An award and an increased sustainable outlook

It’s been a few months since we released any studio news, and we are excited to share what we’ve been up to! We’ve won our third Good Design Award, we are in final prototype stages for a new range to be released next month, and we have partnered with two new stockists – Lightingales in Perth, and Craft ACT; Design and Craft in Canberra. We have also been making some changes to our studio in earnest to strengthen our sustainable commitment.

Thank you to all those who contribute to Pen. We love receiving each and every order, and continuously grateful to everyone we collaborate with to make Pen happen!

good design award winner 2022

We are honoured to have been awarded a Good Design Award for the Dog Room in recognition for outstanding design and innovation. The Dog Room is designed by Melbourne architect Michael Ong and made locally through social enterprise manufacturers, HELP Enterprise. The judges’ comments included “The minimalist architectural doghouse embraces the slow living lifestyle and is a great use of local social enterprise manufacturing’.

Whilst this award is an honour and highlights the collaborative efforts of all involved, we are also grateful for design organisations such as Good Design Australia for their contribution in recognising, celebrating and championing good design practices.

pen as a sustainable studio

We are making changes as we work to improve our sustainability performance.

Solar Power – To reduce our greenhouse gas emissions (and taking advantage of Brisbane’ sunshine), our studio is now powered through rooftop solar panels and battery. Hooray!

Packaging Policy – We have new boxes! Our new packaging materials took into consideration both material content alongside what happens to the packaging after unboxing. Our cartons now contain a percentage of recycled content and are deliberately made from uncoated stock meaning you can easily recycle these through domestic recycling bins. Where we need to include additional padding, we choose to re-purpose original manufacturing packaging reducing waste.

Your parcel journey is offset – We have partnered with Sendle since their inception. Sendle is the first 100% carbon neutral shipping service. This means we get you your goods whilst also considering the impact on the plant.

a new year introduces new pricing

At Pen we will always endeavour to provide quality, original and innovative design. We are committed to good design and providing you with a range that spans a lifetime. During this past year we have held our prices stable as manufacturing materials and labour increases took effect. However, its no longer viable for us to sell our range at our current prices. From January 2023 there will be a pricing increase to reflect the changed market. If you’ve had your eye on something – grab it now !