London Craft Week: Q&A with Silent Goods

Part of the thinking behind this utilitarian, ornament-free approach is a confidence in the products themselves. Silent Goods is not about ego or displaying wealth, but about materials, quiet refinement and quality craftsmanship. But more than that, the team behind Silent Goods – a designer, a master craftsman and an environmental scientist – are challenging what luxury really means. Is a handbag’s value given to it by the prestige of the brand (hence the flashy logo) or by the materials it uses? By deflating the former, you’re investing in the latter.

With this stripped-back approach, the ‘values’ of the company are laid out bare for all to see. Sustainability is at the heart of Silent Goods approach, as is sustainability. Each of its products are fitted with a digital tag, giving you information about the full supply chain, from the journey of its organically farmed, plant-extract tanned Swedish leather and cradle-to-cradle certified green textiles, to the sustainability of its packaging. You can even see how much each part of the process makes up the price you pay.

Ahead of the Silent Goods open studio on Sunday 13 May 2018, we wanted to catch up with founder and creative director Oliver Ruuger to find out more about this exciting new company. 

It might come across radical at first glance, but actually, all we've really done is focused on simple human values that matter to us. A designer wants to create things that are both beautiful and useful and do not shout for attention. He does not want to take shortcuts or to tack on branding just for the purposes of marketing. A craftsman wants to enjoy the making process and be proud of the result. This means using high-quality materials and skilful processes that do not harm his hands, his eyes or the environment around us.

I think you start a company because you believe in doing things a certain way and simply cannot continue working otherwise. Building a brand means following a set of well-defined values through everything you do, making sure that your choices are in line with what you stand for. The quality of those choices is what defines the success of the brand. Recognisability comes from consistency, by doing things well from a clearly defined point of view. If you think about it this way, then logos and labels become irrelevant.

I think everyone these days wants to live sustainably, but it is a complex subject to truly understand and even more so to apply. Markus is an environmental scientist, focusing on materials and production processes. He looks at even the smallest steps we take as a company and consistently works to help us step lightly. From the way the shipping boxes are sourced (they are reused supermarket packaging), to the way the metal fittings are finished and even how we write. As a great example, we commissioned Carter Studio to design a font for us that uses about 50% less ink than standard. It is a small detail, but because we are also giving it away free for everyone, it can make a difference.

The problem is that things are often labelled very broadly, and it may seem easier to navigate your choices if you categorise things for yourself as either good or bad, either sustainable or not. But in reality, this approach does not always work. What is the point of making a bag out of a banana peel if it will only last for a few months and then have to be recycled and replaced? Organic does not always mean eco-friendly and synthetic does not always mean bad for the environment.

I feel that the biggest thing for us has been coming to terms with the fact that sustainability can never be binary. When you look deep enough, you soon realise that anything and everything you do inevitably leaves a footprint on the environment.

Once we came to grips with that, our job becomes about accumulating as much information as possible about every single part of the supply chain. And now our job is to be as transparent as possible and share the reasoning behind our choices. More of the 'why' and less of the 'what 'means that the person can be their own judge and make their choices based on understanding the whole, not just the label.