When you think of environmentally friendly furniture, the image tends to be that of a sofa made out of an old washing machine that looks about as comfortable to sit on as, well, an old washing machine.

But Helen Mudie’s company, One Eco Home, promises to change people’s perceptions by launching a designer range of ethical furnishings that doesn’t look like, as Mudie put it: “the kind of thing you’d expect to see in a Womble’s house”.

London-based Mudie didn’t take a conventional path into the home interiors business. Originally from Warwickshire, she studied business and marketing at Oxford Brookes University and went on to work in the consumer research departments of the multinational companies Kraft and GlaxoSmithKline. But a trip to India changed everything and on her return she decided to go back to college and retrain in something that she really loved: interior design.

After studying at Inchbald and the Chelsea College of Art, Mudie started her own interior design business, Free Spirit Interiors Ltd, in 2003. After designing the interior for an eco-build house in Kingston, Surrey and a chance meeting with Kate Millbank, a sustainable design consultant at an eco fair in Primrose Hill, she committed herself to starting a business that could offer people a sustainable yet desirable range of quality furniture.

Every supplier used by the company has to fill out a detailed questionnaire before they are accepted. “We use young British designers and we carry out a thorough assessment of each supplier to ensure that they meet the highest eco standards,” she says. “For example, our organic sheepskin rugs come from Hereford and are tanned at the only organic tannery in the UK.”

One Eco Home also offers a bespoke interior design service and the company has been invited to design the interior of the house of the future at this year’s centenary Ideal Home Exhibition. A prospect she is really excited about: "I was really thrilled when we were asked to do it," she says. "It feels like all the hard work we're putting in is being recognised by the industry and people are really starting to acknowledge that ecologically friendly products are the way forward. I don’t see being eco as having to give anything up. I see it as opening new doors to a happier and healthier lifestyle.”

www.oneecohome.co.uk

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