Communities, companies & universities united through a series of wool-thematic activities in Estonia
A series of activities & events born from the initiative of passionate individuals, which, by involving communities, companies & universities, helps to raise public awareness about the properties, uses and valorisation of sheep wool. Public webinars, workshops & conference organised in Estonia; a novel online Wool Exchange Platform set up for mediating contacts between wool producers & consumers; an educational material in preparation aiming to raise the wool awareness of craftsmen & designers.
National
Estonia
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It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
Yes
EEA and Norway Grants Estonia (The European Economic Area and Norwegian Financial Mechanisms);
website: https://www.rtk.ee/en/funds-and-programs/other-programs/eea-and-norway-grants-estonia.
Funded project: "Estonian and Norwegian local sheep wool - research and study materials for textile students in higher education" (01.12.2020−31.03.2023).
No
Yes
As individual(s) in partnership with organisation(s)
First name: Ave Last name: Matsin Gender: Female Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: I, Mrs. Ave Matsin, work as Director of Native Crafts Curriculum & Lecturer in Estonian Native Textile at the University of Tartu Viljandi Culture Academy*. However, the “Wool in Circle” initiative is not strictly part of my daily work responsibilities, though it impacts / has a spillover effect on the Academy in a multitude of ways (academic work & study materials, research topics, involvement of students in event organisation, academy-industry collaboration on innovative product development projects, etc). In a way it is a logic continuation of my work until now, for which the Estonian President Alar Karis awarded me the Estonian state decoration "Order of the White Star" (Vabariigi Presidendi Valgetähe V klassi teenetemärk) in Feb 2022. Lending to the President's words, it was to celebrate my "invaluable work in teaching the techniques of folk crafts".
On my initiative, a working group of individuals enthusiastic about the development of wool topics gathered and collaborated in Estonia throughout the year 2022. Different people have been involved in different activities but the core is made up of a Board Member of the Estonian Sheep and Goat Breeders Association (https://lammas.ee), Ms Kadri Tali - Senior Researcher at the Estonian University of Life Sciences (in Tartu) & Sheep Farmer (https://www.etis.ee/CV/Kadri_Tali_001/est), Ms Katrin Kabun - Lecturer at the Estonian Academy of Arts (in Tallinn) & Textile Designer & Co-Founder and Board Member of Woola OÜ (https://www.etis.ee/CV/Katrin%20Kabun/eng, https://katrinkabun.com, innovative start-up of sustainable sheep wool packaging - https://www.woola.io).
*For further background, the University of Tartu (UT), founded in 1632, is the oldest and largest university in Estonia both in terms of staff (3500) and student numbers (13 400), as well as the volume of its teaching, research and development activities. As of 2022, UT belongs to the top 1.2% of the world's universities. UT Viljandi Culture Academy (VCA) is one of the three colleges of UT, located in Viljandi, South Estonian city of approx 18 000 citizens. It is a public body with its own budget within UT. VCA has around 100 staff members, to which add service contracts with another 300 persons every year – specific field expert-practitioners involved in teaching. UT VCA provides applied higher education in different areas of culture via its graduate (3) and undergraduate (5) study programmes to over 700 students, half of whom are distance learners. Nationality: Estonia Function: Initiator Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Posti 1 Town: Viljandi Postal code: 71004 Country: Estonia Direct Tel:+372 526 2510 E-mail:ave.matsin@ut.ee Website:https://www.etis.ee/CV/Ave_Matsin/eng
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Yes
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites
Sheep wool is a fiber with very specific properties that can be successfully used in the textile industry as well as in other economic/industrial areas. In the context of the Green Transition, it is important to emphasise that wool is an excellent substitute for textile materials made from non-renewable fossil fuels, being both wearer- and nature-friendly.
In recent decades, the insufficient valuation/valorisation of local sheep wool has become a big problem in Estonia. As of the beginning of 2022, approx. 130 tons of wool is produced annually as a by-product of sheep breeding, of which only about 10% is utilised for the intended purpose. The remaining wool is destroyed.
In 2022, a group of activists initiated a series of activities in Estonia in cooperation with various companies & organisations. The aim of the “wool initiative” was to open the circle of topics related to the destruction of wool and bring it to a wider audience, educate sheep farmers, craftsmen & designers on the topic, and create a contact network. During 2022, the following activities were organised:
- 5-part public series of wool-themed Webinars (Feb 2022; recordings available in Estonian);
- Article summarising the topics covered in the Webinars (summer 2022);
- Online Wool Exchange Platform (created to mediate the contacts of potential buyers & sellers of wool; won the 1st Prize of the 100-participant Heritage Hackathon organised in collaboration with UT VCA in Viljandi, EE in May 2022; pilot version launched during the Wool Conference in Nov 2022);
- “Estonian Wool Week” (Nov 2022; involving-uniting communities via open doors days with workshops, study tours & exhibitions in different parts of EE);
- International Estonian Wool Conference (17-18 Nov 2022 in Viljandi; recordings of Day 1 available in EN, Day 2 in ET);
- Educational Material aimed at university students majoring in textile (in EN, ready by March 2023; for raising awareness about the properties & possible uses of wool).
sustainable use of materials (sheep wool)
local production and consumption
community engagement
awareness raising
creation of supportive online environments
The aim of the initiative is to increase the amount of wool in production. Inherently, wool is a high-tech biodegradable natural material, the non-valuation of which is sharply non-aligned with the principles of the circular economy. In order to solve the wider problem, it is necessary to develop a full production chain for wool processing where buying up, sorting and washing the wool are of key importance. As long as there is no ideal processing chain, activities such as raising people's awareness and gathering possible interested parties into cooperation networks help to alleviate the situation. To this end, a series of public outreach activities were carried out in Estonia in 2022, from webinars to a “Wool Week” and a conference. Coverage of all the systematically implemented activities can be found on the online Wool Exchange Platform, which will continue to gather and mediate similar information in order to ensure sustainability of the topic. To further guarantee long-term sustainability of the initiative, students have from the very beginning been and will continuously be involved in all activities of the initiative, both as organisers and content implementers.
Taken together, the initiative’s circular economic focus on local material and the integration of relevant topics into the teaching is a great example to be implemented in other (higher) education institutions in Europe and beyond.
Sheep wool has played a very important role in people's daily life throughout the millennia. Its use, in addition to functionality, is very much related to the preservation of nature and cultural heritage for many people. On the one hand, the destruction of the valuable material - wool - goes against the values and aesthetics of many sheep farmers. Unfortunately, those farmers still do not have enough good and easy-to-apply opportunities for the valuation/valorisation of wool. On the other hand, luckily, artisans/craftsmen and designers would like to use more local material, as it contributes to the creation of culturally meaningful items with a small footprint. Plus the local communities can thereby be engaged. The online Wool Exchange Platform, set up as part of the “Wool in Circle” initiative, helps for the first time to match supply and demand. To increase networking offline, beyond the Platform, the “Estonian Wool Week” and an international Conference were organised, entailing several open workshops, exhibitions and also a spinning competition, which all together gave the circa 100 participants from Estonia and abroad a lot of new knowledge, hands on experience and positive emotions. Plus a further 1300 participants followed the Conference sessions offline (Day 1 recordings in English available here: https://www.uttv.ee/naita?id=33812), giving another layer of the multiplication effect to the whole initiative.
Furthermore, thanks to the topics/discussions raised by the initiative, students are much more aware of the value of local sheep wool and are willingly using it as a starting point for their design process. As a result, a multitude of very different design works have been completed and are increasingly under making, which in turn helps to popularise the use of local wool. The initiative boldly shows the way forward how place-based design practices can become more prominent across Europe with the support of (higher) education institutions.
The vast majority of the wool-related events of the “Wool in Circle” initiative in 2022 were open to all interested parties and free of charge (Webinars and workshops on wool during the Wool Week) or were later made publicly available online (e.g. Article, recordings of the Conference presentations). The use of the online Wool Exchange Platform is free for buyers and for a nominal fee for sellers. Such openness ensures access for all interested parties. What is SPECIAL & EXEMPLARY about the wool initiative is the fact that the activities INVOLVED representatives of THE ENTIRE wool production/processing ECOSYSTEM. As a great example, a Cooperation Fair was held during the Conference where sheep farmers, manufacturers of woollen products, educational institutions, students, lecturers/researchers and representatives of other organisations and communities could share their experiences, socialise and broaden their contact networks. The latter builds foundation for future collaborations leading, among other things/events, to innovative design tools, products, production methods etc.
At a time when the world is experiencing overconsumption, it is necessary to prioritise the sustainable use of local resources to the maximum. The series of activities of the “Wool in Circle” initiative provides a wider audience, including the general public, with skills, knowledge and opportunities for better and more informed use of local materials. Several events in the series also created conditions for the emergence of local cooperation networks (including the Wool Exchange Platform but not only) without which the more efficient and sustainable use of local sheep wool is unthinkable.
Different parties were involved in the initialisation, organisation and implementation of the different parts of the series of events of the “Wool in Circle” initiative.
- In the series of Wool Webinars, each webinar involved a specific target group dealing with sheep wool: 1) sheep farmers, 2) managers of wool mills, 3) designers and artisans/craftsmen, 4) representatives of large textile industries and 5) universities.
- On the occasion of the “Estonian Wool Week”, a public call for participation was open to farmers from all over Estonia.
- Regarding the International Estonian Wool Conference, presenters from Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Norway and the UK participated, sharing their good practices but also establishing contacts with local entrepreneurs. The audience included a variety of stakeholders, including those present at the side event - Cooperation Fair -, i.e. sheep farmers, manufacturers of woollen products, educational institutions, students, lecturers/researchers and representatives of other organisations and communities active in the wool valuation/valorisation chain.
The disciplines involved throughout the “Wool in Circle” initiative span from agriculture, education, science/research, crafts and design to creative entrepreneurship, and, relatedly, small and medium-sized textile enterprises. The Webinars and the Wool Conference created a solid communication platform where different parties could present their expectations and needs. As an outcome of the whole series of events, a network of problems was mapped, the solution of which would contribute to the development of various (including necessary but missing) target groups, and thereby of the full production chain for wool processing. Importantly, the online Wool Exchange Platform created and launched to exchange contacts and bring interested parties together was one of the first crucial steps contributing majorly to the aforementioned ambition.
The leaders of the “Wool in Circle” initiative decided to seize the momentum - take action until the national policy-makers also “tune in” to change the problematic and unsustainable situation of wool processing in Estonia whereby up to 90% of the valuable sheep wool (over 110 tons out of the total 130 tons in 2022) “goes to trash”. FOR THE FIRST TIME, a group of “wool enthusiasts” started to tackle the cobweb of problems in the framework of existing means and opportunities, and by INVOLVING as many different STAKEHOLDERS as possible (companies, organisations and communities). Intensification of collaboration and making it sustainable was their priority.
The INNOVATIVENESS of the “Wool in Circle” initiative lies in the COMBINATION OF VARIOUS MUTUALLY SUPPORTING ACTIVITIES, which ensures the most effective information dissemination both within Estonia and across the border (e.g. the International Estonian Wool Conference in Nov 2022).
Event by event the ambition of the core group grew and novel approaches were tried, tested and applied, including participating in the first-ever Estonian Heritage Hackathon in May 2022 in Viljandi, Estonia, where the wool initiative group brought home the 3000-euro 1st Prize, and with that money could kick off the development of the pilot version of the online Wool Exchange Platform. THE PLATFORM was launched later in the year (during the Conference in Nov 2022), which also marked the first big hallmark (reaching “LEVEL OF MATURITY”). While it is currently focused on bringing together buyers and sellers of sheep wool only, plus providing up to date, scientific information about the topic of wool, the long term ambition foresees including other types of wool (alpaca, dog, etc) and even plant-based fibers, internationalisation of interactions, as well as building other forms of engagement on top of the online environment.
The two (2) most important replicable/transferrable elements of the “Wool in Circle” initiative include:
- The ONLINE WOOL EXCHANGE PLATFORM, which brings together into one environment wool producers and consumers => It can be a) broadened in scope/scaled up (i.e. including other fibers than sheep wool, such as alpaca, dog, plant-based, etc), b) internationalised (i.e. to include other than Estonian buyers-sellers), and c) developed to have a multitude of interactive features for different stakeholder groups, not forgetting the (small) local communities (e.g. online workshops, educational features including games for the younger generation, medium for online and offline “challenges”, etc).
- The FORMAT of the series of Wool Webinars that helps raise awareness among academia, industry and the general public, and actively engages those different communities.
Additionally (thirdly), the Educational Material under finalisation (in English, ready by March 2023; thereafter translated also into Estonian) aimed at university students majoring in textile, having as purpose raising awareness about the properties and possible uses of wool, can be translated into other languages and certainly developed further once the whole “Wool in Circle” initiative evolves and new knowledge becomes sharable. Possible (international) collaboration projects/initiatives can similarly be built around it.
When organising the wool-themed events of the “Wool in Circle” initiative in 2022, the following important principles were followed:
1) the events are public and invitations are distributed to as many target/stakeholder groups of the wool valuation/valorisation chain as possible (geographically restricted to Estonia, with the exception of the International Estonian Wool Conference);
2) related to point 1, as much more intense and direct interaction of the various wool processing
chain parties is necessary, allowing time and space for personal networking/contact making has to be integrated into the set-up of all activities, when and where possible;
3) experts in their field are involved in the organisation of all events to ensure the quality of the information conveyed;
4) students (first and foremost from UT Viljandi Culture Academy) are engaged in the organisation process of the events when and where possible, to create the feeling of attachment and deeper interest in the topics.
5) Furthermore, (small) local communities conveying specific cultural and heritage traditions have been under special consideration for their better inclusion and, respectively, contribution to new knowledge creation.
6) Related to one of the landmarks and maturity stamps of the initiative, the online Wool Exchange Platform came into being as a logical next step of the “Wool Webinar” discussions where farmers said they did not know who would want their wool and artisans said it was difficult to get hold of local wool. Thus, action was taken by the core group! From the very beginning, in addition to mediating contacts, the aim of the Platform was set to have a strong educational purpose: it raises awareness of the factors affecting the quality of wool, which in turn contributes to obtaining better raw material.
The “Wool in Circle” initiative helps to reduce the use of textile materials made on the basis of fossil fuels as it raises people's awareness of the accompanying environmental effects. It also helps to find better ways to use local biodegradable materials (such as sheep wool) that currently are not valued and valorised enough. The consumption of local materials further helps to reduce the fuel costs arising from the transportation of (foreign) goods and products, and provides employment to the inhabitants of rural areas.
As an outcome of the networking and discussions during the events of the “Wool in Circle” initiative in 2022, an online Wool Exchange Platform was created, featuring during the still ongoing pilot period (planned between Nov 2022 and Feb/March 2023) a total of 15 wool purchase and sale ads (i.e. by the end of January 2023). In Estonia, the shearing of sheep takes place mainly in the spring months and by that time the number of users and their transactions going through the online Platform is expected to grow considerably (est 4-fold).
In addition, the agenda of the core group includes continuing with the theme of wool valuation/valorisation also in 2023 by emphasising it via new national collaborations with:
- Estonian Fashion Festival, a multi-day environmentally friendly fashion festival taking place in the 2nd city of Estonia - Tartu - in June 2023, introducing starting designers who pay attention to the principles of sustainability (EFF, https://fashionfestival.ee). Thanks to the wool initiative, a special emphasis in EFF’s public competition will be put on wool thematics. Further, the wool is expected to get its say in the side programme of EFF (seminars, exhibitions, etc).
- Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union - in collaboration work is ongoing in establishing the statute for the Label “Own Material” (“Oma Materjal”, https://folkart.ee/ettevotlus/mark-oma), which local producers of natural materials incl wool could themselves apply for. The purpose is to support a sustainable way of life through the ethical use and appreciation/valorisation of local natural materials, and to encourage creators and consumers to consciously monitor the material's life cycle and the choices made daily. The first Labels will be issued in Nov 2023 in Tallinn at St Martin’s Fair, the Estonian biggest fair of traditional handicraft.
The overarching aim of the initiative through the described (and more) activities is to increase the use of local wool in sustainable "old" & new ways.
