Silk Threads and Shared Stories: Silk Farmers Gather at Tbilisi State Silk Museum

On Saturday, April 12 the Georgian Silk Association (GSA) brought together silk farmers from Kakheti, Imereti, and Samegrelo for a visit to the State Silk Museum in Tbilisi. The museum is a repository of Georgia’s silk heritage from pre imperial artisanal and household production to the more intensive Imperial and finally industrialized sector it became under the Soviet Union. The visit included a guided museum tour and a workshop on silk paper making with the newly refurbished museum’s immensly knowledgable director, full of practical and passionate enthusisam. Most importantly, it was a wonderful opportunity for the silk farmers and the museum team to meet each other, exchange experiences, and build new connections in a sector which has suffered from having an immense cultural footprint with no on the ground silk production to fill it.

That is now changing. This year fifteen silk farmers will produce cocoons here in Georgia. Cocoon production began in 2023 with four families in 2024 with ten families and one public school and this will be the third year of production. A total of fourteen of these silk farmers and three school pupils took part in the workshop. Everyone was very enthusiastic and happy to be part of it, coming away with fresh ideas, such as creating crafts for the rural tourism industry as well as selling cocoons.

Another workshop will be organized in early May, focusing on traditional silk thread making.

The ALCP2 helped establish the GSA, which aims to serve as an essential support for rural producers wishing to farm silk cocoons , provide information and training and access to silkworm eggs, production techniques and facilitate linkages within the sector and with the media. The programme is also working with various private sector entities on supporting inputs to the silk sector and shaping and fulfilling market demand.

The ALCP2 is implemented by Mercy Corps Georgia and is funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) in cooperation with the Austrian Development Cooperation (ADC) and Sweden.