At a special meeting of the International Wool Textile Organisation (IWTO) architects from across the world were shown wool as a building rather than clothing material.

IWTO Treasurer Jo Dawson of H. Dawson Wool, and other members of the executive, met with architects in New Zealand, a major wool growing nation, to demonstrate how wool can be used in modern design and architecture.

Delegates came from Japan, Germany, France and the USA and were encouraged to come up with ways to use wool in unusual and innovative forms. “The results of the IWTO’s collaboration with the architects were staggering,” said Jo Dawson.

“By seeing wool as a raw material with strength, beauty, flexibility and incredible capabilities, the architects were able to work it into designs where it would never normally have been present.”

“The architects were able to use this new information about the properties of wool to develop some extremely interesting applications,” added Peter Ackroyd, president of IWTO. New products were created and a number of innovative project ideas were produced as a result.”

He acknowledged that his predecessor, Gunther Beier pioneered the project of bringing together association members with buyers in a potentially brand new market.