SILK | keukenhof 2022

What is silk?

About silk, a natural fibre discovered thousands of years before Christ, the legend goes about a 14-year-old Chinese princess, Hsi-Ling Shi, who sought refreshment under mulberry trees. She heard a sound like rain while the sun was shining. She was told that these were caterpillars eating the leaves of the trees and that after three days, a butterfly would fly out of the cocoon. The princess indeed after three days discovered the threads left in the empty cocoon. And so the idea was born to spin the strong, shiny threads into a yarn that would form the basis for pure silk.
 

A royal fabric

Silk is a fabric traditionally used for elegant evening gowns. Dutch fashion designer Jan Taminiau works extensively with silk, on which beautiful embroidery is often applied by hand. One of his masterpieces was worn by Queen Máxima on Prinsjesdag in 2015. On a light caramel-coloured fond of organza silk, a stunning silk embroidery in beautiful old pink, lilac, cream and gold tones was applied, inspired by the wallpapers in the Japanese room at Huis ten Bosch. That sophistication has now been translated into a special composition of flowering bulbous and tuberous plants.
 

From flower to silk and from silk back to flower

The petals of a tulip have the same, soft sheen as silk fabrics. A large field of flowering tulips, veined with other bulbous and tuberous plants is like a rich robe of pure silk. Just as Taminiau was inspired by botanical representations on antique wallpaper, and just as the wallpaper maker in turn drew on flowers and birds, these blends translate the soft, shrouded and elegant sheen of silk and the beautiful antique tones from Taminiau's designs into a particularly botanical design.
 

An ode to the ever-inspiring nature and to the people whose creativity, talent and natural elegance represent and honour that nature.