{"id":51906,"date":"2020-12-27T18:08:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-27T17:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monaco-tribune.com\/?p=51906"},"modified":"2021-07-23T16:17:35","modified_gmt":"2021-07-23T14:17:35","slug":"are-coconut-husks-the-future-of-interior-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monaco-tribune.com\/en\/2020\/12\/are-coconut-husks-the-future-of-interior-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Are coconut husks the future of interior design?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coconuts. You eat them, you drink them, and they might soon become your latest living-room staple. Meet Goodhout, the start-up filling the market gap for long-lasting sustainable materials by transforming coconut husks into a multi-purpose board that keeps on turning heads.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s either the best thing I\u2019ve done in my life or the silliest,\u201d says GoodHout founder Silvia ten Houten. \u201cWhen I came up with GoodHout any sense of restlessness I had about my purpose in life completely disappeared.\u201d Yet financially, it was the most unbalanced time of her life. \u201cI lived out of a suitcase at some point,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd I never was unhappy. It was the weirdest thing. How can your life be so insecure and yet you feel so at peace?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finding a goldmine in coconut husks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Before Silvia ten Houten lived out of her suitcase, she took a trip to Indonesia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ten Houten spent her early childhood in Indonesia, grew up in New-Zealand and studied in Holland, where her father is from. When she finally went back to Indonesia, she hadn’t been to her mother’s country in over twenty years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What do people do with coconut husks? I literally googled it<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Silvia ten Houten speaks of her Indonesian homecoming in Proustian terms: \u201cThe people, the smells, the food, the language \u2013 it was all so familiar. And I wanted to find a way to continue to be involved with Indonesia.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Coconut husks, once the white pulp, known as copra, has been removed \u00a9<\/em> Diomari Madulara \/ Unsplash<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Coconuts seemed a good starting point for a business. Indonesia is the world\u2019s largest coconut producer and has an estimated 3.6 million hectares<\/a> of coconut plantations. After briefly considering going into coconut water \u2013 \u201cIt was a marketing stint, it didn\u2019t tickle me\u201d \u2013 Silvia ten Houten becomes intrigued by the enormous amount of coconut husks that are lying around Java, her mother\u2019s island, wasting away in the sun for everyone to see. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Did you know?<\/strong> In 2018, Indonesia produced an estimated <\/strong>18 million tons of coconuts<\/strong><\/a>. The large majority of coconut husks are burnt after the white meat, called copra, has been extracted for food.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWhat do people do with coconut husks? I literally googled it.” Silvia ten Houten conveniently discovers that a Dutch university has developed a technology that recycles coconut husks into a durable material. However, the technology hasn\u2019t been commercialised yet, a potential a red flag. So, she spends a year researching the catch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a problem with the supply chain? Are the coconuts diseased? After a year of research and still no catch in sight, Silvia ten Houten has no choice but to dive into the project. \u201cI\u2019ve learnt that with start-ups, you just have to wing it,\u201d she says. And so begins a period of back and forth between the Netherlands and Indonesia, and a living-out-your-suitcase kind of lifestyle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

>> READ MORE: CleanEquity: How impact investment took off in Monaco long before it was a trend<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

>> READ MORE: From solar cars to pollinating flies: 5 cleantech start-ups to watch in 2021<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What can be made with coconut husks?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In 2020, Silvia ten Houten is no longer living out of her suitcase. GoodHout has taken the technology from the Dutch university, improved it and patented it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is durable stuff. A coconut husk table can last decades. We want to create products that can be passed down in the family<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

At the moment, GoodHout produces coconut husk boards that are 30x30cm. The boards can be used for various kinds of product designs, such as knife handles. An Italian company is currently making belt buckles out of the boards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Examples of GoodHout product design \u00a9 GoodHout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Larger boards, 60×120 cm, which can be transformed into furniture, such as tables, are expected to come out by the end of March 2021. \u201cThis is durable stuff. A coconut husk table can last decades. We want to create products that can be passed down in the family.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoodHout is taking over the interior design and furniture market at a convenient time. The design industry expects the 2020s to be centred around simplicity and sustainability, two boxes that GoodHout ticks. Well-known design critic Aaron Betsky projected last January that the 2020s would see a “return of the real”<\/a>, a shift that Coronavirus has only fast-forwarded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u00a9 GoodHout<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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GoodHout Coconut board is a dense, strong, and 100% natural material that looks like a brown version of ebony. It is also naturally flame retardant. In fact, to get wood to the same level of flame retardancy, you need to use toxic flame retardants. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Investing for the future<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

You must look at business holistically, insists Silvia ten Houten. She is therefore looking to set up an educational charity for the children of GoodHout farmers and factory workers: \u201cbecause there is no reason why you aren\u2019t able to pull money out of your profits to be able to set up a charity\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In return, she will ask the children who have benefited from the charity to come back and teach for a year or two. \u201cIf they want to go to school, money should never come into question. It\u2019s even a dream of mine that in 20 years\u2019 time one of the children finishes at medical school. I think that would be beautiful, it would really make me feel like we\u2019ve achieved something special.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are there other dreams? \u201cI want GoodHout to be one of those companies that everyone wants to work at because they know that by working there, they are helping the world become a better place.\u201d She pauses. A moment of hesitation. Actually, that\u2019s not the full story, says her smile. \u201cTruly my goal with GoodHout is to be the most successful social enterprise ever. I want to get into the strategy books.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoodHout is the runner up in Excellence in the Field of Environmental and Technology Research at CleanEquity<\/a> 2020.  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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