Wool-Rich Innovations Take Centre Stage at Shear Brilliance
Media statement on behalf of The Campaign for Wool
For immediate release
Fill your living environments with wool and do it in style – that’s the message from the Campaign for Wool.
The Campaign is hosting HRH The Prince of Wales today at Shear Brilliance – a wool showcase at The Cloud, Queens Wharf,
Auckland (1pm today).
“From a carpet couch to a wool peg necklace, from grass grown on wool dags to Tiki artwork on Merino, from Zambesi’s
carpet bag to the loftiness of wool knops, Shear Brilliance will surprise and delight anyone who might have thought wool
was passe,” says Stephen Fookes, Chair, Campaign for Wool New Zealand.
The Campaign is hosting nearly 200 invited guests and dignitaries as well as VIPs from architectural, interior and
related industries at this special exhibition in Auckland.
Natural and renewable wool is a perfect fit for the more environmentally conscious consumers of today, says Stephen
Fookes, and the exhibition is an opportunity to show New Zealand’s creativity and innovation with woollen textiles and
products.
“The wool industry also has a long and dedicated research capability creating a constant flow of innovations and new
opportunities for users. This is useful for the architectural and interior professionals to see. I challenge them to
consider the attributes of wool when they are specifying fitouts.”
Wool has all the qualities needed for architectural and interior projects, agrees architect Stephen McDougall of Studio
Pacific Architecture, who has taken on a role as Campaign for Wool Ambassador.
“If you designed a fibre for modern interiors, it would have all the qualities that wool has naturally. It is
fire-retardant, insulates, absorbs sound, strong, abrasion-resistant, a natural humidity regulator, absorbs toxins from
the air and binds them, is comfortable – and grown naturally. It ticks every box. It looks great too.”
Stephen McDougall believes the architectural and interior design industry actually knows about the many qualities of
wool and just needs to be reminded. “Over the past decade or more wool has slipped from peoples’ minds,” he says. “Wool
has a great story and it’s easy to tell. You also find yourself saying, ‘I never thought you could do that with wool.’”
All living environments – and particularly children’s rooms – should be full of wool, according to Ian Cuthbertson of
Wool Industry Research Ltd. “It’s all good.”
Research investment is being made to ensure the claims about wool are backed by best-available scientific methods, he
says. For example, there’s been considerable investigation of the wool’s natural fire-retardancy qualities, and Wool
Industry Research will run demonstrations at the exhibition.
HRH The Prince of Wales is the patron of the five-year Campaign for Wool being jointly run by the wool industries of New
Zealand, United Kingdom and Australia to remind consumers around the world of the virtues of wool and give them a good
reason to make wool their fibre of choice.
ENDS