Wool works: ECAL students explore the qualities of Merino

Led by designers Ronan Bouroullec and Camille Blin, the project, In Wool We Trust, challenged students to rethink the application of wool, which is often associated with handicrafts, furniture or clothing.

The final installation, featured Comet, a mechanical circus of coloured wools by Vincent Dechelette that was designed to offer a kinetic take on the weaving process and cleverly mimics stars shooting through the night sky. Another piece, Fubuki by Takafumi Nemoto, used wool fibres spinning in water to create an ethereal snow storm projected onto the gallery wall. To highlight the wool’s lightness, Dominic Schlögel presented Föhn, a string of Merino wool that floats in the air, powered by an industrial fan.

‘The kinetic elements add moments of interest,’ Anthoine Vauthey, head of exhibitions at ECAL, tells LS:N Global. ‘It makes people ask what is going on there.’

LS:N Global is reporting live from Design Miami/ Basel. Look out for more coverage in our Seed and Shows sections.