In the future, your average home/office products will be more adjustable, durable, repairable, recyclable, and sustainable. Normal now offers affordable, modern forward-thinking design to the people of the present.

Unlike most products, Normal stuff is designed with a strategy for positive social and environmental impact over time. This is our mission - to deliver quality products that promote a healthy future.

Normal focuses on materials and processes, utilizing those with low overall environmental impact, as well as those that set a precedent for the future. In cases of high initial impact (such as aluminum), we use the materials in such a way that it reduces the impact over its lifecycle (keeping it upcyclable - allowing it to be recycled back into a similar or equal quality material).

Normal always sources from the most local vendors possible. Sometimes however, parts or materials cannot be found locally. We will continue to seek lower impact material and process choices. Normal will experiment with new developments as they arrive, embracing materials that may involve a current compromise, yet promise a more sustainable future.

Currently we are using:
Bauxite Aluminum Extrusion System - Designed for rapid assembly/disassembly, the pieces are clear anodized (a low-impact process), which facilitates upcycling. Aluminum requires excessive energy to create virgin stock, yet requires 20 times less energy to recycle, and requires several times less energy than steel to process into finished products. Aluminum currently is recycled 10 times more than plastic.

Engineered Bamboo Panels - One of the hardest 'woods' on Earth. As structurally sound as steel, yet grows like a weed. A fantastic material overall. Bamboo grows at a harvest rate of less than five years. The rub is, most of it comes all the way from China. We want to encourage its growth and production in North America.

Recycled HDPE Plastic - We have chosen materials with subtle elegance, and our colored HDPE sheet plastic is actually pressed from colorful post-consumer detergent bottles, collected and sorted into their original vibrant colors.

Natural HDPE Plastic - The plastic we use for the High Density series is natural-state High Density Polyethelene. Although the plastic we use is mostly virgin, it is the same stuff that milk jugs are made from, and in the natural state, this plastic can be recycled many times over without degrading. We drop all manufacturing waste right into the recycle bin.

Rubber Sheet - Our sheet rubber for the ThrashCan is made from 99% reclaimed and recycled automobile tires. This substance is incredibly tough and resilient. Although tires are made initially of petrochemicals, every Thrashcan sold brings a little piece of the World up out of the dumps.

Non-toxic Wood Finish - The water based alternative to catalyzed polyurethane that we use is low odor, low VOC, formaldehyde free, and doctor recommended even for the chemically sensitive. We think that the people who make and use our products should have safe, healthy futures too.

Waterjet Cutting Process - A beam of water pressurized to the point that it can cut through the hardest steel. Uses less energy than laser or saw cutting, yet just as precise. The only materials involved are water and grit, both of which are recycled indefinitely in the process.