Can design change the face of wool?
Wool is a material deeply rooted in Polish culture. In the first half of the 20th century, woolen products were produced on a mass scale in two main textile centers in Poland - in Bielsko-Biała and Łódź. Wool "lived" thanks to folk handicrafts. Kilims, folk costumes, carpets and hats were Cepelia's export materials. Presented and sold in the Cooperative's exclusive boutiques, including the famous 5th Av. in New York, were very popular and were an element of creating Poland's image abroad
Today, the great popularity of wool seems to have passed. There are no large spinning mills anymore, and the raw material obtained by shepherds is most often burned and treated as waste. Globalization, free market economy, i.e., among others the inflow of cheap materials from China killed the Polish textile industry. Plants such as Wega and Bielska Dzianina were closed.
During conferences devoted to design, Victor Papanek is more and more often mentioned, who already in the 1960s pointed out that: " There are fields of activity that are more harmful than industrial design, but there are very few of them (...) ".
However, the references to Papanek do not translate into actions. The lack of interest of local producers and designers in natural local resources, including such a noble material as wool, may be even more surprising as the eyes of consumers are increasingly turning towards natural and locally produced products. There is a lot of talk about sustainable design and production - both in the context of fashion, architecture and design. More and more companies are looking for more ecological solutions. Design fairs present projects made of natural materials. During one of the most important design festivals - Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, many innovative projects addressed topics related to the use of wool. One of the proposals presented at the exhibitions of the previous edition was a project that drew attention to the traditional way of preserving wool using potato starch. The author, Caterina Tioli, encouraged the use of this traditional method to gain "a more direct contact with the raw beauty of wool".
The Australian brand Woolmark has been basing its business on the use of wool for decades, and through experiments with new technologies, it is introducing this traditional material into the 21st century. Their laboratories have developed seamless fabrics used in the production of yoga clothes.
Another example is the innovative denim fabric, which is woven from combined cotton and wool fibers. Thanks to this, the material takes on the best properties of both raw materials, e.g. excellent breathability and absorbency. Large corporations such as Nike and Adidas are looking for solutions that will make their products more ecological. To increase the comfort of runners, Adidas has designed ultra-light shoes with an upper made of wool fibers.
Thanks to new possibilities - 3D printing or the production of composites from biopolymers, wool can be a material that perfectly fits the idea of sustainable development and circular circulation. An example is the Solidwool material, which was developed by one of the British designers. The material is used to create accessories, furniture and interior design elements.
These are just a few proofs that wool can once again take an important place in everyday life - being used both in the textile industry and in design. Thanks to the new possibilities offered by technology, wool does not have to be associated only with something traditional and ancient. Designers and architects, constantly looking for innovative, natural solutions, should start using natural materials such as wool. Thanks to this, they can create solutions consistent with the idea of sustainable development. We should appreciate the experience of previous generations - craftsmen who know their craft very well and were able to use natural materials that are harmless to the environment. The author of Cepelia's great success - Tadeusz Więckowski, pointed out in his publications that the joint work of interdisciplinary teams - combining the experiences of craftsmen, the creativity of designers and the knowledge of ethnologists is a model recipe for innovative design. Of course, the ideas preached in the 1980s should be adapted to today's realities, and to quote Więckowski himself:
“You have to act sensibly in the current situation. Since you can't change reality. we have to adapt to it, while saving what is important in the past.”
Aware of today's challenges that design designers face, the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice tries to constantly modernize its teaching program. Sustainable design, taking care of yourself and others are the key ideas that guide educators when teaching future designers. The new Inclusive Design: Health and Social Well-Being curriculum prepares future designers for design challenges in areas related to improving the quality of life and caring for the health of recipients by involving them in the design process in various design disciplines: from services or applications, through the design of medical equipment. , to co-create places or events, strengthening the bonds of local communities.
Materials and contexts is a subject that is intended to support the teaching process in the spirit of sustainable development. The main goal is to make young designers aware of the great impact the production of new products has on the environment and how, thanks to a conscious attitude, they can create reality in a responsible way. It is important to highlight the threats posed by consumerism and thoughtless production of new items. In addition, the program aims to make students see value in local tradition and culture by evoking traditional craft techniques. During classes, students experiment with natural materials obtained locally,
using the knowledge acquired during workshops and lectures with craftsmen who are specialists in processing a given material. Young designers have the opportunity to do the work themselves. Thanks to this, they are supposed to see value in the fruits of human hands that are not produced on a mass scale. The subject "Materials and Contexts" is not only about expanding knowledge about local heritage, but also an attempt to redefine the meaning and use of crafts.
The first material that students had the opportunity to work with as part of the Materials and Contexts subject was wool. Józef Michałek, a long-time propagator of pastoral culture, introduced students to the world of wool and the history of shepherding. Students noticed the ecological properties of the material. They were looking for new ways to use this noble raw material. During classes, they experimented with its structure, physical properties and visual features. The works that were created were an attempt to reinterpret forgotten craft techniques. All this to resurrect the forgotten potential of the raw material.
Zero waste
The design was created from a combination of sheep wool and brewer's grain. The result is a unique material. Both components were combined based on the handmade paper production method. Wool fibers create internal bonds, provide elasticity and tear resistance. Spent grain, on the other hand, is a binder and natural glue. It gives the material a characteristic, granular structure. The resulting plastic sheets are fully organic and biodegradable. They easily accept natural pigments, so you can obtain sheets of various colors.
Author: Magdalena Nedyńska
Meadow
The Łąka project is a nod to the folk values of the Silesian Beskids and the local meadows where sheep graze. The material is intended to remind us of the lost values and needs of pastoralism. It was obtained by filling layers of wool with additions of dried flowers and grass in a traditional way. The internal structure of the fabric created in this way has a variety of textures, scents and natural colors.
Author: Sonia Łuszczyńska.
New life for felt
The idea of the project was to reuse felt used to produce clothes. In the process of making clothes, unused scraps of natural material are thrown away. Since torn fibers cannot be reused, one of the assumptions was to completely deconstruct the original structure. The aim of the project is to give the material a second life and create a new quality on the basis of the old one. Combined with a natural binder, potato starch, a hard material with a variety of colors and structures was created.
Author: Magdalena Szumigaj
The projects presented above are a few examples of innovative thinking by design students. Selected ideas were presented during the Łódź Design Festival in 2019. The concepts created by students were subjected to further work in laboratories - after examining the exact properties of the samples and further tests - they would have a chance to become an innovative proposition for manufacturers looking for responsible solutions in design. I believe that these first attempts are the beginning of work on finding a use for native raw materials, such as wool, and working together with specialists in many fields will allow us to save local heritage, but also to implement innovative solutions.
Katarzyna Pełka-Bura - graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, majoring in design (2008 - diploma with honors). At Wzorro Design, he designs and coordinates projects. She is the curator and coordinator of design-related exhibitions, including: seven editions of the "Design in public space" and "Material BOOM" series. In 2011-2014, she conducted a seminar on design management at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice. Since 2019, he has been teaching classes at the Academy of Fine Arts in the Design for Identity studio and as part of the Materials and Contexts subject.