Arachnophobe Creates Cape Woven From Spider Silk

 Arachnophobe Creates Cape Woven From Spider Silk

A golden cape woven from the silk of 1.2 million Golden Orb spiders has gone on display at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum.

The richly-embroidered garment – its bright yellow hue is the natural color of the spider silk – is the result of a seven-year project on the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar.

Using long poles, a team of 80 people worked to collect the spiders from their webs each day and harvest their silk before returning them to the wild.

The cape has a mystical, ephemeral quality - just like a spider’s web - but also a permanence

— Nicholas Godley

The project was the brainchild of American fashion designer Nicholas Godley and British art historian and textile expert Simon Peers, who have both lived in Madagascar for many years.

Front and Back View of Golden Cape

Peers had long been fascinated by the idea, and when he visited his office, Godley's thought came to his mind when he saw a strange-looking tool Peers described as collecting silk from a giant.

“The idea of using spider silk to create garments goes back 300 years,” Godley told CNN. “The last significant attempt to succeed was at the turn of the century, when a French Jesuit priest based in Madagascar, Jacob Paul Camboue, experimented with ‘milking’ spiders for their silk.”

Spider used for making of Golden Cape

Beautiful Embroidery Work On Cape

Peers had long been intrigued by the idea, and on a visit to his office, Godley’s imagination was sparked when he spotted an unusual-looking tool which Peers explained was for collecting silk from spiders.

A spiderweb is here today and gone tomorrow, but we have found a way to harness that and turn it into something lasting

— Nicholas Godley

“The idea never died, we kept revisiting it over the years, and eventually I shut my handbag factory so we could build a proper ‘spidery’ and experiment with harnessing spiders and harvesting their silk. We found that it worked”

Source – CNN World