Hong Kong's Chief Executive-elect, Leung Chun-ying, may or may not do something about the city's air pollution, but at least you can play your part to make sure you don't bring needless pollutants into your home when furnishing a new flat.
Some retailers in Horizon Plaza specialise in natural materials. At Zense on the 26th floor, for example, all the furniture is green in that it contains no toxic items such as phthalates or heavy metals, and is low in odour and volatile organic compounds.
Kokoon Beds & Bedding, on the 11th floor, says it offers Hong Kong's largest range of children's furniture made of solid wood. Choosing solid wood furniture over that made of medium-density fibreboard (MDF) or veneer, which use an array of chemicals to bind wooden and non-wooden materials together, is a natural start.
'One question we are frequently asked by parents choosing furniture for their kids is whether the paint is safe,' says Kokoon's Moira Roberts. 'The question should really be whether it is made of 100 per cent solid wood.'
Kokoon's range of children's furniture, which meets European safety standard EN71 Part 3, is available in its natural pine colour or whitewashed.
'The natural pores of the wood allow our safe and water-based finishes to travel and dissolve among the grains of the wood, as opposed to MDF or veneer, where the paint will remain stuck on the outer layer,' Roberts says. 'If you were to compare MDF children's furniture, which has a large share of the market as it is cheaper and easier to produce, with 100 per cent solid wood furniture, the latter is far superior in terms of its natural properties and safety. It is also inherently stronger.'
The company is also exclusive distributor for Kelly & Windsor's Australian-made pure alpaca quilts, pillows and underblankets. Alpaca is a high-quality natural fibre said to be as soft as cashmere, but produced in much lower volumes, and it is free of chemicals in its production. The lightweight summer alpaca bamboo quilt is made from a blend of alpaca and bamboo fibres.
