After hatching, a Silkworm becomes 10,000 times heavier than its original weight in just 35 days! It spins approximately 2000metres of filament, completely enclosing itself in a cocoon.
Legend has it that silk was discovered in 2640 B.C. by the Chinese princess His Ling Shi. It is said she dropped a silkworm cocoon into a cup of tea and when she removed it, it emerged as a long delicate thread.
Harvesting silk today, still uses this principle of softening the natural sericin adhesive in boiling water. Over 30 countries produce silk, but China produces roughly half the world’s supply.
Silk fibres are the lightest of all natural fibres. Besides being lightweight, silk is a natural insulator with superior breathing qualities. Mulberry Silk fibre has the added properties of being very lustrous with a sheen or white/cream colour, smooth, supple, elastic and strong. Infact, it is so resilient, that it will stretch by up to 35% (when wet) without damage. The fact remains that people prefer silk over almost any other fibre when circumstances allow.
How is the silk duvet made?
Traditional and time-honoured techniques are used in its manufacture:
- Cocoons are cleaned, steamed and submerged in boiling water to soften the natural sericin adhesive that binds the thread together.
- One by one, the cocoons are stretched by hand, then hand-pulled in a criss-cross fashion at each corner of various sized tables to produce sheets or ‘tablecloths’ of silk.
- Thousands of cocoons of silk are hence layered together to form a lightweight batting that is very strong and resilient and which will not bunch or shift.
The production processes used in making A Silk Story™ duvets are carried out entirely without the use of any chemicals. Infact, the finest mulberry silk as those used for filling our duvets, can only be farmed organically.
A Silk Story™ duvets are 100% natural, organic and environmentally friendly.