Recycling is important. As consumers start to lean towards more environmentally friendly products, both big companies, such as Nike with their shoe recycling program, and smaller designers, like Studio Swine and their Sea Chair, are experimenting with more sustainable production techniques and materials. More recently we've seen a trend of building objects from waste materials emerge, for example, Jeong Ji's Crustic project and the Paper Pulp Helmet by RCA graduates. Daniel McLaughlin, a graduate in Innovation Design Engineering also from the RCA, has designed and developed Terracase, a suitcase made from recycled industrial wool fibres and a resin and oil mix.

Terracase was part of McLaughlin’s senior thesis project on Biowool, which dealt with how to extend the value of coarse wool. Through the exploration into the wool value chain, high volumes of post-industrial and post-consumer waste, McLaughlin identified a space for potential innovation by extending the applicability and longevity of woollen product before it eventually becomes composted as part of the eco-cycle. Terracase exemplifies biowools wide potential,and introduces new standards in luggage design from traceability of materials to source to total product authenticity. Terracase recontextualizes the way wool is viewed as a material by introducing a new functionality and marketability to the product. Not to mention its sleek and smart looking appearance.

Clearly, new recyclables are gaining traction as Terracase was recently awarded £5000 from The James Dyson Foundation.