A research journey into wool, value, and small-scale textile futures
Wool Futures Studio is a research and development project by Twilling Tweeds, supported by Creative Scotland’s Go See Share fund. The project explores how wool moves from raw material into cultural, ecological and commercial value. Through a short research visit to Norway, Twilling Tweeds is examining how Norwegian wool is collected, graded, processed, designed with, and positioned within contemporary textile markets.
At the heart of the project is a simple but urgent question:
How can a small design-led wool studio build a more resilient, meaningful and commercially viable future around wool?
About the Research
Twilling Tweeds has always worked with wool as more than a material. Wool carries landscape, labour, memory, climate, animal life, language and inherited skill. From Harris Tweed in Scotland to Chitrali Shu in northern Pakistan, the studio’s work is rooted in the belief that cloth can hold stories of place, movement and belonging.
Wool Futures Studio builds on this foundation by looking more closely at the systems that allow wool to be valued — not only emotionally or culturally, but also practically and commercially.
Norway offers an important case study. Its wool sector has developed strong systems around classification, grading, farmer support, production, design, and national identity. While Twilling Tweeds is not seeking to replicate Norway’s model, the project asks what principles can be translated into a smaller, independent studio context.
Field Visit to Norway
During the research visit to Oslo and Lillehammer, Twilling Tweeds is engaging with curators, wool specialists, museums, mills and textile organisations to better understand the relationship between material knowledge, design, heritage and market positioning.
The research includes conversations around:
Norwegian wool grading and classification
the role of wool standards in building trust and value
small-scale and industrial wool production
contemporary uses of Norwegian wool in design, interiors, clothing and craft
museum collections and textile archives
how local wool can be positioned within high-quality contemporary practice
what small textile studios can learn from organised wool systems
These encounters are helping Twilling Tweeds think more deeply about how wool becomes legible: how it is named, sorted, described, trusted, and ultimately transformed into objects of value.
Why Norway?
Norway’s relationship with wool is both practical and cultural. Wool is not treated only as a nostalgic material, but as part of a wider system of agriculture, design, industry and national identity.
This is particularly relevant to Twilling Tweeds as the studio develops its next phase: moving from project-led work towards a clearer studio model built around commissions, limited editions, research, and material-led consultancy.
For Twilling Tweeds, the lesson is not about scale. It is about structure.
A small studio does not need to become industrial in order to become sustainable. But it does need clarity: around materials, production, pricing, storytelling, and the specific value it offers.
What the Project is Developing
Wool Futures Studio supports Twilling Tweeds to refine its future direction as a small, premium, design-led wool studio.
The project is helping shape:
a clearer commission model for bespoke textile works
new approaches to pricing and material value
a stronger language around wool quality, origin and use
future limited-edition textile works
deeper relationships with mills, makers, curators and wool specialists
public writing and sharing around wool, craft and textile futures
The research also contributes to the studio’s wider work connecting Scotland and Pakistan through wool, embroidery, pastoral knowledge and contemporary textile art.
Sharing the Learning
As part of the project, Twilling Tweeds will share reflections through field notes, writing, talks and online resources. These will be aimed at artists, designers, makers, small studios, researchers and anyone interested in wool as a material of both cultural and economic possibility.
Rather than offering a fixed blueprint, Wool Futures Studio shares an evolving set of questions:
How do we make wool matter again?
How do we value materials without flattening their histories?
How can small studios work with slowness, depth and quality while still building viable futures?
What forms of knowledge are held in cloth, and what systems are needed to help that knowledge survive?
Towards a Wool Future
Wool Futures Studio is part of Twilling Tweeds’ ongoing commitment to cloth as a living archive — a place where landscape, memory, skill and imagination meet.
The project marks an important step in the studio’s development: from a body of beautiful textile projects towards a more defined and sustainable studio practice.
It is a journey into wool not only as fibre, but as future.
Supported by Creative Scotland through the Go See Share fund.