Materials for Design

Silk (from silk worms)

Silk is a natural fibre that was first cultivated in Far East Asia more than 5,000 years ago, and formed one of the world’s first global industries. From its origins at the heart of the silk route it has recently emerged as a renewable material with a lot of potential outside the garment industry. However, to understand the new potential of silk, beyond its traditional associations with glamour, one has to understand the basics of silk’s properties. Starting as a less than glamorous protein excreted from the gland of the silkworm, which feeds on leaves of the mulberry tree, silk yields some incredible facts and statistics. First, and possibly most well known being silk’s strength – it is the strongest natural fibre – and ...