In Search of Wool

You are warmly invited to participate in the workshop “In Search of Wool” facilitated by designer-researcher Bilge Merve Aktaş as part of an emerging project about wool and its future. In this workshop, participants will rethink the capacities of wool, its behaviors in the creative making, and the values attributed to it. During the workshop, participants will also work with other organic fibers to explore pairing wool with other materials. 

The aim of the workshop is to rethink the future of local wool, a material often discarded or burnt due to the domination of merino wool from abroad. In the workshop, through material exploration, we will speculate ways of overcoming barriers and re-envision use areas for wool. 

The workshop is free and open to all. The seats will be limited to 10 people on a first-come, first-served basis.  

This research project is carried out as part of a research residency at the Center for Craft.

See Bilge’s blog for her previous research: https://bilgemerveaktas.wordpress.com  

For further questions, contact Bilge at bilgemerveaktas@gmail.com   

Short bio: 

Bilge is a designer-researcher working with felting, knitting, and weaving to explore their power to connect people with themselves, their communities, and the world. Her practice-led research delves into the human-material interaction to facilitate meaningful ways of coexisting with the world. Currently, she works with wool and other fibers to develop hybrid materials and increase the use areas of local wool. She has exhibited her works at museums such as Thousand Islands Arts Center (New York), Arktikum Science Museum (Rovaniemi, Finland), Helinä Rautavaaran Museum (Espoo, Finland), and Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (Istanbul, Turkey). Over the past decade, she has taught design courses at universities such as Aalto University in Finland, Estonia Academy of Arts, and Koç University in Turkey.