Moss and other preserved greenery are taking over the showroom at NeoCon50. Offices, universities, hospitals and other businesses are finding that moss not only promotes well-being and productivity, but also possesses an acoustical element.
Christoph Trappe met with Sadig Alekperov, founder of Green Mood, an up-and-coming business based out of Brussels in Belgium. Green Mood gathers their resources from the Scandonavian forest and applies natural, chemical-free preserves to their products. This creates a maintenance-free work of art that contributes to a company's green initiative among other benefits.
Listen to Christoph and Sadig now.
You can also read the full interview below.
Christoph: Hello, everyone again. Christoph Trappe with interiors + sources, and of course, BUILDINGS Magazine.
Still at NeoCon, and we have noticed another trend here actually: A lot of moss going on. We’ll have some pictures with the article on interiorsandsources.com. And of course you can’t see them on the recording here, but I’m actually now joined by Sedig Alekperov. He is the founder of Green Mood. Based in Belgium?
Sedig: Yes. Absolutely. In Brussels.
Christoph: Great. Thanks for joining us. So my question is... we have seen the trend here — a lot of people are displaying, moss. Why is that coming up? Who would use it? Why would they use it? Why is it in the headlines here?
Sedig: Actually the moss becomes very trendy because it has a lot of advantages, benefits like acoustic properties, free maintenance, and it can last from 10-15 years without any maintenance. And so people, that’s why they prefer to have three-in-one, what we call acoustic green and the no maintenance. And it can be applied in any support background and because the moss is glued on a panel and this panel is screwed, just with the screws fixed on the wall.
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We can color them — most actually — they are colored. Why they are colored is because the natural color, it’s harvested by hand in the Scandinavian forest, they are white. And then they put pigments on it. With salt-based water, they are preserving them for a long time. And with this being organic for pigments, we can make very different colors, like light green, dark green or it can be even blue or yellow. So it becomes, at the same time, decorative and acoustic product, but also green.
Christoph: But is it inside? Outside? Where do people use it?
Sedig: As there is a [inaudible] pigment on it, you cannot put it outside because it will drop down on the floor, all the colors will be gone. But mainly we use it 100% for the indoor offices. We do universities, we do hospitals, hotels, lobbies, receptionist desk and everything. And it’s really become so very trendy and a lot of companies, they are starting doing moss walls.
And we started also to be different on the market. We started to make finished acoustic products, designed products, which can be applied everywhere. And it can be residential or in the offices. That’s why we are at NeoCon today to show the European touch, European design, and bring it to the US.
Christoph: Very interesting. So, who is using it the most? I know you gave a couple of examples, but what’s the most likely scenario for an industry to use it? Is it offices? Or…
Sedig: Mainly, yeah. We are oriented mainly for B2B. In B2B because offices, they have budget for this kind of product and because they want to show that they are respecting the environment. They are in a green business. They are trying to be recycled, so it shows in the product - that’s why we do mainly offices, only offices.
Christoph: And are people picking it because it’s a trend? Or because of the environment? Or they like the look? Or what’s the number one reason why? I mean the look definitely got our eye here, our attention.
Sedig: I would say it’s more cost-saving because no one wants to pay for the maintenance of plants and as it’s a free maintenance and it’s green.
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Christoph: Right. Very good. Thank you so much for talking to us about this today. And appreciate the conversation.
Sedig: Welcome. Thank you.