Silkworm cocoon

From Insects

The silkworm cocoon is composed of a thread of raw silk from 300 to 1000 metres which represent hundreds of layers of fibres.

The cocoon can be cut into two parts and the fibres can be extracted one by one. The fibres contain a natural glue called sericin, it is a resinous substance that links the silk fibres together in the raw stage of the sericulture. This natural glue can be activated by spraying water and heating the fibres. The outcome of this process is the creation of a strong paper. Studio Marlene Huissoud has been creating metres of metres of paper. To give strength to the material and change its natural state, they made a varnish with the propolis and applied it on top of the paper. The result is a wooden leather-like material.

The wooden aspect of the material comes from the thousands of fibres combined together in the silkworm’s paper.

Making process

This new material can be used for different applications such as furniture design, fashion design and surface design.

Text submitted by the maker and edited by the Future Materials Bank. For information about reproducing (a part of) this text, please contact the maker.