Artisan Phan Thi Thuan: Creating a new path for the silk weaving craft.

Instead of letting silkworms curl up in small cocoons as in the traditional method, artisan Phan Thi Thuan found a way for silkworms to weave large sheets of silk on a flat surface. From changing the way silkworms spin their silk to experimenting with weaving silk from lotus stems, she has opened up a new direction for the craft in Phung Xa village (My Duc, Hanoi).

These silk threads are hand-spun by the skilled hands of artisan Phan Thi Thuan, preserving the essence of traditional weaving.

"Using silkworms as workers": An idea that opens up a new direction for the silk industry.

In traditional silkworm farming, when silkworms mature, farmers catch each silkworm and place it in a straw nest so the silkworms can naturally spin their cocoons. Afterward, the weavers go through many stages such as collecting the cocoons, reeling the silk, spinning the yarn, setting up the loom, and finally weaving it into silk.

Artisan Phan Thi Thuan chose a different approach: Instead of letting the silkworms form individual cocoons, she allowed them to spin their silk directly on a flat surface, weaving large, naturally interconnected layers of silk.

The idea came from years of observing the silkworm's silk-spinning process. According to Ms. Thuan, the most remarkable thing is that silkworms know how to arrange each layer of silk in a very specific order. Each silk thread is continuously spun from the silkworm's mouth, interwoven according to natural laws, almost without any human intervention.

Silkworms are fed mulberry leaves before they begin spinning their silk.

In the weaving workshop in Phung Xa village, layers of white silk cover the bamboo frames, creating a scene quite different from the familiar image of silkworm farming. No longer are the cocoons individually removed from trays; here, the silkworms are "guided" to cover the surface of the bamboo frames with silk, which were later replaced with wooden frames to further reduce manual labor.

To change the way silkworms spin their silk, Ms. Thuan had to start by changing their living environment. Previously, straw nests were used as a support for silkworms to curl into cocoons; now, flat surfaces become the place where silkworms weave their own large layers of silk. This is what makes the product different. The spacing between the silk threads is arranged by the silkworms themselves during the spinning process, creating a structure that machines or human hands can hardly replicate.

After feeding on mulberry leaves, silkworms begin spinning silk and weaving their own cocoons instead of creating them in the traditional way.

From her initial experiments with bamboo frames, she continued to switch to wooden frames to reduce the manual weaving effort and create a more stable surface for silkworms to spin their silk. But that journey was not easy. When she began experimenting, many people thought she was deviating from the traditional craft that had existed for generations.

Ms. Thuan shared: "No one had ever done this before, so no one supported me, no one agreed with me. People just thought I was sabotaging things. It required a lot of courage and patience from me to do it. But if we stick to the old ways, the craft will struggle to survive in the face of industrial production..."

For her, innovation is not about separating from traditional crafts, but about ensuring the craft can continue to thrive in modern life. Years of dedication to the silk industry have also led her to have other concerns about the silkworm itself, a creature that has been intertwined with the lives of countless generations of silkworm farmers.

A new innovation in the silk industry involves a technique that allows silkworms to weave their own unique fabrics.