For years, Rotterdam sheep have been keeping the grass short. Each year they produce about 5,000 kilos of wool. Until recently, that wool was worth almost nothing and the city didn’t do much with it. Commissioned by Rotterdam Circular, designer Christien Meindertsma researched the quality of Rotterdam wool and designed applications for now and in the future. What seemed like a worthless pile of residual material turned out to be a treasure chest full of surprises. The project was given a name: The Soft City.

Poet Farmer built a stylish website for this project: dezachtestad.nl. The project and website were launched during Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The Soft City by Rotterdam Circular and designer Christien Meindertsma won a prize at the 2023 Dutch Design Awards ceremony in the category ‘Commissioning’.