Silk is usually made from the cocoons spun by silkworms - but did you
know that there is another, much rarer, cloth known as sea silk or byssus, which
comes from a clam? A lady called Chiara Vigo is thought to be the only person
left who can harvest it, spin it and make it shine like gold. Chiara
lives on the Sardinian island of Sant’Antioco in the Mediterranean. A sign on
her door says that nothing in her home is for sale.
Byssus, which is
mentioned on the Rosetta stone and said to have been found in the tombs of
pharaohs and some believe
this was the cloth God told Moses to lay on the first altar. It was the finest
fabric known to ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, and one of its remarkable
properties is the way it shines when exposed to the sun, once it has been
treated with lemon juice and spices.
The raw material used to make the silk comes
from the glistening aquamarine waters that surround the island. Every spring
Vigo goes diving to cut the solidified saliva of a large clam, known in Latin
as Pinna Nobilis.
Chiara dives in the early morning so she does not attract too much attention
and she has company, as the Italian Coast Guard accompany her. The clam is a
protected species. It takes 300-400 dives to gather 200 grammes of the material
needed to make the silk!
So, if nothing is for sale, what does the lady do with the silk
and the fabric she weaves from it? She gives it to those in need who call on
her- couples who have recently married; women who want children as Byssus is
believed to bring good fortune and fertility. Most of her visitors are Italian.
If she is given a christening gown, she will use the silk to embroider on to
it.
Years ago a factory was set up to weave
the silk and it ran out of business in three months. It seems you cannot profit
from the making of this silk on a large scale and something bad has always
happened to those who have tried in the past.
Harvesting and weaving the silk has been
a family tradition and Chiara was taught by her grandmother, who in turn was
taught by her mother and so on for generations. There are a few other women in
Apulia (the heel of Italy) who can weave the silk, but none can make it shine
or dye it with the traditional colours as Chiara can. And Chiara is the only
person who harvests byssus- the silk of the sea.
To read more about this incredible
material please visit the BBC Magazine website
Photo from the BBC Magazine website.
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