Rethinking acoustic interiors with natural New Zealand wool
Written by
01 October 2026
•
6 min read
For decades, synthetics have dominated the acoustic lining market, leaving architects and designers with little choice in natural alternatives. Floc, however, is made entirely from New Zealand sheep’s wool.
Created after years of research and development, it was launched in 2022 as a world-first fire-resistant acoustic wall panel made entirely from New Zealand strong wool, using a familiar local material in a completely new application. While fine merino wool is widely associated with clothing, strong wool has traditionally been used in flooring, carpets and rugs, where its thicker, more robust fibres are well suited to everyday use.
Floc takes those same qualities beyond the floor and onto the walls and ceilings of commercial and residential interiors.
“We’re not focused on the floor; we’re focused on the four walls and the ceiling,” says Tom O’Sullivan, Business Development Manager at Floc. “It opens up the wool industry to a whole new market, and that innovation is what the industry has needed for a long time to drive demand and the price for wool, which is good for farmers and good for our economy.”
For Tom, the connection to wool is personal. “My father was a sheep farmer. I grew up on a sheep farm, and I actually ran quite a large sheep farm in the Hawke’s Bay, where I live now.”
In 2017 when wool prices plummeted, he wanted to get involved in the wool industry, eventually leading him to join T&R Interior Systems. The Wellington business had recognised this potential to use wool in a new way, with many of the architects and interior designers it was collaborating with on commercial fit-outs searching for alternatives to the synthetic materials that had become commonplace.
It was from these conversations that the idea for Floc developed.
A natural material with high technical performance
A large part of Floc’s development was ensuring it would be a product that could be used without compromise. Made from a natural material, it still needed to meet the practical requirements that have come to be expected of traditional acoustic products.
“Quite often, people will ask us, ‘Is Floc fragile?’ or ‘Is it hard to clean?’” says Tom. “But the way that it’s made, it’s actually very firm and very robust.”
Manufactured in Christchurch, Floc is needle-punched to create a surface suited to the demands of commercial interiors. With the natural structure of the wool fibres helping to absorb sound, Floc Roll achieves a Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) of 0.4, while Floc 3D has an NRC of 0.7, Floc Comfort has an NRC of 0.85, and Floc Sound and Floc Cloud each reaching a high acoustic absorption of NRC 0.95.
Fire performance was another important consideration in Floc’s development.
“The way that we make the product, it also has fire retardancy. We’ve gained a Group 1-S fire rating for the product, meaning it will not burn,” says Tom. “More and more, as we see the development of apartment buildings that are built close together, fire is becoming a bigger concern. And, as we know, a plastic product will definitely burn, and when it burns, it lets off some very harmful smoke and chemicals. Floc doesn’t.”
Another certification Floc has achieved is the Environmental Product Declaration (EPD).
“You can’t just say something is environmentally friendly. You need to be able to independently validate that and prove that, and that’s what Environmental Product Declarations do,” says Tom.
With considered choices made at every stage of Floc’s production, it’s not only its 100 per cent natural composition that has achieved this milestone. Beyond its composition and how the product performs while it’s in use, its end of life has also been accounted for, with a clear distinction between Floc and synthetic alternatives.
“End of life is where we see a lot of the problems with synthetic products. They may work well in the building while they’re up for the 20 years that they’re being used, but at the end of their life, then what happens?” says Tom.
Being a natural fibre, wool can biodegrade rather than remain in the environment in the same way as many man-made materials.
“It means that we’re not damaging the environment. We’re not adding to the amount of pollution we see on land or in the oceans.”
Becoming part of a design
When being selected for interiors, there are 20 standard Floc colours to choose from and the wool surfaces can be printed onto for complete customisation.
In spaces such as Ivey West Memorial Hall at Lincoln University, Floc panels have been custom printed with artwork by Kaitiaki Studios, embedding storytelling directly into the interior while meeting the technical requirements for commercial use. Here, acoustic performance has become more than a functional layer, it’s become part of the visual experience.
The acoustic wool has also been specified across the country in branches for the Bank of New Zealand and FMG Insurance offices, alongside hospitality and other commercial spaces.
The three-dimensional Floc Cloud tiles have been especially valued in providing greater sound absorption in already-occupied spaces.
“There are a lot of hard surfaces in today’s architecture, and if the acoustics are poor, it makes it quite uncomfortable. With our Cloud product, we can go into those buildings and, without having to completely redo your fit-out, strategically place our panels around the ceiling or on the walls to really soften the acoustics in a room.”
Designed to not disappear into the architecture it’s selected for, Floc provides something that has been needed in the industry for a long time: an interior finish that brings together acoustic performance, design flexibility and natural materiality.
The next step is to build an even stronger connection between where the material begins, and where it is used in the built environment.
“What we want to ultimately do is be able to trace every product we produce at Floc back to the farm and the farmer who’s grown that wool. We want to have specific Floc farmers who grow the wool for our products,” says Tom. “We’re not there yet, but that’s definitely where we’re heading.”
If you’re searching for a natural, high performing acoustic solution, explore the Floc range on ArchiPro and discover how it’s been specified in projects across New Zealand.