Local creatives Kerry Walker and Lisa Sandow are reimagining Ireland's wool industry with the newly formed ‘Wise Wool Project, funded by Creative Ireland.

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The project is designed to educate, inspire, and engage the community in sustainable practices and innovative solutions to wool waste.

The two women were shocked to learn from a local sheep farmer that not only was sheep's wool not valued as a product but in fact it was regarded as waste to the farmers after shearing.

The project aims to transform the wool industry by reducing waste and promoting eco-friendly, circular economy practices.

Sandra Spethmann of Curraghmore Farm in the Black Valley donated bags of wool to their creative project, and already they have been using it for art projects and workshops in the local area.

“It costs the farmer more to shear the sheep, than the wool itself is worth on market. In the 2020 census, the Republic of Ireland clipped around seven million kilograms of wool. Most of this wool went unused. Wool is considered a category three waste product in Ireland,” said Sandow.

The Wise Wool project has already offered workshops in local schools, community centres and in K-Fest and will be offering the following free events that are open to the public this year.

The first is a Wet Felting Workshop for Children at the Anam Arts Centre on July 20 from 11-1:30pm and there will be a Wool Waste Exhibition in Kate Kearney’s Cottage on November 9.

The event will feature works from local artists and crafters, highlighting the skill sets, beauty and potential of repurposed materials.

Irish wool is an underutilised and undervalued resource . It should be transformed into a branded value-added product for the benefit of farmers and wider supply chain," she added.