04/01/2021
Plusweek plan
I have been living in Appelscha for two months now. I live here with several people, including a shepherd. She showed me how intensive shepherding is, but also how special it is to work with these animals. Sheep are tame, docile animals but with a stubborn character. Some are very person oriented and others more soloists.
A nice additional fact is that the shed is full of wool. Years of sheared sheep are piled up and waiting for it to be given a destination. unfortunately, it is very difficult for the shepherds to get rid of their wool. The kilo price is very low and often there is even money to be paid extra to pay the sheep shearer.
I thought this was strange because in my eyes, wool is an incredibly expensive product. We all use it every day in our clothes, blankets, insulation, rugs and many other things. And yet the value of this valuable material is very low.
During these plus weeks I want to focus on 'the sheep'. Think of the animal in itself, but also the way of living together in a herd. The perspective of a shepherd, the material that is used from a sheep, but I also want to look at the possibilities of wool and the processing processes such as spinning, felting, weaving, knitting etcetera. On both a craft and an industrial scale.
I want to use this period to investigate whether this is the theme in which I want to continue my graduation project.
Learning goals
I want to dive deeper into the world of the shepherd and his sheep. I do this by getting in contact with people who are involved in this field and interview them or work with them for a day.
It seems as if the world of traditional craftsman based and large-scale wool processing is far from each other. I would like to do more research on this.
I also want to work independently with wool and get to know the material.
Feedback:
- Interesting to look at crafts and industrial processes. Look for designers that create a machine themselves based on an industrial project.
- Know what you want to end up with, it is very brought. Think for example about the relationship between the shepherd and a flock and draw this in a relationship diagram.
- Formulate your learning goals in the SMART way to get closer to your goal.