How Grain Design Came To Be
Chelsea and James Minola love rules. Partners in business and in life, the duo founded their Bainbridge Island, Washington, design studio Grain in 2008 and quickly sought out the guidance of sustainability certification programs to figure out how to set up an ethical business.
“I love the structure of checklists and frameworks that help us make sure we’re truly designing sustainably,” Chelsea says. “But over the years, we’ve learned that people seek out our studio not because of facts and figures on our materials or processes, but because they have an emotional response to our work.”
Grain Design’s Projects
Designing furniture, lighting, textiles and other housewares, Grain has steadily built a reputation for crafting socially and environmentally responsible objects that also spark joy. The studio recently celebrated a major milestone with their official certification as a B Corp, the national standard for companies committed to sustainability.
Grain is also settling into a new 3,000-square-foot studio and building on the launch of their latest collection, Clover, a series of tables and benches made from cork. “It was fascinating to think about cork as a material because you don’t have to cut down a tree to harvest it—it’s truly regenerative and biodegradable,” Chelsea says. “We have a responsibility to think about the full life cycle of the materials we source.” graindesign.com
