Fiber lanD
2023
Production possibilities of Swedish wool, hemp and flax.
Fiber Land was a collaborative initiative led by Jenny Nordberg, the County Administrative Board of Skåne together with Ebba Lindgren and STPLN Malmö. It was supported by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. The project aimed to strengthen the position of three local natural fibers: hemp, flax, and wool, as viable commercial alternatives to more resource-intensive materials such as cotton and synthetics.
Fiber Land has came to a close, but the initiative led to several new projects, here are a couple of examples:
By connecting Skåne-based primary producers with designers, manufacturers, and other end users in the fashion and furniture industries, Fiber Land sought to cultivate new business relationships and inspire a long-term shift toward sustainable regional production. What began as a practical initiative grew into the beginnings of a movement — one that reimagined local materials as the foundation for a more circular design economy.
Fiber Land not only connected people and materials but also revealed the structural needs for a future in which regional fibers could form part of a sustainable, local design ecosystem.
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Fiber Land started developing a test series of entirely Swedish-produced 3D printing material made from 40% flax fibers and then combined with recycled biopolymer. The next step would be to explore using fibers from oil flax, a byproduct of linseed oil production that are too short to spin but ideal for reinforcement.
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In collaboration with Helsingborg-based design studio Superlab, Fiber Land explored the potential of using the gray or course wool that doesn’t meet the textile standards for other materials. The experiments resulted in different pressed wool materials combined with biobased glue and treated with beeswax for water resistance.
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Fiber Land collected an extensive material library containing both experimental and industrial wool, hemp and flax based materials.
Along the way, several promising ideas also revealed gaps in Sweden’s production landscape:
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All-Swedish furniture cord. Despite the availability of high-quality Swedish hemp and interested manufacturers such as Swedish Rope in Norrköping, the absence of a domestic spinning mill for plant fibers prevented the realization of a fully Swedish furniture cord. (So if anyone is considering starting a plant fiber spinning facility, the first project is ready and waiting!)
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Hemp-based paper pulp. Sweden used to have a strong paper industry, yet producing pulp from hemp’s woody core, had never been industrialized here. Hemp grows in just a few months compared to the years required for trees, making it a compelling alternative. A major paper producer has shown interest, but to integrate hemp, mills would needed baled pulp. The next challenge lay in convincing the paper industry of hemp’s potential.
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Sweden only has two operating industrial wool laundries, which is not enough if we were to start including the gray or course wool in our value chains, which Fiber Land argues we should.
