I had to include this even though it’s not about wool. It is about the use of fabric and I think it’s absolutely beautiful. If it could run on water as well we’d all be happy.

Does a car’s skin always have to be made of metal? For crash behavior, stability of the body and other parts of the structural base we have long been able to do without it.

The world has never before seen anything like the BMW “GINA Light” Visionary Model. It is a car whose bodywork is no longer made of metal, but whose body is surrounded by a closefitting dress made of high-tech fabric. The vision for the car of the future has taken concrete form in a two-seater Roadster with all the proportions characteristic of the marque.

An extremely hardwearing special fabric is stretched over this metal structure.

Joints are a thing of the past – and when the doors swing upwards, the dress, which is stable in form and made of water-repellant hybrid fabric resistant to both cold and heat, forms distinct creases.

Individual elements of the substructure are arranged to be flexible; they are able to change their position as required, controlled either electrically or electrohydraulically, and can give the “skin” a new form. The result: The vehicle adapts to different requirements. The headlamps are hidden in a crease and the fenders are sometimes flat, sometimes drawn up like shoulders. Sometimes a spoiler rises up over the trunk like the taut muscles of a tiger about to pounce.