FLOCK

why european wool is wasted

European sheep’s wool comes in many different colors and fibre structures, offering a wide range of qualities. Today, however, fine Australian merino wool dominates the market, almost completely displacing coarser European wool. This has resulted in the cost of producing European wool exceeding its sales value, making it no longer economically viable for shepherds. Therefore, shearing sheep and disposing generates additional costs, leading to the common practice of burning it. Approximately 90% of European wool is subject to this fate. Although it has excellent properties and grazing sheep are increasing the carbon storage in the soil. As a result, sheep are mainly kept for landscape conservation in Europe today.The 21 endangered European sheep breeds and shepherds‘ intangible knowledge of sustainable landscape conservation require special protection. Both can be supported by developing suitable processing techniques and applications for European wool. Through ancient felt making techniques combined with advanced digital fabrication methods, new typologies and fluid transitions between different material qualities can be created within one felt, extending the range of applications.

Why we should felt wool

Felting is the oldest textile manufacturing technique and is deeply rooted in European culture. Woollen felt is highly resistant to tearing and abrasion as well as easily repairable through mechanical re-felting. It does not fray at the cut edges, eliminating additional steps like sewing seams, as the felting process integrates them directly, saving costs, time, and machinery. Unlike other textile manufacturing processes, felting is a direct fibre-to-textile process bypassing spinning and weaving, simplifying the manufacturing process, making it more cost-effective.
Today, however 99% of industrial felt is made with synthetic fibres that are pressed together under heat, creating an inseparable mass. Here, in contrast wool is felted purely mechanically by the needle felting process. The felting needles are repeatedly dipped into the wool, causing the wool fibres to interlock and creating a felt. In this way, the qualities of the felt can be adapted through purely mechanical means, without any bonding agents.
Depending on how much the wool is felted in different places varying degrees of hardness are created and thus felt as a mono-material with contrasting qualities at a time.

new possibilities through robotic felting

This requires a process and a felting machine that, unlike industrial production, can give wool load-bearing properties and precisely locate them from soft to stiff. By digitally programming the robot and modular felting machine, degrees of hardness, patterns and smooth transitions can be controlled and contrasting properties created. In this way, the material complexity of products can be reduced without loss of functionality. This enables flexibility in production and a wide range of variants beyond industrial production. Moreover, the 3D-felting process of hollow bodies provides extra stability with minimal material use. This expansion of possibilities enables a new type - mono-material products with poly-quality material properties. It also opens up new applications for European wool, creating new added value. It also creates new aesthetics to make the material aesthetically attractive again, in addition to the ecological aspect.
Chipboard, petroleum-based foam and synthetic textiles, glued and stapled together, now form upholstered furniture. They are short-lived and cannot be recycled. The stool, however, shows that they can be mono-material, modular and easily reupholstered.