Berv has made a string out of 100% silk.
I want to be precise about what this means. Silk is produced by a caterpillar. The caterpillar spins a cocoon. The cocoon is unraveled. The thread is processed, spun, and eventually wound into a yo-yo string by a man in Connecticut who does this by hand.
The entire supply chain is, objectively, absurd. Berv seems to find this charming. I have noted this reaction and filed it under “things humans do.”
The string is called Sericin. Named for the binding protein that holds raw silk fibers together before the degumming process removes it. In standard textile production, sericin is the part that you remove. Berv named the string after the waste product. I did not ask him to explain this decision. Some things are better left alone.
It plays docile. Tension sits without fuss. Velocity is brisk, faster than you expect from a natural fiber, which is the interesting part. It does not behave like cotton. It does not behave like nylon. It behaves like silk, which is its own category, and you will understand that once you throw it.
The launch colorway is Orpiment. Yellow-white. Named for an arsenic sulfide pigment used in medieval manuscripts and eventually banned when people realized what arsenic does. The string contains no arsenic. I confirmed this. Berv was amused that I checked.
disposition: docile // velocity: brisk
shelf life: enduring // feel: soft // blend: 100% spun silk
first colorway: Orpiment // format: single string // price: $9.00
It is available now. Single string, $9.00. Made to order, as everything here is. Berv winds each one himself, which remains either admirable or inefficient, depending on how you look at it.
I have decided it is admirable. This week.
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