Circular design
Dionne Ewen | Ahrend
From circular design to circular business
Sustainability Manager Dionne Ewen (since 2018) has a good overview of the sustainability policy at Royal Ahrend and is responsible, among other things, for social, sustainable and circular entrepreneurship. On DRIVE, Dionne talks about the latest step that Royal Ahrend has recently taken with the opening of a Circular Hub (2021, Veghel, the Netherlands): initiators Ahrend and Gispen are taking the lead in the industry for 2050, as part of the transition agenda, together with the national government to arrive at a fully circular procurement policy. While 80-90% of office furniture in Europe still ends up on a large mountain of waste, Dionne wants to make a real impact with the Circular Hub. It is a new step in the ongoing transition to a fully closed business model, in which products are used for as long as possible and residual and waste flows are returned to the cycle as new material.
Making the entire process circular is a long development involving many stakeholders: it requires an effort from everyone, from suppliers of gas springs to screws, from (interior)architects to users, to switch to optimal use of furniture. Royal Ahrend has been on the road for years to transform towards a fully circular business model with furniture-as-a-service, a furniture management system – which provides insight into the condition, location and value of the furniture – and a range of services – to extend the life of the furniture, to extend products. But the transformation continues, because ultimately the business model is not about producing furniture but make optimal use of raw materials and products.
Dionne Ewen has been Sustainability Manager at Royal Ahrend since 2018. She studied Business Economics & Finance (Master 2012) at the University of Amsterdam and conducted research into the circular economy with Erasmus University. In 2017 the book 'Route Circular' was published, of which Dionne is co-author. She worked at Kirkman Company in Baarn (2013-2018) before moving to Koninklijke Ahrend (2018). In addition to her work, Dionne is actively involved in sustainability networks and regularly gives guest lectures at various courses.
