HERD: The Wool 3D Printer
In Scotland today, it costs more to shear a sheep than to sell its fleece, often leaving farmers with no option but to burn their wool. This practice has reduced wool to a by-product of meat production, stripping it of its cultural and economic value. Developed in response to this imbalance, the Wool 3D Printer is a prototype 3D printer that transforms low-value sheep’s wool into functional, three-dimensional forms. Using a custom-built felting mechanism, the printer compacts wool into precise, made-to-measure shapes. The Wool 3D Printer proposes a regenerative application for an undervalued natural material and offers a practical, design-led solution for farmers to reintroduce wool into local economies.
Supporting the machine is a service platform called Herd, designed to enable farmers to establish small-scale manufacturing businesses and sell their products through a shared digital marketplace. The platform includes open-source printer plans, hands-on training, and access to a community-driven sales system tailored to wool-printed outputs. By decentralising production and providing tools for self-sufficiency, Herd positions the printer not simply as a tool for fabrication, but as a catalyst for reconfiguring rural relationships between land, labour, material, and technology. It reflects a broader ambition to embed regenerative thinking within the infrastructures of design, production, and community resilience.
