Lecture by Udo Krause, Seidenkokon

An important part of the silk workshop was the presentation by Udo Krause, managing partner of Seidenkokon Native Silk GmbH. The habilitated molecular biologist began researching natural silk production for medicine ten years ago and produces pollutant-free, uncoated natural silk with his company near Kamenz in Saxony. His passion for the subject was quickly apparent in his presentation. Equipped with information material in the form of books on historical silk production, photographs of his own experiences and various samples of silk materials – there was something for everyone. Udo Krause covered all aspects of silk. On the one hand, he talked about the historical production of silk and described the current situation. The first problems became apparent, such as the over-breeding of the animals or the fact that the animals in the cocoons have to be killed so that we humans can obtain a continuous silk thread. Udo Krause also described the chemical and mechanical properties of the material and, building on this, presented possible processing methods for silk. The diversity of this natural material quickly became clear to us and I felt that everyone present could feel his fascination for it. In the next part of his presentation, Mr. Krause told us about his company and how they breed regionally. He was very transparent about the things that need to be considered and had a live specimen in a box for us to look at. After our workshop, he even stayed for the insect dinner and was a pleasant conversation partner.