Tamaki Regime

Wool Shenanigans

First 'SAS' group event!

So the very first event of our group was on the 10th September, which was also the Rugby World Cup Opening Ceremony. This wasnt our groups event however our aperture was up, along with all the other groups therefore the people were able to interact with a part of the wool.

The number of people coming to explore the container was immaculate. There were people of all ages therefore our folly worked well because it attained a reaction from everyone. Next to our Woolly aperture was another aperture which blew bubbles therefore attracted the younger passers by. This little girl spent a great deal of time exploring the wool as well as chasing bubbles. It was really interesting to see how we achieved our aim of playfulness and interaction with the public.

Dense materiality

Experimentations

We have begun testing out different materials in terms of creating our own system to secure our biomorphic internal structure to the framing which will be inside the container and then attatching our materials to that. 

This was the orinal idea of weaving that we had incorpated throughout the structure of our design, however, we were not convinced it was worth doing in such manner as the amount of wool needed would double/triple and it would still allow for the mesh wire to show through in places which would mean that it would not be soft throughout and there would be areas that might actually become a hazard with people touching as there might be hidden sharp edges from the mesh.

Why wool?

Wool may just about be the only fibre thats naturally flame resistant?

Now this becomes extreeeeemely important when you stuff a small internal area full of material. In our case, wool fleece. Now, were not saying that it will not burn, but just that its easy to extinguish incase someone decides to be funny and pull out a lighter. 

So, this is where its evident that it would be to our benefit to use wool over the other super flamable artificial materials!

Karen Ciaramella

Artist Karen Ciaramella caught our eye today.

She uses limited materiality, which is mainly all white sheep's wool and through this she symbolises the 'Divinity' embracing all things. She pinpoints wool as a provider of protection and warmth.

We find her work really interesting as the threshold between the use of wool and a material of a similar state has been shown really well through her works. Here we have material which she has ripped and shredded to kind of create the same effect of the torn/loose sheep fleece. We are thinking this might be an important aspect for our design in terms of hanging the wool and making it stay in place. If we place strands of shredded material which has been washed in a softener we wont drain away from the rich feeling of softness.  

Our Sponsor - Cavalier Bremworth

Cavalier Bremworth is a New Zealand owned carpet maker with a history spanning more than 50 years! They design and make carpet of the highest quality, made from 100% New Zealand Wool. Their carpets are made from 100% sustainable resource that all their carpet is entitled with Environmental Choice Accreditation. "Warm, comforting, soft and luxurious, wool carpet provides an unmatched sensory expeience. A touch of softness in a hard-edged world." This is the type of experience Woolly is all about hence why we decided to approach Cavalier Bremworth in discussion of our project and in possible sponsorship.

After experimenting with the string yarn we thought hard about how we would reproduce this kind of design to scale. We really wanted something that would create the same soft qualities as the yarn therefore wool fleece came to mind. We had heard about Cavalier Bremworth through the grapevine of Architecture as they happen to have strong affiliations within the Architectural Society leading the AAA awards. We approached Cavalier Bremworth, nervous, yet were welcomed by their Marketing Manager Desiree Keown, who even though was extremely busy took the time to listen to our proposal and engaged in our ideas straight away offering us a range of materials which we were given straight after our meeting.

The following day our group began calculations as to how much wool we might need and came to the conclusion of 25 square metres of sheep fleece required. After emailing Desiree we received a reply straight after and they provided us with 90kilograms of scoured wool fleece.

Here is some of the material provided by Cavalier Bremworth. These very high quality thick wool yarns allowed us to start producing models on a 1:1 scale. The richness in colour in texture will help in providing this strong sensory experience.

The Mesh

Wool Model

Trials

Site - Myers Park