The continuation of Chinese art craft

The discovery and history of silk is intimately linked to China and women of power: it is said that it is Chinese empress Leizu who discovered silk around 2700 B.C, thanks to a bombyx cocoon (bombyx is a silkworm) that had fallen directly into her tea cup. While she was attempting to recover the cocoon, a long silk thread had unwind. She then had the idea to weave it became the goddess of silk in Chinese culture.

Legends say that silk would have left the country for the first time from China to India in a princess’ hair. The princess loved silk so much that she broke the Imperial law that prohibited to export silk worldwide and hid the precious textile in her abundant hair to keep it with her.

China has always been the country of silk and ferociously kept its fabrication secrets to itself for centuries, until the Occident started to get seriously interested in it and created the Silk Road in the Middle Age.

It is believed that numerous spies under different disguises (priests, princesses…) were sent from Europe to Asia in order to break all sericulture secrets.

France played an important role in the sericulture scene for a while, especially in the Rhône-Alps region (France’s silk cradle) during the 18th and 19th centuries. However, a revolution began amongst silks workers in the first half of the 19th century, due to their hard working conditions and low salaries. A while after that, in the second half of the century, diseases started to spread amongst the worms’ culture, impacting the production a lot. In addition to that, the evolution of clothing customs, the concurrence of new textiles such as nylon as well as the high cost and complexity of silk production contributed the decline of French sericulture.

For a few months, we searched for the right sourcing and crafting partners in France and Europe. Unfortunately, nothing was conclusive and confronted to the impossibility to carry out our project using local suppliers, we turned to Chinese ones. Nowadays in China, craftsmen keep studying and passing on silk expertise. As a result, silk craft is still in full bloom there.

It is estimated that China still accounts for 90% of the world’s silk production.

Nevertheless, we have at heart to use more local talents, supply chains and utilities, so if you have any relevant informations regarding this matter, please contact us as hello@venusandgaia.com !

Security and respect of sustainability with OEKO-Standard 100®️ 

Venus & Gaia® products are in direct contact with the skin, a sensitive organ that is very absorbing.

That’s why we want to ensure we sell products of the highest quality by using the OEKO-Standard 100®️ label, a European standard created in 1992. It certifies the absence of nocive and toxic substances usually found in textile materials and manufacturing processes. It also guarantees and participates in the reduction of companies’ environmental footprint.

As a matter of fact, companies applying for the label are audited by independent organizations every year and can lose the certification at any time.

 

The audit process makes sure that every component of the product and every step of the production process are made in accordance with the requirements of the OEKO-Standard 100®️ label.

Interesting to know : companies need to apply for the label for each type of product, each color and size the product comes in, etc.

Examples of such requirements can be found on OEKO-Standard 100®️ website.

The best of silk - 100% pure high quality Mulberry silk 

Lots of brands use blends of satin, polyester and silk in order to lower the costs of production and grow their margins. At Venus & Gaia, all of our products are made of 100% pure mulberry silk, which is more resistant than wild silk.

We use 19 and 22 momme silk, which are some of the highest quality ones. The momme is the measure of weight per square meter. It varies between 6 to 22. The higher the number is, the better is it, because it means that the silk is thicker and more resistant.

Our silk has the highest grade (6A). A is a notation which indicates the quality of the silk. It means cocoons has been carefully tested and their thread selected to make the best products.