Work in wool fibres and cellulose biocomposit
Burnt Wool
2026
In 2025, I developed LIMINAL ZONE, a material research-based project focused on design as a point of encounter between people and the rural environment. The project centred on materials once vital to the survival of ancestral mountain communities, but now often treated
as waste: remnants of a fading material culture. These materials are frequently dismissed as “ugly” or “rough.” I became interested in the aesthetic and cultural values projected onto them, allowing them to shape the narrative of the work.
BURNT WOOL is the next stage of this research. It explores the transitional landscape between the lower plains and the high-altitude pastures of the Italian Alps, an ecologically rich territory shaped by centuries of exchange between human activity and the natural environment. Specifically, I examine the changing perception of wool fibres, once highly valued by local communities, but now often disposed of as waste material, sometimes through incineration.
This reflects the fragility of agrosilvopastoral traditions in the region, where sheep are primarily bred for meat production, often at the expense of qualities associated with commercially desirable wool.
Craft plays a central role in the development and transformation of local biomaterials. Through making, I investigate the material’s inherent qualities, using process itself as a form of understanding and dialogue.
Burning the wool became a way to foreground its status as waste. Coarse fibres unsuitable for garment production are often discarded despite wool’s inherent material intelligence. As a naturally fire-retardant fibre, wool chars rather than ignites, allowing texture to emerge
through controlled burning. This paradox became integral to both the making process and the conceptual framework of the objects.
This project is personal to me as it offers the opportunity to create some distance from the rules of industrial design; for many years, I shaped materials to fit my designs, with BURNT WOOL I gave materials agency, letting go of control, instead entering a dialogue with people, land and other creatures that inhabit the land, I learned how much we are interdependent.
I explore the theme, BORDER, as a place of encounter.
The research behind BURNT WOOL and its local biomaterial development centred around the many conversations I had with local experts across the Eastern Alpine region of Italy.
While in the area, my interest focused on a liminal zone — a meeting point between high altitude, the lower plains, and inhabited land — where each affects the other, as if in conversation. It is a place where culture and biodiversity are rich, and where the ugly and the beautiful coexist. This is where the wool fibres I use for BURNT WOOL come from: materials often considered waste and sometimes disposed of through burning.
Sandra is an artistic researcher and designer based in London developing new materials and objects through dialogue, research, and hands-on experimentation, with a focus on nature and local knowledge systems.
With a Master’s degree in Applied Imagination from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design and an alumni of The Material Way Local Bio-based Materials Program, a collaborative platform for material-based studies, based in Copenhagen-
Sandra’s practice lies at the intersection of material research and product development. Alongside designing commercial products, she cultivates a deep interest in biomaterials and sustainable material innovation.
Through her professional journey, Sandra learned to question assumptions within the design discipline, approaching each project as an opportunity for critical inquiry and creative exploration, her practice lies at the intersection of rural and urban material and visual culture.