The Luxury Network International Magazine Issue 07

Squared has been quietly creating
unimaginably opulent hand-inlaid
surfaces on land and sea.
Now with years of unprecedented
success behind them, 2018 will
see new collaborations with leading
fashion houses, architects, product
designers and the world’s biggest
global luxury brands including
Rolls-Royce, Mont Blanc and BMW.
When it comes to turning natural
materials into something eye-wateringly
lavish and beautiful, for
Nature Squared the sky is the limit.
They use everything from seashell
and bone and horn to seedpods,
bamboo and eggshell to create
their bespoke designs. All are humble
natural materials in themselves,
which are transformed into unique
high quality surfaces when set within
resins or lacquer. Designs can be
uniquely customised to the clients_’
_own specifications, demonstrated
so beautifully in the 1500m2 of fully
customised product they recently
installed into the worlds largest private
yacht.
Launched in 2000 by Paul Hoeve
and Lay Koon Tan, Nature Squared
was originally created to provide
meaningful, sustainable employ-
ment in developing countries. At a
time of rampant globalisation, the
partners wanted to create a firm
that went back to basics, using tra-
ditional artisanal skills rather than
the mass production that saturated
the market around them. They nev-
er expected the business to grow in
such a phenomenal way, but sixteen
years on they still pride themselves
on the holistic ethos that made them
launch the brand in the first place.
As such, many of the natural materi-
als Nature Squared use are by-prod-
ucts from other industries like fishing
and farming. For example, abalone
shells are sourced from a commu-
nity-based farm in Asia, eggshells
come from hatcheries, mussel shells
from a farm to name but a few. This
is just one way in which the compa-
ny proves that sustainability is at its
heart.
They never use natural materials that
are endangered, protected or threat-
ened or that cannot be found in
abundance in their natural environ-
ment. To this end they ensure none
of their materials are on the CITES
list (the Convention on Internation-
al Trade in Endangered Species of
Wild Forna and Fauna) and if they
suspect that a material not found on
the CITES list has been sourced un-
ethically like poaching abalone or
shagreen they won’t use it in their
designs
They even go as far as to encourage
clients to ship their creations by sea
freight rather than by plane to cut
down on their own carbon footprint.
Furthermore, Nature Squared’s designs
are also all made in their own
premises in the Philippines, allow-
ing local artisan craftsmen to sup-
port themselves and provide a better
future for their families.
With the unprecedented success,
Nature Squared has enjoyed whilst
maintaining its ethical credentials,
now seems the perfect time for them
to step out of the shadows and into
the spotlight.
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