Tacchini Flock
Tacchini, 2023
Tacchini, a design manufacturer of sofas and furnishings, has collaborated with Formafantasma to spearhead a new manner of fabrication that reflects both time-honored utilitarian tradition and modern environmental concerns.
Reworking upholstered seating from the inside, Formafantasma introduces a more sustainable, nature-based process for the manufacture of iconic Tacchini designs, with a technique inspired by antique mattress production, using surplus sheep’s wool to replace industrial foam. In combination with natural latex, the non-polluting sheep’s wool provides softness and stuffing utilizing a natural material that has paradoxically been treated as a waste product. The method evokes the research behind Formafantasma’s Oltre Terra exhibition at The National Museum of Norway in Oslo, for which the design studio explores the subject of wool along with its farming, distribution, and the sheep used for production.
Within the multitude of wool types that exist today, Merino still holds its position as the one that is most appreciated and in demand. Merino fibers are longer and thinner than most other sheep breeds, hence their softness is highly seductive and sought after in the production of garments. Coarser fibers have become viewed as by-products of sheep farming activities rather than as a useful material. As a consequence, farmers are turning away from rearing coarse wool-producing sheep, calling their future into question.
Sheep have been herded for millennia through nomadic or semi-nomadic practices. Today, these pastoral activities are at risk of disappearing, because mobile shepherds must compete commercially with intensive farming. The importance of transhumance, however, is applicable far beyond productivity, because it also provides a series of so-called ecosystem services. These include the maintenance of high-altitude pastures, reduction of the risk of wildfires and prevention of a decline in biodiversity.
Despite all these challenges, it is still possible to find suitable applications for coarse wool fibers. In fact, up until the late eighteenth century, it was common in Italy to use wool as filling material for mattresses and upholstery, before being replaced by oil-based alternatives such as foam. In addition to being hypoallergenic and a thermal insulator, wool could also offer sufficient elastic support when used in combination with metal springs.
This combination of materials and processes can provide an ecologically and socially sustainable alternative to synthetic foams. Paying a greater degree of attention to the extraction of raw materials and production processes can highlight ways in which neglected wool could become a resourceful material instead of an unused animal by-product.
