©Esa Kapila/Aalto University

Researchers at Aalto University transformed surplus wood from the Hahtiperä shipwreck into textile fibre, spun it into yarn, and knitted it into a dress using new AI-assisted technology. The dress will be exhibited at the Tomorrow’s Wardrobe exhibition opening 22 May at Oulu Art Museum, and its twin piece will be shown at Aalto University’s Designs for a Cooler Planet exhibition opening 1 September. In 2019, a rare discovery was made during the renovation of a hotel in Oulu: remains of a 17th-century cargo ship were uncovered beneath a parking lot. The vessel was named the Hahtiperä wreck after Oulu’s first harbour. After years of conservation work, some leftover pieces of wood remained and were at risk of ending up in the trash. …Inge Schlapp-Hackl, a researcher at Aalto, along with her colleagues supervised by Professor Michael Hummel, converted over 300-year-old wood from Oulu into textile fiber.