Recycled Woollen Island

The Recycled Woollen Island installation for the Triennial of National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne, Australia) expresses the concept of upcycling through a narrative on spontaneity.

The installation consists of large-scale socks that are actual seating modules, which can be changed, moved and adapted freely by the public to get comfortable and admire the stained-glass artwork Leonard French on the ceiling of the hall.

Patricia Urquiola wanted to reproduce the spontaneous simple gesture of leaving socks on the floor as it happens perhaps in every household.

The choice of the terrazzo look for each sitting module allowed Urquiola to use fibres from leftover material finding a new idea of beauty that starts from waste. 

Indeed, working closely with her long-lasting partner GAN, Patricia Urquiola chose to design an installation using felt manufactured with a special technique that makes possible to use wool from discards or surplus from production, while 100% recycled pet yarn is used to weave the letters in the bands and in the wall pieces.