A new way of working with wool: The New Solidwool Hembury Chair
The ethos for Solidwool is simple; a love of design, a passion for wool and a commitment to creating beautiful materials without compromising the planet.
Solidwool is a unique, highly engineered composite material; think fibreglass but with wool and bio-resin. A gift of nature, wool is natural and sustainable. Sheep live a free-range lifestyle and as long as there is grass they produce a new fleece every year.
Solidwool was set up in response to the declining demand and resulting increase in unwanted wool, especially course dark wool. The vision was to find a new way to use this wool, to take the unwanted and make it beautiful.
The wool currently used in Solidwool is Herdwick, a breed farmed in the central and Western Lake District. Very course and difficult to dye, its perceived value has been lost and it is currently one of the lowest value wools in the UK. When used in Solidwool, Herdwick is beautiful, producing a grey composite with the lighter guard hairs standing out.
Using this wool with a bio-resin in a unique manufacturing process, Solidwool is a sustainable alternative to injection moulded plastics and fibreglass – a material that turns the way wool is used on its head.
The Hembury Chair shell perfectly showcases the beauty of Solidwool; an effortless and classic design crafted to last and made to cherish. The chair is sculptural and comfortable, strong enough for everyday purpose, yet light enough for commercial use.
Each chair is made with the equivalent of one whole fleece and bio-resin. The wooden legs are made from UK-sourced Ash, natural or scorched, and hand-turned by local craftspeople.
The chairs are made in small batches, produced by a skilled team in a brand-new workshop in Devon.
