In an era where environmental responsibility is no longer optional but fundamental, the furniture and joinery sector stands at the cusp of transformative change. Designers, manufacturers, and consumers alike are asking: can materials be both beautiful and sustainable? Austrian-based Organoid® answers that question with ingenuity, craftsmanship, and a profound respect for nature.
The centrepiece of Organoid’s recent innovation is CARPE DIEM, a natural surface that has just won the Green Product Award 2025 in the “New Materials” category – an honour that reflects its design, sensory richness, and environmental credentials.
From nature to surface – what Organoid does
Organoid crafts natural surfaces using regional, rapidly renewable raw materials – like flowers, herbs, mosses, Alpine hay, and leftovers often treated as waste by other industries. Its production facility in Tyrol, Austria, emphasises two core sustainability pillars: regionality (local sourcing to reduce transport emissions and support rural economies) and upcycling (turning residues and natural leftovers into finished, desirable surfaces).
Hand-craft plays a major role. Many components are manually processed to preserve texture, scent, and natural variability – features often lost in mass-produced surfaces. Additionally, Organoid ensures its manufacturing is carbon-neutral, emphasising eco-friendly handling of waste, energy use, and packaging.
CARPE DIEM – an example of sensory, sustainable innovation
CARPE DIEM embodies Organoid’s ethos. Recognised among 1,500 entries from 46 countries, the material stood out not just for its visual beauty but for its sensory and environmental depth. Its composition includes Mediterranean herbs (Greek mountain tea, lavender), olive leaves, cosmos and wildflowers, all set on breathable flax fleece.
The backing is unbleached, free of chemically harmful additives, with moisture regulation and allergen-friendly characteristics. The scent, texture, and colouration are genuine: you can touch the petals, smell lavender, feel the natural fibres. It’s designed to engage the senses, not merely to decorate.
Furthermore, CARPE DIEM is climate-neutral, handcrafted in Tirol using rapidly renewable feedstocks. It does not seek to mimic real nature with synthetic shortcuts; instead, it is nature in its form and afterlife.
Organoid ensures material safety via certifications (emissions, fire protection, etc.), which is crucial for furniture and joinery applications where health, durability and safety are just as important as aesthetics.
Implications for furniture & joinery production
Innovative natural surfaces open up new possibilities for furniture manufacturers, carpenters, interior designers and product designers:
Surface integration beyond walls: Although often used as natural wallpapers or décor, materials of this kind are adaptable to furniture fronts, panels, or laminates. Furniture elements can become sensory focal points, marrying rustic natural elements with modern, precise craft. Organoid’s surfaces come in rolls, foils and panels and can be mounted on MDF or wood-based substrates.
Health & indoor climate: Materials that regulate humidity, are breathable, non-allergenic and emit minimal volatile compounds contribute to healthier indoor environments.
Sustainability credentials & certification alignment: Green building standards, product passports, and ecolabels are increasingly required in commercial and public furniture projects. Organoid provides data (SHI product passport for certifications like BREEAM, DGNB, EU Taxonomy, etc.), supporting specifiers in meeting environmental scoring.
Design uniqueness & storytelling: Buyers increasingly value stories of origin, craft, and materials. Organoid’s narrative – Tyrolean craft, upcycled remnants, flowers & herbs with real scents – gives design projects depth. To stand out in furniture or showroom pieces, these sensory and narrative qualities become competitive differentiators.
Sustainability as principle, not buzzword
Organoid® demonstrates that sustainability need not be a marketing label tacked on. It can be embedded across the supply chain – from sourcing, through craft, through production, into application and aftercare.
CARPE DIEM is more than a soft, fragrant novelty; it is a certified, award-winning material that models what responsible innovation in furniture surfaces can be.
Looking forward
For the joinery and furniture production industries, the shift towards materials such as Organoid®’s natural surfaces suggests a few trends and possibilities:
Hybrid assemblies: combining structurally robust base materials (wood, engineered board) with natural surfaces to get both strength and aesthetic/sensory qualities.
Customisation & small batches: Handcrafted, visually variable surfaces may resist mass uniformity, but offer high value in smaller-scale, bespoke furniture, focal pieces, or luxury applications.
Lifecycle thinking: Considering the after-use: biodegradability, potential recycling or composting of natural surfaces.
Supply chain transparency: Organoid®’s model shows how to build trust with regional sourcing (Tyrol), climate-neutral production, and thorough certifications.
Organoid® and its Green Product Award-winning CARPE DIEM represent more than an attractive surface option – they chart a way for furniture and joinery production to align with sustainability, sensory richness, and authenticity. In transforming raw, natural materials into durable, multisensory surfaces that respect both people and planet, they challenge the industry: can we demand more from what we build – more meaning, more responsibility, more connection to the natural world?
