Trying to be an ethical consumer – let alone a manufacturer or designer – isn’t easy. Terms such as “eco-friendly”, “organic” and “sustainable” are now an essential part of any halfway decent organisation’s sales patter, and knowing when those words actually stand for something real is tricky. Which is why “transparency” is becoming the buzz- word these days in the world of design just as much as in the Houses of Parliament.

Take a company such as Mater (www.materdesign.com), from Denmark, which was recently given Wallpaper* magazine’s special award for best new interior design company. Mater, like every other savvy design company, is grappling with the problem of how to justify bringing new designs into a world already saturated with products. As its founder, Henrik Marstrand, puts it: “For every one of the millions of products we use to improve our lives, there are associated environmental, ethical and social consequences.” Mater’s powerful mission statement declares that it is “the home accessories brand that makes social responsibility timeless and alluring to consumers all over the world”.

Now I realise this sounds as vaguely heart-warming as any other protestation of eco-sensitivity, but Mater goes further than most – every product it issues is accompanied by facts about where it is manufactured, by whom and in what circumstances. Its code of conduct was developed in tandem with the Danish Institute for Human Rights, and it is particularly eager to support local skills in small communities in places as far-flung as India, China and Vietnam. Everything that Mater sells comes with a little story.

Take the charming set of three pebble bowls by Danish designer Jesper K. Thomsen. Ineffably delicate, made of finest oven-proof porcelain, they are made in Guangdong in southern China in a factory, so Mater says, run by a “well-respected female manager”. Then there are the porcelain vases designed for Mater by Todd Bracher, an American, which are made in a small family-owned factory in Gia Lam in Vietnam. Candle-holders are produced by a small marble co-operative in Jaipur in India, and so the list goes on. Each factory has been personally inspected by the Mater team and the work they are giving to these small, often family-run operations is helping to keep crafts and skills alive.

In a world in which fashionability seems often to take precedence over real quality, Mater aims to produce only objects that have something timeless about them. “Mater is not about trend,” says Marstrand. “It is here to stay.” So far it has concentrated on accessories – most of them justifying its founder’s high-flown ideals. They all have a simplicity, an elegance and a certain resolution about them that means they are unlikely ever to fall out of fashion. The company is still young – its first range of products was introduced to the world last September – and for the moment it is limited to small accessories, which are just going into the shops now. Many will be sold through 95% Danish (www.95percentdanish.co.uk).

Of course, Mater is far from being the first to take up the issue of sustainability – recycling is the time-honoured route that many a designer follows, ensuring that those things which no longer appeal are by some alchemy turned into something new and fresh. Karen Ryan (www.bykarenryan.co.uk) and Martino Gamper (www.gampermartino.com) are two of the champions of this route. But I have a hunch that Mater is on to something when it identifies long-lasting, lovingly made products as being where the future lies. When major stores such as Marks & Spencer start being seriously committed to sustainability and human rights issues, it is clear that, lovely though it is for them to feel they have the moral high ground, they wouldn’t be tackling these issues unless they knew it was what their customers were demanding of them.

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