1600s shipwreck from Oulu transformed into a dress for museum exhibition

A dress made from the wood of a 17th-century shipwreck discovered in Oulu in 2019 is now on display at the Oulu Museum of Art, reports Finnish public broadcaster Yle.

The wreck, unearthed during hotel renovation work in central Oulu, measured roughly seven metres wide and twenty metres long. Preserved in wet sand, it was identified as one of northern Finland’s oldest known ship finds—a cargo vessel later named the Hahtiperä wreck after the city’s first harbour, which siltation rendered obsolete by the early 1700s.

Conserved by the Finnish Heritage Agency in Helsinki, the vessel’s timber was confirmed to be pine from 17th-century Ostrobothnian forests. After conservation, surplus wood—originally slated for disposal—was sent to Aalto University’s chemical engineering lab, where researchers dissolved and reprocessed it into textile fibre using the eco-friendly Ioncell method. The resulting unbleached, undyed yarn, retaining the wreck’s natural brown hue, was then knitted into two seamless dresses: one for the Oulu exhibition, the other for Aalto’s collection.

The dress, featuring patterns inspired by wood grain and digital noise, is part of The Wardrobe of the Future, an exhibition marking Oulu’s year as a European Capital of Culture. Meanwhile, conserved sections of the wreck itself will go on permanent display at the new Tiima Museum and Science Centre, opening this autumn.

The project spanned nearly two years, involving chemists, wood processors, textile experts, and designers.