Urban wind power
‘Wind Knitting Factory’ is a wind powered knitting machine that is attached to the facade of a building. The blades embrace more than a meter in diameter, and the wind that is cached by this mill drives the machine to work. Like that a long scarf gets knitted downward along the building. When it is windy the machine knits fast and with less wind the machine knits slowly.
Occasionally the knitwear gets ‘harvested’ and transformed into scarves. Every scarf gets a label which tells you the time and the date on which the wind made the scarf. This mobile wind factory, which operates between the public and the private space, illustrates a production process and visualizes what you can produce with the present urban wind.
Windworks Furniture collection
To establish the Windworks furniture collection, the studio initiated a collaboration between two historic windmills from the Zaanse Schans (NL) and the Wind Knitting Factory. Each one of these produces a different kind of raw material. There is a colour mill called which has been fitted out to grind colouring materials, as well as a sawmill that saws planks from trees to old Dutch measurements.
For the occasion of this collaboration, the studio designed a series of furniture pieces. The wood is sawn by the wind; the yarn is dyed with natural dyes, grounded by the colour mill.
After the dyeing process, the ‘Wind Knitting Factory’ knits the yarns, and with each harvest, the wood structures are upholstered. For this special event, Karhof built the new ‘Wind Knitting Factory 2.0’ that incorporates two new features; a pennon, that gives the machine the facility to turn away from the wind when the speed gets too high, and a new mechanism that pulls the knitwear down, therefore allowing it to operate independently.
Windworks shows a production triptych between three windmills and it makes visible what can be produced with wind power. It shows how windmills working together can become a complete and holistic industry.
Now we thoroughly love Merel Karhof designs and products! Just curious about some material transparency! Keep us posted Merel. We love your style!
