[kennywinker]

I have some experience manufacturing things with sustainability as a goal.

One of the biggest things I’ve learned is that the “clean” and “minimal” look that we associate with high end “well designed” products (think apple, teenage engineering) is almost completely opposed to sustainable materials and design.

The more minimal your design the more it shows blemishes. The more you see blemishes the more parts will be rejected and scrapped during manufacturing.

Similarly, the most sustainable materials to use are waste products of existing manufacturing - offcuts or upcycled/recycled scrap. But those will have inconsistent finishes that will show on minimalist designs.

I think an important step in actually moving towards ethical manufacturing is a change in aesthetics - so markers of sustainability are markers of cool / “good design”

I’m not sure that is why the panels have partial holes - but it might be a factor.