13. Implications and applications

Research & Concept

"This research project explores the potential of Manech sheep wool, a rustic and local fiber from my family’s sheep farm in the Basque Country, which has been largely abandoned by the contemporary textile industry. Through an approach combining traditional know-how, bio-material experimentation, and digital fabrication, I seek to reintroduce this forgotten material into contemporary uses. By developing wool-based surfaces, objects, and architectural forms, the project questions our current material habits and proposes sensitive, sustainable alternatives rooted in place, memory, and living resources. "

Clic to see more about my old works

My Wool Maps legend :

A. Family Sheep Farm, location of my Manech sheep flock in the Basque Country, the origin of the wool used in this project.

B. Niaux Wool Mill, lace where my wool is washed and carded, one of the last facilities in France capable of processing rustic fibers.

Colors Points. Other Active Wool Valorization Sites in France, highlighting the remaining French locations that preserve, spin, or use local wool for textiles, insulation, or crafts.

Articles about wool problematics

Decline of the Wool Textile Industry in France

An overview of the decline of the French wool industry, highlighting the disappearance of processing infrastructures and the lack of economic value given to rustic local fibers.

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Basque Wool Burned by Farmers Due to Lack of Outlets

In the Basque Country, sheep wool is often discarded or burned due to the absence of viable transformation channels, despite being a renewable local resource.

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Wool as a Sustainable Insulation Material

The ADEME presents sheep wool as an efficient thermal and acoustic insulation material, promoting healthier and more sustainable living environments.

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Textiles and Well-being in Domestic Spaces

This article explores how soft materials and textiles influence comfort, acoustics, and emotional well-being in interior architecture.

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Reviving Local Fibers Through Design and Craft

A reflection on contemporary design practices that aim to revive f

Who ?

For several years now, my practice has explored the intimate connections between material, territory, and memory through a material deeply rooted in my family history: Manech sheep wool, sourced from our family sheepfold in the Basque Country. This long, rustic fiber once used for bedding or insulation has gradually been excluded from the modern textile industry. Considered too coarse, too “hairy,” it has disappeared from valorization circuits. On family land, it is now most often abandoned or burned, with no real prospect of transformation.

Faced with this reality, this neglected wool has become a point of departure for my work, a material for investigation and experimentation. I collect archives, recreate disappearing gestures, and explore contemporary techniques in order to give this forgotten fiber a place once again.

After shearing and sorting at the sheepfold, the wool is sent to the Niaux spinning mill in Ariège, one of the last places in France where washing and carding are still possible. However, due to the lack of machines adapted to this type of rustic fiber, Manech wool can no longer be spun into yarn. This absence of industrial tools led me toward needle felting, a technique that reveals the intrinsic qualities of the material without requiring spinning or water-based processes.

Situated between tradition and innovation, my work seeks to reintroduce this wool into our living environments through textile surfaces, objects, and installations at the intersection of art, craft, and design. It is a way to honor pastoral gestures and narratives from the Basque-Béarn territory while imagining new uses for a local, living material one that carries memory and the potential for future applications.

What ?

During the Fabricademy program, I was able to enrich my practice by discovering techniques that extend my ongoing research on wool. In particular, through the BioFabricating Materials and Textile Scaffold modules, I initiated experiments combining :

• Wool and gelatin
• Sodium alginate with various molding techniques
• Innovative assembly and stabilization methods

These research paths respond to recurring challenges in my work: fragility, long-term durability, and the ability to stabilize the material without altering its nature. These liquid-based solutions (gelatin and alginate) allow the wool to be fixed while enhancing its already remarkable natural properties.

At present, these experiments exist as exploratory processes. My research project aims to deepen, refine, and evolve them toward coherent and reproducible applications.

When ?

The project is structured into three main phases :

1/ Intensive research phase :

Development of emerging material explorations based on initial tests, including:

• Wool braided into spring, like structures
• Wool used as a molded composite
• Perforated wool stabilized with sprayed gelatin
• Folded wool

2/ Form-giving phase

Based on the results obtained, this phase focuses on refining processes and improving protocols (machine hacking, custom mold creation, durability testing, scale variations, etc.).

3/ Object creation phase

Designing a series of wool-based objects speculating on future uses of these materials, exploring : forms, volumes, functions, interactions, and presence within domestic space.

Where ?

This research will take the form of an imagined space called “The Wool House.” A place where material becomes architecture, furniture, skin, tool, and envelope. Within this space, everyday objects, typically made from rigid materials, are reinterpreted in wool. The goal is to challenge our material habits, question our reliance on non-renewable resources, and propose alternatives derived from living materials.

Why ?

To extend the meaning of my design practice. To push the limits of a forgotten material. To give a second life to a local fiber and reintegrate it into the contemporary material landscape. To affirm that vernacular resources still hold powerful potential to nourish future imaginaries and uses.

How ?

The approach is based on a hybrid methodology combining craft practices, repurposed industrial tools, and digital fabrication technologies. The objective is to develop an open and reproducible methodology capable of transforming a vernacular material, Manech sheep wool, into a contemporary, adaptable, and durable resource.

Material methodology

The research relies on an experimental protocol composed of several steps, some of which are already underway :

• Wool collection and preparation: sorting, fiber-length selection, optional carding at the mill
• Transformation through needle felting: use of felting machines, modified tufting tools, or handmade tools to create surfaces and volumes
• Stabilization with bio-materials: application of gelatin, alginate, or other natural binders to explore new structural properties (rigidity, transparency, tension)
• Molding and shaping: forming using 3D-printed molds, wooden structures, textile supports, and other custom solutions
• This methodology allows the testing of material limits, understanding of its behavior, and the creation of a dialogue between raw fiber and natural additives.

Technical methodology

The project mobilizes a set of tools that hybridize craftsmanship and contemporary technologies :

• Digital fabrication
• Tool hacking and customization
• Development of custom-made attachments
• Adaptation of existing machines for alternative uses

These tools enable freer exploration, where technology becomes an extension of the hand and gesture.

Design methodology

To ensure that the research leads to coherent objects, the design process is guided by three key actions :

• Observing the material: its reactions, limits, and formal potential
• Dialoguing with the gesture: how tools, pressure, speed, and layering influence outcomes
• Projecting uses: imagining how the material can integrate into existing or future objects

This is an iterative process, where each test informs the next and mistakes become valuable research pathways.

Documentation system

The entire project will be documented through a rigorous system including :

• Photographs, videos, and scans of experiments
• Material datasheets (protocols, quantities, timing, observations, results)
• Archiving of 3D models and machine parameters
• A continuous research journal

This documentation ensures reproducibility and makes the evolution of the research visible.

Collaboration and ecosystem

The project is embedded in a network of local resources and potential collaborations:

• Niaux spinning mill (washing, carding)
• Shepherds and breeders in the Basque Country
• Fab labs and fabrication spaces (Green Fabric and partner workshops)
• experts in bio-materials and eco-design
• designers, artisans, and researchers working with living materials

This collaborative ecosystem gives the project both a local grounding and an open, interdisciplinary dimension.

Final outcome

The final stage consists of imagining and producing a series of manifesto-objects “The Wool House”, that materialize the different axes of research. These objects are not intended to be purely functional; they demonstrate how a forgotten material can once again become structural, sensitive, and durable.

They may take the form of :

• Wall surfaces, acoustic or insulating panels
• omestic objects (boxes, lamps, seating, supports, etc.)
• Soft architectural elements
• Textures, skins, membranes
• Experimental, non-utilitarian forms

Each piece will represent a possible response to the material challenges of tomorrow.

References & Inspiration

1. “Amas”, Sacha Parent
2. Emma Bruschi
3. “Table Brush”, Calen Knauf
4. “Paravent FSW”, Charles Eames and Ray Eames