Florence Wuillai is a textile designer, a graduate of the Haute école d’art du Rhin in Mulhouse. During her studies, she specialised in the technique of wool felting. Driven by a desire to develop innovative, environmentally respectful materials, she creates fabrics made from wool using the felting technique. She works within the French wool sector, where she engages with a fertile ecosystem that spans from the farmer to the designer. Linen and hemp also form part of her textile explorations, questioning how these different supply chains can support one another within her materials.

Alongside her artistic practice, she leads educational workshops on Breton wools in schools and leisure centres. As part of an ongoing drive towards innovation, she conducts research on the development of natural technical textiles with ITECH.

Research Project at the Fondation Martell

The manufacture of charentaises (traditional French slippers) generates offcuts made up of three layers of different materials bonded together (a patterned outer textile, a polyethylene foam, and a fleecy jersey of raw wool), which cannot be separated by hand in a large-scale production system. Because of this difficulty in recycling its waste, the charentaise cannot lay claim to a second life.

How can the foam used in the slipper be substituted? How can local wool be reintroduced into a product emblematic of the region? And how can new connections be created between local stakeholders around the charentaise — from the farmer to the manufacturer?

These are the questions that the textile designer, specialising in wool felting, sets out to answer.

Interim Results from the Residency

The designer has produced several slipper prototypes as well as numerous material samples. Her starting point, in order to eliminate the polyethylene foam from the charentaise, is to propose textiles made entirely of wool, sourced from the local supply chain. The aim is to preserve the structure and properties of the materials currently used while simplifying the manufacturing process — in particular through the use of woollen cloth (drap de laine), which lends the slipper its aesthetic character. Its presence also makes the slipper easier to assemble thanks to its firmness. The “comfort” padding layer and the “cosy” fabric are replaced by felt, which combines both of these qualities. The prototypes make it possible to use understated woollen cloths, to preserve the quilted effect, to introduce texture, and to highlight the natural colour of the sheep’s fleece.

Place within the Labo Almanach

This applied research project, centred on a traditional craft and a local wool supply chain, enables us to: 1) demonstrate the ability of both the designer and the Labo Almanach to build relationships between scattered stakeholders around an emblematic object; 2) turn the prototype into an object that raises questions — one that is expected to spark a dialogue between the various players in this (as yet incompletely structured) supply chain and their audiences, so that the Labo can contribute to a wider dynamic of development; 3) provide, around themes such as raw-material sourcing and the long-term sustainability of producing emblematic regional objects, the critical and theoretical framework needed to situate this project at broader scales, allowing the Labo to play the role of a resource centre for this kind of experience.

Resources Involved

• L’Atelier Charentaises
• Atelier Musée des Tisserands et de la Charentaise Christian Magne
• Cécile Maisonnier, sheep farmer and wool producer

KEYWORDS: offcuts / wool / supply chain / heritage / prototype