The 5th and final F.E.L.T. WOOL project visit took place in Sweden, where our participants from Norway, Lithuania, Finland and Estonia visited local spinneries and related companies both old and new. 
The visit began at Färsna Gård, a heritage farm and nature park. There the group met Roslags sheep, a rare Swedish breed known for its long, shiny, and strong wool. 

During the visit days, workshops were organized with local renowned felt artists as well as talks with sheep farmers and industry activists of sort – all enthusiastic and committed to develop the industry to provide high quality and locally characteristic wool and products in the future. Workshop led by felt artists focused on repurposing coarse wool into art and functional products emphasizing felting’s creative potential, relative rarity as a craft and time efficiency compared to weaving or knitting. Interest in Sweden for felting has grown through education at the Academy of crafts Stockholm and new digital courses.   

Participants gather around to explore nano-felted sample pieces. Picture: Chanika Jayawardana 

Among visits to farms as well as through lectures on development, local heritage breeds were visibly represented. Gotland sheep and Swedish Finewool (as well as Rya, Jämtland, Dala Pälsfår) were highlighted for their specific wool characteristics and potential in different uses. Through Arena Svensk Ull – a local organization, solutions like farmer training programs, a national wool classification system (partially borrowed from Norway) and data driven standards have been developed to boost the industry.  

Rodens Ullbruk spinner demonstrating how the modern spinning machine works and cleaning during the production process. Picture: Chanika Jayawardana 

Sweden’s wool industry revival blends heritage preservation with modern solutions. Heritage breeds are kept along to promote genetic diversity, advocating for wool specific applications. Supporting to farmers with wool collection stations to reduce cost for infrastructure is seen as a key point of development of the industry as a whole. Although the trip to Sweden was last of the project, it’s seen as a beginning of wider Nordic and cross Baltic cooperation and growing ground for future projects. The whole region as well as local, smaller local activities will benefit from continued collaboration and sharing of knowledge and best practices. 

F.E.L.T. WOOL - Future emergence of local textiles based on wool is financed by NordPlus Horizontal. The trip to Sweden was organized in collaboration with the projects NorNa - Nordic Natural Fibres in Circular Economy, which is funded by The Swedish Cultural Foundation in Finland and NyNässla, which is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) through Uusimaa's Centre for Economic Development, Transport, and the Environment (ELY-Keskus), Svenska kulturfonden and Stiftelsen Finlandssvenska Jordfonden. 

The blogpost has been reviewed by Novia's editorial board and accepted for publication on 11.6.2025.