Out of the Office: Katie McNeill

Focusing on sustainability can often be confused with lower quality experiences or less scope for creativity, but that couldn’t be further from the truth according to Katie.

Alongside sitting on the sustainability focus group here at BeaconHouse Events, outside of the office Katie also operates Townhouse Upholstery, a business dedicated to bringing life back to much-loved pieces of furniture, saving them from landfill and passing their stories onto the next generation.

We spoke to Katie about how she balances creativity with sustainable practices, and how having open conversations about sustainability inspires innovation and ideas at BeaconHouse Events.

How did you come to start your business?

Townhouse Upholstery was launched seven years ago. I started it because I wanted a creative outlet and upholstery seemed like a bit of a dying art which was a real shame. I was looking to get a piece of furniture updated and it didn’t prove easy to find someone who would do it to the level that I wanted; with style and creativity so ultimately I started an evening course to learn how to create what I was looking for and loved it. From there I was keen to see how I could develop to turn my hand to any piece, so I enrolled in a course in Manchester that offered flexible learning and allowed me to translate something I enjoyed into a business.

Have you seen a shift in public mentality towards being more conscious about the life cycle of the products we own?

Absolutely, people are much more aware of what is possible these days but reimagining a piece of furniture isn’t always the most cost-effective method in the short-term. People are still drawn to lower-cost pieces like IKEA because they are more affordable and it is fit for purpose a lot of the time, but if possible it is certainly worth investing in higher-quality pieces because they will last forever and ultimately save you time and money in the long-run.  You can be creative with how you adjust and give new life to these pieces as your taste changes or they need updating, rather than just throwing them away.

It’s heartening to see that more people are making conscious choices when it comes to ‘fast furniture’ and being more aware of how easily we dispose of things as a society when that doesn’t have to be the case. As far as possible, the products that I use during the upholstery process are sustainable materials so every part of the process is having a positive effect on our planet.

How have you brought your learnings from Townhouse Upholstery back to the office?

We have a sustainability focus group here at BeaconHouse Events that I really enjoy being part of. How far we can go with sustainable ideas for clients is always a balancing act against budget, but we work together as a team to understand what is realistic and still put creativity at the heart of what we are delivering, while still keeping that sustainable vision front and centre. My learnings outside of BeaconHouse has made me aware of the life cycle of materials or graphics that we use on-site and we try, where possible, to not date items so they can be reused or repurposed for future events.

As well as being great for the planet, looking after older pieces of furniture protects the stories that come with them too. I remember working on one particular piece that had belonged to a client’s granny, they remembered sitting with her and using the piece and it was so much more than the physical object that we were restoring – it was making sure that those memories stayed in the family even after she had passed. I quite often find hidden objects inside older pieces of furniture – things like old coins or jewellery, I’m always fascinated with the stories that come with every commission and how we can incorporate them into the finished work. The events industry incorporates a lot of storytelling and how to creatively bring ideas together, so there is much more crossover than you would initially imagine.

How have you developed your understanding of what sustainability means in practice?

This time last year I joined a sustainability events course to really understand where our sector is going, share ideas, and learn from other experts in the industry about what’s possible. I enjoyed learning more about how small, conscious choices can make a big difference – that’s something that I think we deliver consistently as an agency and is a strength across the whole team, which is led by Sarah’s drive and vision for a greener future for the industry. It’s really made me take time to step back and consider things like whether we need that swag bag, branded pens or plastic giveaways, or if that is just the easy route because it has always been done. Instead, we focus on what is going to have a positive impact on the delegates and help our client achieve their strategic ambitions. By examining where we can make considered changes, we can often free up budgets to create an even more meaningful experience, which is also positive for people and the planet.

By being more informed, interested, and staying ahead of trends in the industry we can guide and influence our clients when it comes to the topic of sustainability which can often seem too big to tackle.

How does the internal sustainability group help to keep you moving forward as a business?

With so many projects going on at once within BeaconHouse it can be difficult to know what colleagues are working on and where they have had success. The internal focus group allows us to share information, positively challenge each other, and share ideas and learning so we don’t stand still. We meet monthly which means we can action ideas quickly and efficiently. We evaluate each event through our carbon tracking platform TRACE when it is complete, and with so many client projects overlapping we can often use the learning from one to directly impact the planning of another by sharing that information in a timely way and talking through what we think went well.

Finally, what would you say to people who think making sustainable choices is about stripping things away?

What I’ve found in upholstery and at BeaconHouse is that sustainability is creative, exciting, and forward-thinking – it’s not about saying no to things and stripping things away from the experience.

Making sustainable choices doesn’t mean being boring or not pushing boundaries, exactly the opposite, it gives us more freedom to innovate, to be story-led, and to create new experiences, rather than relying on what has always been done. It doesn’t have to be telling people to stop doing something, or taking things away – it’s about creating something new and positive for the future, and I think that’s exciting.

Sustainability doesn’t mean lower-quality experiences, it is about saying yes to creativity and being curious about what is possible.