- 4 days ago
- #tracesofchina
Este documental explora el viaje de 5.000 años de la seda desde la antigua China hasta la Europa moderna, centrándose en Venecia como puente cultural entre Oriente y Occidente. La película narra cómo la seda viajó a lo largo de la Ruta de la Seda – pasando de ser un secreto chino celosamente guardado a convertirse en el producto más preciado de Europa, tan valioso que con tres prendas de seda se podía comprar un palacio. A través de visitas a diseñadores de tejidos venecianos, centros de investigación y escuelas de moda contemporáneas, el documental revela cómo las técnicas chinas inspiraron la innovación europea, creando tradiciones italianas únicas en torno a la seda. Hoy en día, este intercambio cultural continúa, y la seda italiana vuelve a China como un lujo exótico. #TracesofChina
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TravelTranscript
00:00Venice, an architectural wonder sitting on a series of islands in the Adriatic.
00:17Venice was perfectly positioned to serve as a gateway between the East and the West.
00:22Over millennia, the exchange of goods and ideas that flowed along the Silk Road,
00:27connecting China to Europe, has made it synonymous with luxury, art, and of course, silk.
00:38When we talk about silk, we talk about the most noble of all fibers.
00:46It is its strength, its beauty, the way it reflects the light.
00:51No other fiber can do the same.
00:55Rubelli is a prestigious luxury silk manufacturer, with showrooms in major cities across the world.
01:02The company remains family-run, with its roots and home here in the heart of Venice.
01:10Welcome to Capizani Rubelli, the home of Rubelli and the Rubelli Foundation.
01:16There to welcome us, actually, there is my great-great-grandfather.
01:20He acquired a company which had existed for at least a couple of hundred years before,
01:25which continued what had been the glorious art of silk and weaving in Venice.
01:31So here, what used to be his home, we gathered a lot of pieces which had been collected mostly by my father,
01:42which witnessed the skill of silk weaving, and in particular, what has been woven in Venice.
01:48It's not only Venice inherited the art of silk from China, but also Venice was inspired by the East.
01:57So is this where the story of silk really begins?
02:00This is indeed one of the highlights of the collection.
02:02It is over five hundred years old, you see how well preserved,
02:06and really tells what you could do with silk.
02:09To me, it's a piece of art.
02:14Carrying on a very long tradition of silk merchants in Venice,
02:18the Rubelli Foundation collection is home to some of the world's most expensive silks.
02:26When you talk about silk in the 14, 15, 16 hundreds,
02:30you're not talking about textile, you're talking about jewels.
02:33They were passed from one generation to another as the most precious belongings.
02:37You have to think that with the value of three or four garments, you could buy a palace.
02:41Venice is said to be the most Western of the Eastern city,
02:52because its beauty really takes origin from the art and aesthetics from the East.
02:59Tell me about this. This is extraordinary.
03:01This is quite an intriguing piece, because it was embroidered telling the story of a garden
03:08to be cut and attached to a dress, and it has never been cut.
03:13How would people have understood all the Chinese imagery?
03:17I think they just were enchanted by them.
03:21I'm not really sure that they understood what they meant, but they love this exotic.
03:26We always love what comes from far away.
03:32Silk began its life in China, approximately 5,000 years ago.
03:37The exact circumstances of its discovery is now a story of ancient Chinese legend.
03:45Well, we know that the Chinese were the first to understand
03:48how a cocoon could be unrolled and create a beautiful piece of fabric,
03:52which is called silk.
03:55The fabric then took around 3,000 years of refinement before finding its way to European shores.
04:02Silk first arrived in Italy at the time of the Roman Empire.
04:07We can imagine how they liked it before it was wool, linen, matte.
04:11You could have something shiny.
04:13You moved it around and it looked like you were a whole jewel.
04:16I think that was really a sign of power.
04:19Fragments of these early textiles survive to this day and can be found deep in the archives of the Palazzo Mocenigo Museum.
04:31This is a great, precious collection.
04:36Wow.
04:37I organized some pieces to demonstrate the evolution we have in 700 after Christ.
04:47It's all silk and decorative elements.
04:51Where did this piece of silk come from?
04:53It come from China.
04:55Because it's a fragment that come here.
04:58We don't know why, but the study of the textile, meaning that it is a China textile.
05:05So how did it get here?
05:06Would it have been traded along the Silk Road?
05:09Yes, it could be.
05:12These early examples demonstrate that silk weaving was not merely a craft, but an art form and creative medium
05:20where skilled weavers expressed their creativity through intricate designs.
05:24What are the oldest samples that you have here?
05:27This one.
05:28This one.
05:29This one.
05:30This one.
05:31Found in the tomb.
05:32And it's very important for the symbol.
05:34It's the unique demonstration of a decorative art.
05:38Do we know exactly how old this is?
05:40Yes.
05:41Four, five hundred years before the born of Christ.
05:49The exact origins of this ancient piece remain a mystery.
05:52But its age demonstrates how early the Chinese art of silk weaving was being embraced by cultures far and wide.
06:01Why is it important for us to keep all of these historical bits of fabric?
06:05It's important because it demonstrated that the textile is the first step of communication.
06:13Such communications would manifest in patterns and motifs transmitting cultural messages and spiritual ideas.
06:20In reality it is the tree of life because from this basis born the life and this is the meaning.
06:30And you've got the phoenix rebirth.
06:31Yes, yes, yes, yes.
06:32Beautiful.
06:33So the fabric is sort of like messages sent back and forward down the Silk Road?
06:38Yes, absolutely.
06:39Because the textile is the paper of communication.
06:42And the same happened in other parts of the world.
06:45The Silk Road is an ancient trade route linking China with the West that carried goods and ideas between the great civilizations of China and Europe.
06:57Its history spans the last two and a half thousand years.
07:01Silk, spices, tea, porcelain, but also traditions and technologies flowed along the route.
07:10Exchanges that influenced art, literature and science, weaving together the cultural tapestry of our modern world.
07:18Venice was a city built to protect the inhabitants from the barbarians at the time of the fall of the Roman Empire.
07:26And it could have remained a village of fishermen.
07:30There's not much else to do around here.
07:32Instead the Venetians were smart enough to keep the contact with the Roman Empire of the East and become merchants.
07:39But it wasn't until the 12th century that the most famous Venetian merchant on the Silk Road, Marco Polo, picked up the thread.
07:52Laura, this is so beautiful. Tell me about where we are right now.
07:56Palazzo Ducale is the temple of the Venetian Republic.
08:02In this palace were based on all the activities to govern Venice and Marco Polo was one of them.
08:12Marco Polo was a Venetian merchant and diplomat and a writer.
08:18He went to China as a young man and stayed in China more or less 20 years.
08:28What is so important is that Marco Polo came back and wrote about this experience
08:36and making us knowing these people, these traditions, these cities.
08:43In his book, Il Milione, Marco Polo wrote about the Chinese city of Suzhou.
08:52This writing is about Suzhou.
08:55In Suzhou, they have a big quantity of silk.
09:00And all people are working or living in the production and trade of silk.
09:08Remarkably, Suzhou had many similarities to Venice, a merchant city connected by canals.
09:22It not only had a thriving silk producing industry, but silk weavers there had also developed techniques far surpassing what could be done in Europe.
09:31Like Suzhou embroidery, where a single mirrored image or even different images could be viewed from both sides.
09:40A lot of merchants from Venice, from Genova, went so long way to China.
09:48The only one who wrote was Marco Polo.
09:52Marco Polo returned from China in 1295 and his tales are credited with boosting the fascination for luxury goods from the East.
10:04During this time period, Venice became a thriving center of trade, with wealth pouring in from the exchange of exotic goods.
10:12Palaces were bought and sold.
10:15Meanwhile, the Chinese tradition of silk farming was already becoming a well-established industry across the north of Italy.
10:24Silk is exactly grown as it was done 2,000 more years ago.
10:29Because it comes from the silk cocoon, you have to feed the silkworm with leaves from the mulberry trees and take care of them and let them grow until the silkworm builds its cocoons around.
10:42And at that time you can extract this long, magnificent yarn of silk.
10:47Just outside of Venice, CRIA is Europe's largest facility for silkworm research, where Silvia Capelosa and her team are exploring a range of non-traditional silk applications, from cosmetics to pharmaceuticals.
11:06Wow, they're so big!
11:10Yeah, because they are at the very end of their larval cycle and now they are ready to spin cocoons.
11:20In fact, you can see that in the cocoon there is a larva inside spinning.
11:27So these are all the little silk cocoons here?
11:30Yeah, yeah, yeah. They will continue till the cocoon is very thick.
11:36Cereculture, the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk, was a closely guarded Chinese secret for thousands of years.
11:47But from the 6th century, silkworms, and their main food source, the white mulberry tree, were moved along the silk roads to Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire.
11:58While historians don't entirely agree on when the Byzantines introduced the white mulberry to Italy, it could have been as early as the 9th century.
12:08And by the 12th century, towns like Lucca, Florence, and Venice began to build a reputation for producing homegrown fine Italian silk.
12:17This is the typical ancient way how they have the spinning of the worms and the silkworms made their cocoons between the branches.
12:30Did the Italian way of farming the silkworms take inspiration from the Chinese way or did they evolve independently?
12:37No, they evolved independently because, you know, at that time, farmers were not in contact with Chinese farmers or technicians.
12:49How much silk will each worm spin?
12:52In the more productive strain, the thread can reach two kilometers.
12:58Per worm?
12:59Per worm.
13:07As domestic silk production increased, the demand began to shift away from Chinese imports.
13:21Italian weavers mastered advanced techniques to create exquisite silk fabrics that were sought after across Europe.
13:28At its peak throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, Venice employed 15,000 silk workers.
13:36Today, the city is transformed into a cultural haven for modern arts and eager tourists.
13:43But the remnants of historic Venice can still be discovered by those who know where to look.
13:50Hello.
13:51Hello.
13:52Good morning.
13:53Good morning.
13:54Good morning.
13:55Good morning.
13:56Good morning.
13:57Good morning.
13:58Good morning, Amelia.
13:59How are you?
14:00Look at this.
14:01Wow.
14:02This is amazing.
14:03Amazing.
14:04Good morning.
14:05I do not know.
14:06These are our normal products.
14:07These are our hands.
14:08The flowers are not small.
14:09These are our hands.
14:10Beautiful.
14:11The normal ones are small, it is nice to me.
14:12These are our hands.
14:13This is the modern ones.
14:14It is the current owner of Luigi Bevelacqua.
14:15A Venetian silk weaving company that draws on the techniques of the past.
14:19Surprisingly even the ideas of the genius Leonardo Da Vinci.
14:23It's like stepping back in time.
14:52Inspired by Chinese silk and driven by an insatiable market demand for the fabric, by the 1500s the Europeans had eventually built the weaving machines needed to make their own.
15:03How long would it take to make a piece of silk?
15:10How long would it take to make a piece of silk?
15:22So, in my opinion, the average is 5 to 10 cm per day, even if in a good day we can produce 50-60 cm.
15:36The machine, or the Jachar machine, is from the first 1800s, while this is the most ancient instrument of the sewing machine.
15:52It's called Bevilacqua, and it's an auditorium designed by Leonardo da Vinci, and it's from the 1600s, and it works at least once a week.
16:06And it's called Bevilacqua, and it's called Bevilacqua.
16:30Venice specialized, again, in luxury, and when they wove, they did the velvet, the most precious full textiles, or they wove silk with gold and silver.
16:40Look at the colors on this, the way the light comes off the gold is amazing.
16:53Velvet is a type of weave characterized by softness, sheen, and dense piled fibers.
16:59It's been a symbol of nobility and royalty throughout the ages.
17:04To this day, Bevilacqua continues this tradition, providing high quality Venetian velvet to prestigious clients, including the Vatican and various royal palaces.
17:14Because the palaces of Venice are beautiful.
17:21And the only fabric of fabric that could sew these palaces was, and is now, the seta.
17:30And Venice became one of the most skilled places to weave the silk.
17:48Highest quality came to Europe, was sold to the courts of Europe, and sometimes also back to the East, because the technique that the Venetian developed was quite unique.
17:57You see how a silk dresses well, not only a beautiful lady, but also a womb.
18:07It's so womb.
18:08It gives warmth. It makes it softer. And that's what Venetians loved.
18:12The 1400s and 1500s are the century of the greatest production of silk textiles in Venice.
18:27You had the spinners, you had the dyers, the weavers.
18:36So all this art really flourished.
18:39And the wealth of the city, the beautiful building that you will still see, some of them are done also because of the wealth coming from silk.
18:46The evolving marriage of Chinese inspiration and Italian style has sustained the allure of silk through the ages.
18:58Yet the story of silk doesn't end here, as these elegant natural fibers continue to enchant the next generation of Italian designers.
19:07What sort of thing is the university known for?
19:24I think it's known for its futuristic and forward world mentality.
19:31Everyone's got a lot of big ideas.
19:33Yes, we're looking for big ideas and new ideas.
19:37I am pleased to introduce Leonardo Sector, our master student.
19:44So is this your finals project?
19:47Yes, yes it is.
19:48Beautiful dress.
19:50How does silk inspire you in your work?
19:55To me silk is so important as the way I love to design because it is super lightweight but it has a kind of strength.
20:06It's a natural fiber so you can dye it.
20:09So for example this is naturally dyed.
20:11I don't know, how does it feel to be wearing it?
20:13It's very nice, it's very great and I also, the fact that this is natural, that's beautiful.
20:17So yeah, yeah, it feels very good.
20:20It feels very good.
20:24This dress I think it's an homage to the city of Venice.
20:28Silk of course.
20:30Thinking about the pleating and the waves and the water in Venice, the colors, the way it moves.
20:37The main inspiration comes from that.
20:38It makes an amazing ripple when you move.
20:48It's very reminiscent of Venice to me.
20:50Yeah.
20:52When it's a good day.
20:53This is a beautiful Venice.
20:54This is what I see.
20:55It was the only material possible to use if I wanted to achieve a like a result like that.
21:10Yeah, it really flows. You can see the water in it. Very expressive.
21:15With young designers like Leonardo weaving their own stories into the rich tapestry of silk's history,
21:27we can see that the 5,000 year story of silk doesn't end here.
21:31Today is quite interesting because the raw materials come from China, designed and woven and developed in Italy,
21:43and goes back to China where it has a special charm.
21:47Possibly they found our silks now quite exotic.
21:50So maybe things are repeating on the other side as they happened in the past centuries.
21:55Silk is a product of history, culture, and I think the relation based on culture is the only way to understand,
22:10really understand each other.
22:14I think that silk represents tradition, the culture of the past, but also the wings for the future,
22:22dreams, development, technologies. I love silk especially for that.
22:31Then when you want something really special in the textile world,
22:35there's nothing as special as silk and it will remain.
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