Emma Casella
Swiss Wool Research
Based in Lausanne, Emma Casella is an industrial designer focusing on a local approach to conception and sourcing. A graduate from ECAL, she and occupies the role of teaching assistant in the same department as the one she has completed her bachelor degree from. She was born in Grisons and grew up in Ticino, developing from an early age a strong connection with the Alpine region. This environment has particularly marked her artistic practice, making her sensitive about the often- forgotten traditions of the valleys and villages at high altitude, enticing her to highlight them. Besides today, Emma’s design approach aims to revisit these ancient methods of handling textiles to rejuvenate them. It is with this intention in mind that she is currently caring her research project on Swiss wool, initiated in 2021, as an extension of her thesis body of work that she’s still developing today.
CVThis research vige to revalue Swiss wool, which has been in crisis for several years. It has begun by visiting and discovering different associations, companies or organizations involved in the collection and procession of wool in the Helvetic territory, allowing me to understand the difficulties this material has had to overcome since losing its main client, the Swiss army. Parallel to this research, which is still ongoing and has allowed me to learn more about the market, I wanted to propose a project that could provide a concrete solution to this crisis. Here was born Newo, that is a kit for newborns made of Swiss wool. Newo is inspired by a similar kit that the Finnish government has been providing to families through parental subsidies since 75 years. If the Swiss state also chose to offer a Newo kit to new parents, there would be a regular demand for Swiss wool again, ultimately creating a Swiss-limited circuit of collection, processing, production and distribution of the raw material.
NEWO