Lake Como has long sparkled from the pages of magazines and the scenes of films: the villas, the mountains, the blue water, the sunlight. Heading there from Milan, I wondered whether a place like that could live up to its image. It did. For me, though, the magic shone brightest in its silk.
High on my list was the Museo della Seta di Como (Como Silk Museum). It shares a building with the Istituto Tecnico Setificio Paolo Carcano, a school founded in 1869 to train skilled workers for Como’s silk industry. Finding the right entrance took some exploring. Arriving early, I found the museum closed for lunch, true to Italian tradition.
The museum is laid out so that one can explore independently, from the silkworm to silk printing. A few moments stood out.
The first was pleated silk, along with the machine used to create it. Silk is so often seen in its fluidity. Here, pleating gave it structure, and yet the fluidity remained.
Each master holds a piece of the process.
The museum was also my introduction to silk printing, a craft I would come to know far better in Lyon. It ran from carved wooden blocks to engraved copper rollers.
Walking through the museum step by step, I gained a deeper appreciation for craft. Each master holds a piece of the process. Together, they create something remarkable.
— Aimée