It has been a year since we announced Roger Oates Design as the new custodians of Solidwool. A year full of excitement, awards and ongoing product and material development.
Solidwool founders, Justin and Hannah Floyd, wanted to create something that was beautiful and had purpose; with this in mind they produced a chair to showcase the Solidwool material – the Original Hembury. When they decided to part with the business, they wanted to find a new team to come onboard and drive Solidwool forward, to refine the Hembury and create a ‘real’ production line while maintaining their original values. This year Roger Oates has expanded our shared workshop in Devon, where the production and development of Solidwool takes place. After some ‘fine tuning’ and subtle updates to its design features, a new version of the Hembury was launched in March this year. We (including Justin and Hannah) are immensely proud of it.
This July we were delighted when the Hembury won ‘Best Sustainable Furniture’ at the Living Etc awards. We then went on to showcase the new Hembury at this year's Material Matters exhibition as part of London Design Festival. The exhibition brought together designers and makers with an awareness of materials and where they come from with a shared desire to improve designed objects through unusual and sometimes extraordinary material selection. Here we were also able to preview a number of our upcoming developments - including a stackable version of the Hembury chair, and Solidwool in a range of colours. Just before the event took place, Justin and Hannah Floyd talked about their Solidwool journey with Grant Gibson on the Material Matters Podcast. We were thrilled when the episode was listed in the top five on the Apple Design chart – to listen to the episode visit Material Matters website here.
We are continually striving to improve the sustainability of our products and processes, to minimise the negative impact Solidwool has on the planet. Over the past year we have improved our bio-resin, with bio content rising to 50%. The Hembury now contains twice as much wool as the previous version, that means we use the equivalent of one whole fleece from a Herdwick sheep in every chair. In the future we aim to use a resin with 100% bio content, making Solidwool the most sustainable and natural it can be.
Over the last year we have made huge strides in the development of our Solidwool material, with progress leading us down innovative and colourful paths. We are developing a new recycled Hembury chair using coloured wool salvaged from Roger Oates’s workshop floor, along with a full range of colour Hembury chairs in a number of eye-catching tones. We will also be re-launching our Solidwool Hembury side table. Last but by no means least, we are ecstatic as we have discovered another wonderful breed of hardy hill sheep, who’s unique wool creates a spectacular new Solidwool. Expect to see breath-taking new Hembury chairs and tables very soon.
With so many exciting opportunities for Solidwool, we can’t wait to share what next year has in store. For those who want to see the Herdwick Hembury chairs and side table, they are now on permanent display at the Roger Oates London Studio and Herefordshire Showroom. We are also on the lookout for locations around the UK to showcase our Solidwool products. So, if you happen to know of any independent shops or interesting spaces, we would love to hear from you.