Sustainable Furniture

We believe the world should be a healthier place for our children than it is for us. With our range of furniture, we use only locally sourced, natural, sustainable and recycled materials. Join us on our journey to make a positive impact on our environment.

Our materials

The Man and Wife furniture range is about rethinking the materials used in furniture production and the impact those materials have on the environment and our health.

Locally sourced

All of our materials are sourced from within South Africa. This helps us to reduce carbon emissions and travel time.

No urethane foam

Instead of the urethane foam used in most furniture cushioning, Man + Wife uses locally sourced waste wool from Butterworth (wool offcuts that would otherwise be discarded), or wool from a regeneratively certified farm in Hogsback.

In fact we've done our best to reduce plastic as much as possible in our furniture.

Solid wood not boards

We use solid SA pine to frame our furniture instead of composite wooden boards. This reduces formaldehyde emissions which have been shown to cause allergic reactions in eyes, skin and the respiratory tract.

Regenerative leather

We use leather which is farmed on an EOV certified regenerative farm. Regenerative farming grows the topsoil which captures large amounts of carbon, offsetting any emissions made by the animal.

About Man+Wife

Picture and Bruce and Kimlyn Harbottle, owners and founders of Man+Wife, Port Elizabeth, PE, St Francis, Kenton-on-sea

Bruce and Kimlyn Harbottle are the team behind Man + Wife. They met while studying industrial design and, a few years after graduating, got married and started a family.

When their son, Noah, was born with Down Syndrome in 2014,Bruce and Kimlyn decided to create a family business that Noah would one day be able to join, adding value and being valued. In 2017, they founded Man + Wife.

Initially, Kimlyn managed one side of the business –furniture design and interior design – while Bruce headed up product development and brand strategy and design.

In the background, however, Bruce was struggling with severe health challenges. After his 15^th operation and his second one to remove part of his intestine to manage his Crohn’s disease, he began to re-evaluate their lifestyle, from nutrition to stress management and everything in between.

Kimlyn and Bruce made some big life choices, including moving from Johannesburg to Gqeberha and consulting with a nutritionist and a psychologist. Bruce found that changing his diet had a big and positive influence on his health. He began to explore how food is grown, sourced and supplied. This led to him discovering the concept of regenerative agriculture. This, in turn, brought him to regenerative design, and a new dream to create regenerative furniture with a positive environmental, social and aesthetic effect through Man + Wife.

The journey towards regenerative design

Regenerative design goes beyond sustainable design, which is about trying to minimise environmental impact. Regenerative design seeks to create a net positive impact on natural systems. In other words, regenerative design is about using design to do good – to help repair and protect the planet and our environment.

However, it’s not an easy thing to achieve and the concept is still young in South Africa. We are working towards Ecological Outcome Verification™ (EOV) – an outcomes-based protocol for verifying land regeneration. This certification is available through the Savory Institute, which measures regeneration through a host of ecological indicators, including ground cover, water infiltration, biodiversity, and soil carbon and soil health.

As Man + Wife is working towards scaling its furniture production and achieving accreditation, we are building relationships with local suppliers, sourcing low-impact materials and developing our furniture manufacturing expertise. The long-term aim is to build a vertically integrated business, where we have complete control of our supply chain, from farm to retail.

Contact for more information

Social philosophy

Our business was started with our children, Noah and Michaela, in mind, but our hope is to contribute to positive social impact beyond our family, into our community, our country and planet as a whole. These are some of the ways we hope to use our business to create a positive effect:

Raising awareness about material choices and their environmental and social impact, and educating and empowering our customers to make good choices for their environment, communities, health and lifestyles.

Contributing towards local skills development, employment opportunities and poverty alleviation, including among people from under-resourced communities and people who are differently abled or have learning disabilities.

Supporting local suppliers, thus minimising CO₂emissions from travel and boosting the local economy in the Eastern Cape – South Africa’s poorest province.

Donating 2% of all our total invoices to non-profit organisations and under-resourced schools in the Eastern Cape.

Contact for more information

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Man and Wife (PTY) LTD
116 Park Drive,
St Georges Park
Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)
South Africa
6001

Kimlyn Harbottle
kimlyn@manandwife.co.za
+27 (0) 74 582 2256

Bruce Harbottle
bruce@manandwife.co.za
+27 (0) 83 603 3359

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Furniture made from locally sourced, natural, sustainable and recycled materials, that are good for you, good for your family and good for the planet.