The Last Master of Byssus Sea silk
and a heatwave in Mexico is causing monkey deaths
Dear weavers,
The art of weaving is an ancient art form held by women across many ancestral cultures. We traveled to Sardinia to meet with the last master of sea silk known as byssus—one of the last remnants of the island’s pre-Roman civilisation.
Read the story below!
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📈 Cool Trends
♾️ eco-story
🧵 Chiara Vigo: The Last Master of Byssus
Chiara Vigo, is the last known master of the byssus sea silk. She lives in the southernmost tip of Sardinia, on the island of Sant’Antioco. She was trained as a master by her grandmother. In fact the Vigo women can trace back their lineage of byssus weaving to 500 years ago.
“A master comes, a master goes. It has been done in my family for 28 generations now.”
For millennia the secret of how the byssus sea silk is woven from the slime produced by a Mediterranean clam, the Pinna nobilis, has been passed down from grandmother to granddaughter with very strict instructions that the sea silk must never be sold and the knowledge must remain within the female bloodline. Legend says that whoever breaks this pledge will be cursed.
Earlier this year, I traveled with a few friends across Sardinia and we met with Chiara Vigo in her workshop in Sant Antioco. When we entered, we were three Italian women, following a thread: an urge to connect with the native mysticism that was buried by millennia of ecclesiastical persecution. Chiara greeted us warmly, like a grandmother welcoming her family. Her demeanour was gentle yet she spoke directly.
🌏 The Culture Column
📺 What we’re watching: Spinning Silk from the Sea
📸 Profile of the week: @vigochiara
📖 What we’re reading: From Darkness to Light - Marine Byssus and Chiara Vigo, by Susanna Lavazza
🤯 Shocking fact we learnt this week: the pinna nobilis is the second-largest mollusc in the world, reaching up to 1.2m in height!