the media and publicity around the issue, and more consumer interest and awareness of creating more sustainable environments, there is some progress. However, I would caution that the industry is still very, very far behind. For example, we have now gone to a major trade show for the third year in a row since I first introduced Lone Meadow in 2005, and we're the only seating manufacturer in the industry that is not only talking about sustainable hospitality seating, but actually acting on it. That absolutely boggles my mind. We're the only one in a trade show with thousands of vendors. So there is some movement, but I just think it is very slow to come.

GO: Why is that? Is it a perception that green is too expensive?

JL: Certainly the cost components are there. More importantly I think the ethical motivation on the part of manufacturers and buyers is slow to come. What I mean by that is if the research is done, if time is taken by each of the parties to really scope this out, they will find that the costs are just pretty much apples to apples. And in our case we've been able to prove they're virtually apples to apples so that you take that cost component out of the equation.

GO: So you're saying that the Lone Meadow line is pretty much equivalent in pricing to conventional hospitality seating lines?

JL: That is correct. It is not exactly equal but it is very close.

GO: Another common perception about green design, at least until recently, is that it isn't as aesthetically pleasing. Can you talk about the design aspect of the Lone Meadow line.

JL: Part of the concept of Lone Meadow was to not compromise in any way, shape or form the design, quality, comfort, style of the product. So part of the goal or the vision of Lone Meadow was to enhance and even go beyond what we've done with JLF and offer something that is even a better product. So you take any kind of concern or cost components out of the equation - we want to be thinking about all of the enhancements. Coming from a design influence in furniture is to enhance and attract the design community and ultimately the buyers for our product.

GO: Was it difficult for you to incorporate green elements into the produciton of this line?

JL: In some ways yes, and in some ways no. What I mean by that is it didn't take a whole lot to be able to do the research to find lumber suppliers that offer sustainable lumber. There's no cost attached to that. There's no cost added to offer water based finishes as opposed to oil based finishes, and there's no quality impact for either of those two elements or features. So my point is with a little bit of effort and thought a lot of the components that come with green or sustinable seating don't have to cost more.

So then you look at the marketplace and say your primary market is the design community; who will specify or select your products for their hotels? In order to attract them to your product you have to come up with that "Wow" factor on the design side. You can't minimize that. That was a very primary goal of mine: to ensure that the designer will see a fantastic product. With Lone Meadow, we were able to introduce the benefit of it being a fully or near fully sustainable piece of furniture. That becomes the added benefit, an enhancement, and it's a win-win on all sorts of fronts.

GO: Can you talk a little bit about the sustainable features of your line.

JL: First of all, I know some of your readers they may cringe at SFI [Sustainable Forestry Initiative]. We do also offer FSC [Forest Stewardship Council] certified lumber, but when you're dealing with hospitality manufacturing, oftentimes if we're doing 500 rooms of furniture the purchases are so large that there aren't always a lot of avenues yet availalble to purchase that kind of lumber - FSC, as opposed to SFI.

Having said that, we use SFI certified lumber which gives the designer and owner a sustainable solution for lumber which comes from replenished, or managed forests. We use water-based finishes, which is the lowest VOC [volatile organic compound] emitting finish that you can manufacture with and have it hold up under hospitality construction and standards.

We offer a recycled foam. It's called the Lone Meadow Integrity + Foam system. That gives the buyer a sustainable story for foam which is probably the most difficult area to create a sustainable story. Foam is an oil-based product and is highly toxic, so it is a big problem in our field that hasn't been solved yet, but we did find one supplier who offers recycled foam. It also gives the buyer added durability because it is twice the durability as conventional foam. We call it a foam system because we've created a seating system that is equally as comfortable and soft sitting as conventional foam.

All of our steel clips, springs, staples are made from reused first consumer steel products and materials. One-hundred percent of our seating is upholstered using Designtex sustainable fabrics.

GO: The hospitality industry is huge, but how does it impact the average consumer?

JL: The hospitality includes places like restaurants, hotels, resorts and time shares. The hotel market alone has been a booming industry over the past ten years. For example, think about Las Vegas and the enormity of that hotel environment and how many properties are still going up there. When you think of that volume of construction and the amount of materials that go into these 4000 room properties and how much furniture they need, you can start to think about the amount of materials and processes involved in their construction, installation or completion of that number of rooms and casino spaces, and the impact of that amount of construction has on the environment in a whole variety of ways - energy consumption, material consumption, and processes finishes, you name it.

As consumers, we have to think about what kind of effect that has on our environment. That's not to say that I think in terms of anti-growth, but i think more along the lines of smart growth, intelligent growth so that we have better systems and methods of being able to continue build and prosper. Las Vegas is moving in that direction with the new MGM development that is wholly dedicated to sustainable development and manufacturing.

GO: So if more people in the hospitality industry were doing what you're doing with Lone Meadow, that would really have effect on a large scale.

JL: Absolutely. Recreational travel continues to be a growth industry. My understanding is that destination travel is at an all time high. Travel is often a time of reflection and relaxation for people, so it would be natural for them to think about things that are beyond just their day to day concerns.

A portion of the profits from Lone Meadow is donated to The Nature Conservancy.