Designing the Future: Our Journey toward CO2-Negative Furniture

A European Union funded project – NextGenerationEU: PNRR M4C2 - iNEST Program-spoke 4 – Investment 1.5: Project nco2 - CUP F79I24001500004.

At Arper, we believe design is about asking the right questions and seeking meaningful answers. What is the impact of what we create? And what if we reimagined production—not simply as a matter of efficiency, but as a process that gives back to the planet?

This is the spirit behind Nco2Factory, a research and innovation initiative exploring the possibility of designing and producing furniture with a negative carbon footprint. An open platform—not a final solution, but a vision of what’s to come. We work with what we have—materials, energy, expertise—to imagine a future where design and regeneration come together.

Our vision of a vibrant, beautiful world takes shape through a concrete commitment: designing with sustainability in mind, creating spaces and solutions that evolve with the people who inhabit them. This outlook has led us to explore materials and processes that generate positive impact.

A meaningful example is our partnership with Swedish start-up PaperShell, launched in 2021. PaperShell is developing an innovative material derived from kraft paper and bio-based binders with the potential for a negative CO₂ footprint. It’s a pioneering technology that we’re helping to advance through prototypes and real-world applications, assessing its environmental performance, durability, and versatility.

One of the most emblematic outcomes of this collaboration is the launch of Catifa Carta 53 in 2024—a sustainable reinterpretation of the iconic Catifa 53, featuring a shell made of PaperShell. It marks a first step toward new possibilities for applying this material in the furniture world.

For Arper, sustainability is a shared, tangible commitment. It means caring for the world we live in and promoting solutions that respect people, materials, and resources. It also means continually challenging ourselves to go further, seeking new ways to make a positive impact.

Among these ambitions is the creation of a fully CO₂-negative design object—an invitation to see design as an expression of both environmental and social responsibility.

This drive has led us to collaborate with Insieme, a social enterprise focused on reuse and recycling, offering employment to people in vulnerable situations. Together, we are exploring new models of inclusive production, where materials also carry stories of community and dignity.

Our goal is to explore the potential of industrial symbiosis by transforming textile waste into resources for furniture. Insieme is currently working to identify, select, and repurpose the most suitable pre- and post-consumer recycled fabrics for this process.

As part of this broader vision, we continue to experiment with new applications for PaperShell. Within Nco2Factory, this exploration is evolving: we are developing new components made entirely of PaperShell for the Catifa Carta collection and designing soft elements made from recycled textiles—to add even more comfort and eco-consciousness to the collection. It marks a key step toward the realisation of a fully carbon-negative chair.

Nco2Factory takes shape as a research and innovation project within Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), as part of the iNEST innovation ecosystem.

This is an industrial research project led by Arper and supported by the PNRR within the I‑NEST – Interconnected Nord‑Est Innovation Ecosystem. It is part of Spoke 4, “City, Architecture and Sustainable Design”, coordinated by the IUAV University of Venice. The aim is to develop carbon-negative furniture solutions that support the ecological transition in the design industry.

Innovation, for us, is where vision meets methodology. That’s why Nco2Factory merges industrial research with experimental development. We imagine the factory as a space for sustainable and cultural experimentation.

For us, this project is a pivotal moment in our journey toward conscious, sustainable, and inclusive design—an invitation to approach the future not only as a challenge, but as a chance to shape new, responsible expressions of beauty.

Addressing today’s environmental challenges requires a multidisciplinary mindset. The next phase of NCO₂ Factory evolved into a shared laboratory where dialogue, experimentation, and hands-on prototyping drive progress.

With PaperShell, we deepened the exploration of their bio-based material, testing new geometries, thicknesses, and uses for furniture components and accessories, building on the research initiated with the Catifa Carta collection.

Alongside this, our collaboration with Cooperativa Insieme introduced a social perspective: their long-standing expertise in textile recovery and reuse opened new opportunities to view post-consumer textile waste as a resource for future Arper concepts.

The research was supported by Centrocot, whose textile innovation laboratory conducted material characterisation, processing analysis, and early-stage prototyping—turning ideas into tangible experimental materials.

One of the most forward-looking research streams within NCO₂ Factory focused on recycled textiles and their potential within circular design.

Together with Cooperativa Insieme, we investigated how textile waste can be sorted, prepared, and transformed; how regenerated fibres might be used for padding, panels, or surface applications; and how compacted or re-engineered fabric flows could give rise to new prototypes.

These explorations revealed a powerful insight: textile waste—often considered a critical challenge—can become a source of expressive, lower-impact materiality, while also strengthening local circular ecosystems.

The most meaningful outcome of NCO₂ Factory lies not only in the prototypes, but in the shared knowledge developed throughout the process.

The research enabled us to:

· map promising material streams for climate-positive design,

· develop initial prototypes using PaperShell composites and recycled textile materials,

· outline early circular scenarios that may inform future Arper collections.

While still at an exploratory stage, these results provide a strong foundation for scalable, low-impact solutions and a collaborative, iterative methodology that will guide future innovation.

NCO₂ Factory is more than a research project—it is a mindset, a framework where creativity, technical expertise, and social responsibility meet to redefine the role of design today.

Looking forward, we will continue testing and validating the most promising materials, expand collaborations across circular supply chains, evolve prototypes toward potential real-world applications, and strengthen relationships with local communities and research institutions.

Our long-term ambition remains clear: to shape a future where design is not only sustainable, but regenerative, giving back more than it takes. NCO₂ Factory demonstrates that waste can become a resource, that innovation thrives at the intersection of disciplines, and that research is essential to building a truly responsible design future.