https://mareenbaumeister.com/flock/
abgerufen: 17.09.2025
felted wool as a poly-quality mono-material
FLOCK investigates the functional and aesthetic potential of the different types of wool from European sheep, which are not suitable for clothing due to their coarse fiber structure and are therefore thrown away by the ton, with the aim of expanding their fields of application using new technologies. The vision is to reduce the complexity of products by precisely programming the material properties using robotic manufacturing so that they are in line with ecological imperatives, and to revive the outstanding properties of wool and the ecological potential of sheep farming.
Precise robotic felting enables qualities ranging from firm to flexible and soft in any pattern, so that a felt with specifically varying degrees of hardness is created by purely mechanical means. A felting machine for a robotic arm and a three-dimensional felting process were developed for this purpose. The findings made it possible to create load-bearing three-dimensional wool felts for the first time by reinterpreting traditional felting techniques. As one example, these findings were translated into a mono-material upholstered furniture concept that visualizes the potential of the material and technology.
Mart Stam Prize 2024 | Elsa Neumann Scholarship 2025 | Hessian State Prize for German Arts and Crafts Nominee 2025 | Green Concept Award Finalist 2025 | Germa Ecodesign Award Shortlist 2025 | Creative Conscience Award Winner 2025 | Isola Design Award Nominee 2025
Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven, 2024 | Ambiente, Frankfurt, 2025 | Material District, Utrecht | Interzum, Cologne | Building Perspectives, Detmold | Galerie Pankow, Berlin, 2025 | feldfünf, Berlin, 2025 | Museum of Applied Arts, Cologne 2025
Maison Marie Claire Korea, 2025 | MIX Magazine No.78, 2025 | Isola Design Journal, 2025 | Green Trend Book No. 12 | designwanted, 2025 | Imprints of Time – Mart Stam, 2025 | circle magazine | AW Architektur & Wohnen Magazin | Metropolis Magazine
European sheep’s wool comes in many different colours 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. The problem is not the wool itself, but its (un)use. 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.
