Dezeen promotion: a range of environmentally friendly finishes will be displayed at the Finiture Green exhibition during this year's Milan design week.
Finiture Green, which translates as green finishes, will take place at the Highline Galleria on the rooftop of the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan's city centre.
The exhibition, which will focus on sustainable paints and finishes, is being put together under the artistic direction of architectural firm Meregalli Merlo Architetti Associati.
It will showcase a range of plant-based coatings that are created from renewable materials, along with clean chrome plating and other environmentally friendly coatings.
"[The exhibition will] present the product lifecycle of paint, from start to green finish," said the organisers. "To honour nature, the Finiture Green exhibition offers you a piece of green heaven, while enjoying impressive views on the urban environment of Milan, with the Duomo di Milano as a literal and figurative highlight."
Plant-based paint resin Decovery, created by global science-based company DSM, will be on display as part of the exhibition.
The resin, which binds paint together, is primarily manufactured from plants, seeds and other natural materials – reducing its carbon footprint.
To create the resin, DSM extracts the sugars, starches and natural oils from trees and agricultural waste through a process known as biomass conversion.
At present, the Decovery resin is 50 per cent derived from plants, but the company is working to create a 100 per cent plant-based finish.
Waterborne paints have reduced the number of oils and solvents that are used in paints and, according to the company, Decovery plant-based resins are the next step towards ensuring that paint is sustainable.
"Decovery resins reduce the carbon footprint, without sacrificing the performance of the paint," said a statement from DSM. "We're on our way to creating completely natural paint resin, and it's here where our counterparts in the design industry can really help."
"To make our dream a reality we need everyone who uses paint – from designers to manufacturers to painters themselves and everyone in between – to come together to fuel this movement towards more sustainable plant-based finishes," continued DSM.
Finiture Green takes place during Milan design week from 17 to 22 April 2018. For more information, visit the DSM website.