Cut

Organic merino wool arrives from Vermont, woven and mounted on rolls over a yard and a half wide. When asked what makes the wool organic, Notkin explains that the sheep grazed on pesticide-free grass, and they weren’t dunked in a pesticide bath. The Looolo team will cut between 20 and 50 pillows worth of rectangles at a time, unrolling the fabric atop cutting mats and slicing it by wheeling the cutter around cardboard templates. “We don’t cut huge amounts at once,” Notkin explains, “because we don’t want to end up with leftovers that won’t be used.” The tedious work is not without its pleasures. “It’s nice that this simple part of the process can also be beautiful,” Notkin says. “As we layer the sheets of cut fabric one on top of the other, they form a kind of enlarged book, with big, thick, wooly sheets.”