Weved is a wool and natural woven fabric company from northern Netherlands. Aiming to fill the gap in the Dutch region that no longer has a wool industry, Weved employs the use of waste wool. The company achieves this by working with designers to create quality products out of the traditional and sustainable material.
Founder Claudy Jongstra, with help from Stefan Koper, campaigns to revive the local wool industry. In 2021, Weved sought out social design company Re–gained. Weved also worked alongside Studio Floris Schoonderbeek to create two stylish and waste-free designs.
Related: Ottan Studio transforms green waste into home décor
As a result, the Weved Chair 01 and Table Tarpo 01 premiered at Masterly, the Dutch in Milano. The presentation took place as part of the Salone del Mobile in June 2022 at the historic Palazzo Turati in Milan.
For the special event, Weved created a sturdy fabric from the wool of the Drenthe Heath sheep. The process began with Studio Claudy Jongstra dyeing the wool with vegetable dye, then Donegal Yarns in Ireland spun the wool. After, an Enschede-based company called AC Ter Kuile wove it into a beautiful fabric.
Although it’s a lot of work to revive an industry in the Netherlands, the project highlights the potential return of Dutch wool through weaving and biodynamic plant growing for dye. Jongstra hopes these efforts will further biodiversity in the landscape.
The chair acts as either a simple lawn or living chair with a wool fabric seat and backing set on a wood frame. To note, the frame comes from repurposed wood. Quality fabric also makes up the tarp that signals back to a time before the mass production of textiles.
Dutch wool is a great natural material with fantastic qualities. But, too much wool is being discarded and destroyed from almost all sheep herds. That’s where Weved comes in. Both the chair and tarp designs compliment each other in theme, content and imagery. The goods underline the shared story of reclaiming surplus flows, biodiversity and a circular economy.
Images via Weved
