When I think of wool, the first images that come to mind are of bulky Shetland sweaters and colorful Peruvian Chullos—a pair of personal icons that say “cold and cloudy weather,” as in the Irish isles or the Patagonian peaks. But Italian designer Laura Boffi is expanding the material’s evocative horizons far beyond those frigid climes —as far, in fact, as the Mediterranean splendor of Sardinia, Italy. Her homespun innovation in climate control called Fresco di Lana (which translates loosely and rather humorously as “woolen refresher”) is a smart, ecologically-sound, and locally-sourced new take on an old concept.

Fresco di Lana. Designed by Laura Boffi.

That said, I have a bit of a bone to pick with recent PR materials that characterize Fresco di Lana as an “air conditioning system,” because the idea of A/C comes with a hefty hunk of climate-changing baggage, including large energy expenditures and the pollutive properties of Freon. So just for the record, Boffi’s product is not Air Conditioning but rather Evaporative Cooling. The concept is beautiful for its simplicity: it’s essentially a woven wool curtain in a criss-crossing pattern with a pair of ceramic water tanks above and below. Cool water from the lower tank is pumped to the upper regions via a bit of human-power: stepping on the leg pump lever keeps water circulating (in the apparatus as well as in the leg in question). Water drips from the top tank onto the curtain. When warm air from outside blows across the saturated wool, an evaporative cooling effect is created: the heat is filtered into the curtain and cool air passes through into the room.

If the apertures within the curtain allow more light than you’d like, simply fill them with greenery—the wet environment is the perfect medium for water-loving plants, so not only does Fresco di Lana allow you to cool things off, it let’s you have a vertical swath of nature suspended from your window. Boffi’s product is an auspicious contribution to the growing legions of ecologically-savvy and low-cost cooling solutions.

Via PicoCool.
Pics from Designboom.