News / Events
A PRECIOUS FABRIC FROM AN INSECT: LET’S TALK ABOUT SILK
23/09/2015
We are back
in 53 b.c., a time when Rome discovered a great treasure, that’s to say, silk.
Precious
“lanicio silvarum” manufacturers (literally, “woods’ spun”), as romans called
it, were Chinese people. The way they manufactured it was unknown to importers
until two missionary monks discovered this great secret.
Silk
commercial flow connecting China, Middle East and Europe didn’t stop. Due to
Marco Polo’s expeditions, we got some
very precious artifacts or products and above all some refined precious fabrics
which became not only Venice but also Florence, Lucca and Genova’s fortune.
Venice became an important silk manufacturing center whose greatest splendor was
achieved in XVI century thanks to the silkworm importation.
The inner
secret feature of this very soft, precious and shiny material is enclosed,
indeed, in the hard work of this insect originally from China. It produces from
its mouth a typical viscous saliva which hardens when comes into contact with
air thus creating a filament. From filament to cocoon: little silkworms start
building their own houses until they turn into moth. Then, they leave their
adobe thus leaving them to men who process these materials until they get a
refined precious product: silk, a noble fabric.
Production
process of this material is very complicated and long. It was once a very
difficult manual hard work but now, fortunately the introduction of machinery helped
and increased the production. The cocoon undergoes a heating process, then it
is cleaned and spun in several fibers weaved between them so that a new stronger
and robust filament is created.
