From Farm to Fabric

A practice-based study of local wool from native sheep breeds

This project is now archived and was part of DDW22

This project is part of
Masters Textile Design - LUCA School of Arts BE

Native sheep from Lier

Basile Rabaey

From Farm to Fabric is a hands-on research project in which Céline wants to revalue local wool from indigenous sheep breeds, a humble material that today is considered a residual and waste product.

Indigenous sheep breeds from the own region

Belgian sheep's wool used to be part of our cultural identity and was the basis of our textile industry. Unfortunately, this material is nowadays considered as a humble waste product. From Farm to Fabric focuses on the issue of why we import all of our wool, when we have large quantities available in our own country. Céline focuses primarily on the sheep breeds in her own region. She doesn't choose her sheep wool without obligation; the origin of the material is an investigation into her own identity and the nickname of Lier, ”sheep's head", from which she comes. The Kempisch heath sheep gives stiff, tantalizing fibers. From the artisanal struggle to become a functional product, she creates beauty and strength by embracing the imperfection of the material, with its irregularities in color and texture.

Practical-based design research

Starting from a practice-oriented research, Céline seeks to explore through creative processes and collaborations how we can reintegrate this undervalued material into our current textile world. Her main goal is create functional home textiles, entirely made from a local ‘waste material’. She attaches great importance to a responsible production process from raw material to final product, whereby everything is created manually. From Farm to Fabric is an attempt to unite and find a line of connection between environment, people and animals.