The silkworm is one of the most iconic insects that experiences a morphosis during its entire evolution. Although born as a worm, it then morphs into a butterfly after the process of maturation.
Within the silk industry most of the Bombyx mori are killed in order to extract the silk from the cocoon, but what if we let the worm become a butterfly? How can we use this material differently and celebrate the morphosis of the insects? French-born and British-based Marlène Huissoud is an experimental Designer who has attempted to answer these questions.
Her pieces have been made by using an accumulation of thousands of silkworms’ cocoons which are then varnished with a thin layer of a natural honeybee bio resin. The slow process of the making of each alien-looking piece underlines the beauty of the insect world.
Marlène’s project ‘From Insects : an exploration of insect materials from the common honeybee and the Indian silkworm’, questions our way of making products by challenging the properties of natural resources. She believes in the value of the concept, not only with an outcome but with the complete creative process.