About
Sustainable Matters
Sustainable Matters is a furniture label that works with reclaimed and sustainable materials wherever possible. The name has two meanings: sustainability matters, and sustainable matter. Every piece begins with something forgotten: a chair left on the curb, a broken marble top, a worn-out classroom table. Through design, color and attention to detail, it is given a second life.
The vision is simple. Good material should never go to waste. With care and craftsmanship, what was discarded can become something beautiful, made to last and passed on to the next generation.
About Me
I'm Merel Vos and in 2023 I founded Sustainable Matters, a studio for furniture made from reclaimed materials.
I studied Architecture, drawn by two things at once: my love for design, and the question of how to make it. I attended the Academy of Architecture in Amsterdam and worked as a designer at several architecture firms, including Zecc Architects and trained for six months at Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa / SANAA in Tokyo.
Japan has shaped the way I look at design: let the material lead, leave its beauty exposed, care about detail and craftsmanship. Use subtle colors and soft forms.
For the love of wood and sustainability
Wood and sustainability have been a common thread in my career, at large and small scale. Wood is a renewable material and it is easy to reuse. Light and flexible, it can be brought back to its best by sanding.
That is why I specialized in timber construction at INBO Architects, as Timber Construction Advisor. I advised on large-scale timber projects such as multi-storey apartment buildings, led a team researching timber construction in the Netherlands (fire safety, acoustics, structure and design), and gave lectures at TU Delft and elsewhere to share my knowledge.
But my love for working with wood never left, and I missed working on a small scale, with my own hands. So I started this studio, where I make furniture almost entirely from reclaimed materials. What others left behind gets a second life, and matters again.
