A coffin and digitally printed fabrics are among the innovative products featuring in a travelling wool expo which opened in Gisborne this week.
The expo is the latest New Zealand initiative in a global campaign launched three years ago to resurrect the demand for wool.
The campaign's New Zealand projects manager, Peter Taylor, says the expo is a partnership with PGG Wrightson and Massey University's Design School and is being run as a pilot project to draw attention to some of the new and unusual things being done with wool.
"One of the more different ones, the one that stand out, is a woollen coffin, which is quite innovative," Mr Taylor says.
"(There are) some other things, like some amazing new fabric which has been made into a shirt ... this is woven wool developed in New Zealand, and quite a spectacular piece of work."
The Massey students who created the products were also manning the expo, which Mr Taylor says is lifting their profile.
The expo will travel through eastern North Island centres during the next six weeks and, if successful, could be taken to other areas.
