Dresses made from 17th century shipwreck

A multi-disciplinary research team at Aalto University in Finland have made a zero-waste dress out of wood from a 17th century shipwreck. The dress has gone on display at the Tomorrow’s Wardrobe exhibit at the Oulu Art Museum and a second one will be exhibited in September at the university.

The wreck was discovered under a parking lot during a renovation of a hotel in Oulu, central Finland, in 2019. The surviving timber structure identified it as a cargo ship and it was radiocarbon dated to the 17th century, making it the oldest shipwreck discovered in this part of Finland. It was dubbed Hahtiperä after Oulu’s first harbor.

A large section of the hull about 23 feet wide and 65 feet long was removed for conservation and eventual display at the Oulu Museum. A few individual fragments of wood were documented but could not be preserved along with the large section. Researchers at Aalto University’s Bioinnovation Center got the idea to use the surplus wood to create a woven textile that would then be knitted into a dress. Finnish Heritage Agency gave the university research team permission to use the wood however they wished, with the only condition being that the end-result paid respect to the unique source of the material.

First, the outer, impurity-containing layer was removed to expose the wood’s core, which was then shredded and processed into dissolving pulp. The pulp was subsequently transformed into fiber through the environmentally friendly Ioncell® process, which was developed at Aalto University in partnership with Helsinki University. Ioncell fibres have a silky feel and are stronger than cotton. In addition to new and reclaimed wood, the Ioncell® method can utilize recycled materials like paper, cardboard, textile waste, and straw for fiber production.

The finished yarn from the wreck has a subtle sheen and a beautiful brown tone. [Aalto researcher Inge] Schlapp-Hackl explains that the yarn remains undyed and unbleached, with its color directly originating from the Hahtiperä wreck.

‘The pulp made from the wreck contained very few impurities and was surprisingly easy to process. This project demonstrated that the Ioncell® method can be used to produce fibre from practically any cellulose-based material.”

The yarn was then used to make two dresses at Aalto’s knitting studio. The design is simple, a sleeveless maxi dress, but lecturer Anna-Mari Leppisaari designed and knitted a pattern inspired by wood grain. They were knitted as single intact pieces with no seams. Without patterns to cut, buttons/zippers/notions, no material was wasted in the production of the dresses.

* This article was originally published here