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This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
This is your Project Page. It's a great opportunity to help visitors understand the context and background of your latest work. Double click on the text box to start editing your content and make sure to add all the relevant details you want to share.
Wad van Waarde
Wake Up to a Plastic-Free World
What if the first thing you saw when opening your curtains was not just daylight — but a glimpse into a cleaner, healthier world? Wad van Waarde invites you to imagine a future without microplastics. Every week, we unknowingly consume and inhale the equivalent of a credit card in microplastics — a third of which comes from washing, using and wearing synthetic textiles. Even in hospitals and care centers, where healing should come first, synthetic curtains release plastic particles every time they’re opened or closed.
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To address this invisible yet urgent issue, House of Design, in collaboration with Iedema Projectstoffeerders and Enschede Textielstad, developed plastic-free linen curtains made from locally grown flax in the northern Netherlands, blended with local wool for structure and natural flame resistance.
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A Design Inspired by the Landscape
The WadCurtains are born from the Wadden landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Designed by House of Design, developed and produced by Enschede Textielstad, the curtains reflect the textures and colours of the sand, sea, sky, and birds. The flax comes from 65 hectares of land, cultivated by 14 farmersin Friesland and Groningen — a local value chain, all within a one-day drive, creating a truly local value chain.
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From System Problem to System Solution
Flax once thrived in the region, until cotton and synthetics took over in the 1960s, causing the collapse of the flax industry. Wad van Waarde began in 2021 with the reintroduction of flax as a biobased crop, aiming to replace harmful synthetics with durable linen textiles. The cultivation has expanded from 2 hectares to 65, and is growing further to 85 hectares in 2025, with the ambition of 150–200 hectares annually.
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This is more than a product. It’s a design-led transition — from plastic soup to veggie soup — where design acts as a catalyst for system change.
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Why it Matters
Textiles are among the largest contributors to microplastic pollution. The health risks are mounting — through what we eat, drink, and breathe. Yet there is a solution, and it starts here:
✔ Biobased
✔ Local
✔ Regenerative
✔ Naturally beautiful
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Wad van Waarde proves we can design a future that’s regenerative, not destructive — rooted in place, powered by collaboration. Join the movement—choose a future free from microplastics!
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