I was lucky enough to be in Paris on the 16th of June this year for the launch of a new sustainable online guide created by Barbara Coignet – founder of sustainable luxury agency 1.618 Paris. Now a well-known voice of authority in the sustainable luxury sector, Coignet first founded 1.618 Paris in 2009, primarily to shed a light on the many excellent and forward-thinking creative companies who operate sustainably.

Due to the pandemic and the ensuing cancellation of events, Coignet decided to find a new way of of showcasing the creativity and excellence in the luxury sector with some extra time on her hands because of confinement she used it to develop the new virtual guide. And with the increasing consumer sensibility towards all things ethical, the timing couldn’t be better. While the guide follows the same principles as the concept for the agency, it takes a totally novel new angle through its digital approach. The guide is in English and French for the moment, more languages will be added as requested.

For this project, Coignet joined forces with talented and sensitive web designer and coder Joseph Azu, who made it all possible in just a couple of months, with the aim of creating a link between new technologies and storytelling. And the result is truly fabulous!

The guide lets you delve into the stories of the creatives that are featured within. And if you are interested in a particular story or company, you can read further to learn about their sustainable or ethical practices. In keeping with Coignet’s favourite saying: “You preserve what you love, and you love what you know”, the guide features creative innovators from around the world, all united by the common thread of beauty, excellence, sincerity and sustainability. A series of pop ups in strategic department stores have already been arranged to showcase the brands.

So far, there are around 30 companies featured; large and small businesses that include fashion, jewellery, astronomy, tech, mobility and fabric sourcing; examples are AVIONICS - AWAKE CONCEPT - BENJAMIN BENMOYAL - DR. HAUSCHKA - ECO ALF - LA SINGULIÈRE & LE SINGULIER - LA BOUCHE ROUGE - LECLERC BRIANTLEMLEM - NOMASEI - FAIR CRAFT - FUTURE FABRICS EXPO BY THE SUSTAINABLE ANGLE - for more check on the platform here. The platform is ever growing.

To be featured is free, but you have to be chosen by a set of external international sustainability experts, and adhere to stringent criteria relating to innovative sustainability, environmental impact and product life cycle. For this reason, there is enormous prestige to being selected – I guess it’s a bit like the Michelin guide to sustainability!