work in progress — a designfocused material research lab
Sofia Souidi initiated the SPRWD project in 2019. She joined the Artist in Lab program at the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research in 2020. She further developed the material until today supported by different programs such as the Foundation of Sustainability and New Energies, Design Farm and Ikea Foundation.
Trained as an industrial designer at the Royal College of Art, she uses her design skills as a catalyst for material developments. She is particularly interested in the unused resources of standard manufacturing processes. The focus of her work is to shift between micro and macro thinking in order to acquire specific knowledge and develop new approaches from this perspective. In 2023 she also founded the research platform fiberfiber
where she explores the potential of different natural fibres in an industrial context.
Read more about the project in an interview here. Explore more works of Sofia Souidi on her website.
SPRWD is developed in the laboratories and technical facilities of the Fraunhofer Institute for Wood Research WKI. Designers, chemists and engineers work interdisciplinary at the interface of science, technology and design to use the expertise of the individual disciplines for new perspectives in material development and its future applications.
SPRWD was nominated for the Eco Design Award 2019 the German Sustainability Award 2020. It has been published in FAZ Magazin, Süddeutsche Magazin, Tagespiegel, among others.