Back to Our Sheep
by Nalba Studio, led by co-founder Lavinia Ghimbasan, filmed by Tudor Cioroiu, FormatFilm Studio
Back to Our Sheep is a research-oriented project mapping the current state of the wool ecosystem in Transylvania and Banat, Romania. Despite the country’s rich pastoral heritage and once-thriving wool-processing industry, the past 30 years have seen the disappearance of much of this infrastructure and a shift in the perception and use of wool. Without a functional system for processing and integrating the material, wool is often buried or burned, creating what can be described as “wool cemeteries.” Calling Back to Our Sheep is an attempt to renew awareness of wool’s potential and reconnect with the nature of this fibre as a way of rethinking our relationship with the environment. The project uses design as a mediation tool between the forgotten, the archaic, the small-scale and the industrial, exploring and prototyping new forms of collaboration and production. As part of the research, over 100 kg of wool was collected, of which 50 kg was valued through sorting, washing at an archaic river-powered facility, natural dyeing using invasive and local plants, carding at small family-run mills, and finally spinning and industrial weaving. The project resulted in wool yarn, woven samples, naturally dyed wool insulation, and a documentary film tracing this journey.
Back to Our Sheep was developed in 2024 as part of Faber’s Design Signals Programme in Timișoara. The project was presented in 2025 at Alcova during Milan Design Week and at the Romanian Design Week. Currently, it is part of the Wool Ecologies exhibition at the Museum of Urban Civilisation in Brașov, Transylvania.
About Nalba Studio
Nalba Studio is a practice operating between Romania (Brașov) and France (Lyon),founded in 2022 by designers Lavinia Ghimbășan and Capucine Robert. Centred on wool and localism, the studio works across research, design and education. In their process, research is closely tied to experimentation and learning through materials, looking at what has been undervalued and ask what it can teach us, and what it can become today and later. Their work draws on practical knowledge, local ways of making, tales, symbolism, and the relationships between people, animals, materials, and the land. Through storytelling, playful objects, and imaginative installations, they explore and communicate the many possibilities of wool in everyday life.
“We work with wool, but wool does not stand alone; it is a way into places, ecosystems, people, knowledge, and relationships.”