Neil Gordon - What makes drapery sustainable?

In trying to determine what makes a drapery sustainable, I came up with five areas of focus: function, energy efficiency, recyclable materials, fabrics and treatment design. Function comes before all other decisions because in non-residential design, function trumps form. In the AIA definition on sustainable design, the statement in order to design in ways that remove rather than contribute stress from systems also implies that reliable function should come first in the process. Energy efficiency is obviously critical in any consideration of sustainable draperies. With careful planning, draperies and certain types of fabric shades along with proper lining offer excellent energy efficiency. Of course, fabrics are important in any drapery design. Besides utilizing sustainable and energy efficient design, the utilization of sustainable fabrics plays a huge role. There has been tremendous growth in recyclable materials, especially polyester from plastic bottles. There are many choices today using recycled polyester. Lastly comes the treatment design. Once all of the above decisions are made, then the treatment itself can be designed. Neil Gordon is the owner of Decorating with Fabric, New York, N.Y.