Luca Alessandrini

“This is unbelievable”.

These words were pronounced by a well-known luthier from Cremona (IT), where the violin calls home. He was hearing the first prototype violin made out of silk.

This is the result of an experimental project about the applications of Biomaterials in the field of Acoustics.

The result of this research it is a silk based composite material that could potentially disrupt the use of carbon fibre in the field of acoustic representing a more performing natural replacement.

As a proof of concept, two prototype violins have been realised using silk and spider silk.

Quoting one of the artisans that collaborate at this project:

“Over all I'd never ever thought it's possible to achieve such a good sounding instrument with only two attempts in such a short period of time. In my opinion this material has a huge potential...”.

The concept of silk in relation to musical instruments seems a successful connection recalling the “archetypes” of finesse, sophistication, preciousness and tradition.

Moreover, this silk composite material is related to the world of sustainability acquiring an aspect of “organicness” and authenticity. This characteristic will push the musician to built a clear association between this material and wood, rather than carbon fibre that is it usually perceived as totally artificial.

In a medium-term perspective, It will be extremely interesting to explore and engineer specific fibres mixes, explore how the different positions of the fibres will affect the sound and try several woven techniques in order to taylor made the acoustic properties of a product. The application of this material should include speakers, amplifiers, headphones, highly sophisticated sounding ambients or objects, etc.

This is just the beginning of the implementation of this composite material that can potentially revolutionise the acoustics related industry.