Product showcase: from fleece to furniture
Woolly, wiry, and wildly sustainable: Saxen's latest manufacturing partner – Solidwool – introduces a fresh connection between furniture and nature. It’s 50 per cent wool and 50 per cent plant-based bio-resin, making it more sustainable than other resin-based materials.
Inspired by the Herdwick and Welsh Mountain breeds, Solidwool saw hope in a type of wool that would have otherwise been burned as waste. As one of the lowest-value wools in the UK, historically used for carpets, these upland sheep have gradually lost their worth. However, Solidwool saw this wool as a material with inherent possibilities. Following this train of thought, it soon became used in a beautiful end-product in the Hembury range that moors people to the original habitat.
This award-winning, Devon-based company aims to position Solidwool as the premier natural, environmentally friendly, and superior-quality wool composite material, and to be recognised as a sustainable substitute for petrochemical-based plastics and composites.
‘We wanted to create a beautiful natural material with a story that connects people to the land it has come from.’
~ Solidwool
The Herdwick breed: from hardy to head-turning
The Herdwick breed of sheep are plentiful, but there isn’t much demand for their coarse wool. While robust, it’s wiry, which diminishes its value in the carpet and clothing industry. However, these sheep are very hardy, with the stamina to roam high fells all year round, proving its bond to its surroundings. Located in the central and western Lake District, Herdwick sheep have evolved to become robust animals, surviving harsh winters, ensuring Solidwool can trust in their endurance.
Their wool serves as one-half of the innovative Solidwool material; it’s a natural and gorgeous fibre that, when bound with bio-resin, delivers a material true to the Herdwick fleece. Notice the dark grey hues with lighter guard hairs blending together to create a gorgeously rustic composite.
Welsh Mountain breed: unexcepted textures and tones
Welsh Mountain sheep are another hardy British breed. Occupying the Welsh hillside for centuries now, their kemp has a dense texture in shades of grey, white, and black, which creates a tranquil marble effect reminiscent of countryside character. Predominantly light-coloured with white kemp fibres, the bio-resin and the Welsh Mountain wool blend into an organic and natural finish that sits beautifully next to Solidwool’s other colours. Together, they create a colour palette connotative to the mountains where the sheep dwell, with nods to the moss and lichen, mountains and lakes.
Bringing value back to an ignored fibre
In 2013, Solidwool began with the vision of designing beautiful furniture with respect for the environment. Since then, they have been turning this unwanted and ignored fibre into functional pieces with honest simplicity and indefinite beauty, designed to be as relevant as long as the breed of sheep still exists.
Described as ‘furniture with soul’, Solidwool create chairs and tables for commercial and domestic environments that can be passed down through generations, not just as heirlooms but as practical pieces. As a result, this otherwise wasted by-product of the land has become the Hembury collection of chairs and side tables – furniture crafted with a conscience. Herdwick and Welsh Mountain sheep have a renewed purpose, with Solidwool sighting their value once again.
'When you see the material, it drawns you in. You can't help but want to touch it.'
~ Andy Gaurd, creative director of Solidwool
Think fibreglass, but with wool
Solidwool offers a unique sheet material for architects and designers looking to introduce organic textures and elements. Available in 600 x 1200 mm panels in 6 and 10 mm thicknesses, Solidwool is the ideal sustainable material for a variety of interior design applications, such as cladding and solid surfaces.
Solidwool can be milled, drilled, and cut using mechanical, laser and water jet. Sheets can be laminated onto other materials or bonded together to create thicker material. Solidwool can also be sanded, polished and laser etched. It can be finished and polished to a gentle sheen. A polyurethane or acrylic clear-coat can be added for a high gloss finish.
Sustainably harvested wool without compromising the planet
Solidwool panels and Hembury furniture range connects people back to the countryside in a charming yet sustainable way. Both breeds of sheep, whose fleeces are harvested, are UK native, which allows the animals and shepherds to remain in their natural landscape. By using hardy, traditional breeds, Solidwool supports British farms by honouring the craftsmanship as well as reducing the product’s carbon footprint.
The materials used don’t compete with food sources or displace food-based agriculture. While the product already has a low environmental impact, Solidwool looks for new ways to lower the impact even further.
Conscience, beauty and soul
Solidwool is made from 50 per cent wool and 50 per cent plant-based bio-resin. Traditional resins are made from 100 per cent petrochemicals with worrying toxicity levels and significant carbon footprints. However, bio-resin is made from 50 per cent plant-based renewable content sourced from waste streams of other industrial processes. The resin manufacturer claims a 33 per cent reduction in both greenhouse gas emissions and its carbon footprint compared to standard resins.
Additionally, the bio-resin is made with green chemistry, which removes dangerous toxins, making it safer to work with during manufacturing.
Hembury chair: made in Great Britian
Inspired by the 1950's Eames plastic side chair, Hembury's shell is made using Solidwool composite. Its legs are hand crafted by a wood turner in Somerset from sustainable UK-sourced ash, and the frame is constructed from black powder coated steel from Plymouth.
Made in the UK, supplied by Saxen
Saxen is the Scottish distributor for the multi award-winning Solidwool range.
This includes the Hembury chair and side table with FSC-certified ash legs, and stacking chairs with black or chrome-plated steel legs. The chair's shells and tabletops come in Solidwool Herwick and Welsh Mountain organic finishes and the ash legs can be oiled or scorched black.
In addition, the new Solidwood Colour range features a natural palette blending Welsh Mountain wool with seven soothing tones: hazel, cobalt, ochre, tan, forest, stone, and ink.
‘The Hembury is a unique chair which celebrates and showcases the possibilities of a wool composite.’
~ Andy Gaurd, creative director of Solidwool
Award-winning furniture
Solidwool continues to be recognised as one of the most innovative and exciting companies in the commercial interiors industry, standing out for its exceptional sustainable manufacturing and product design.
2024
Winner – Furniture product of the year – Mix Awards – Hembury Side Table Colours
2023
Winner – Innovation in Wool Award – Solidwool
2022
Winner – Best Sustainable Furniture – Living Etc awards
Winner – Furniture product of the year – Mixology North Awards – Hembury Chair
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