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Shawl – Sheer Taffeta Weave


Madagascar, 2009
160 x 60.5 cm

Warp: 48 threads
Weft: 24 threads,
Weight: 65 grams

Exhibited

September 2009 – October 2010: Presented at The American Museum of Natural History, New York ‘Spider Silk’

June 2011 – September 2011: Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice ‘Penelope’s Labour: Weaving Words and Images’

September 2012: Musée Bargoin, Clermont Ferrand, France ‘Textiles Extraordinaires’

September 2019 – April 2020: Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art, USA ‘The Art and Design of Spider Silk’


This shawl represented the first attempt at weaving with golden spider silk for over a century, and used silk collected from over 500,000 Nephila Madagascariensis – golden orb spiders which are native to Madagascar.

A staggered spacing without any weft was left to add to the natural delicacy and lightness of the silk.

Photographs courtesy of the RISD Museum, Providence, RI