BBC Future ripercorre la storia della mussola di Dacca, tessuto finissimo e prezioso tenuto in grande considerazione nell’Europa del Settecento, quando veniva importato dalla città bengalese omonima, e venduto a costi altissimi:

The region’s Western customers found it hard to believe that Dhaka muslin could possibly have been made by human hands – there were rumours that it was woven by mermaids, fairies and even ghosts. Some said that it was done underwater. “The lightness of it, the softness of it – it was like nothing we have today,” says Ruby Ghaznavi, vice president of the Bangladesh National Craft Council.

Alla fine del Settecento, la compagnia inglese delle Indie Orientali ruppe il delicato equilibrio economico che ne consentiva la produzione, importando le conoscenze necessarie in Gran Bretagna e consentendo la produzione di una mussola di qualità inferiore, fatta di cotone anziché del tradizionale puti kharpas. Sia le tecniche artigianali sia la pianta stessa da cui era tratto il materiale andarono perdute.

As the generations passed, the knowledge of how to make Dhaka muslin was forgotten. And with no one to spin its silky threads, the phuti karpas plant, which had always been hard to tame – no one had been able to grow it away from the Meghna river – retreated back into wild obscurity. The legend of the loom was no more.

Oggi, Saiful Islam dirige un progetto per il ritrovamento della pianta e delle tecniche di produzione della mussola tradizionale, partendo dal sequenziamento del DNA dei semi di puti kharpas giunti fino a noi per identificare piante simili, fino alla produzione del tessuto.

Fast-forward to 2021 and the team have made several saris from their hybrid muslin, which have already been exhibited all over the world. Some have been sold for thousands of pounds – and Islam feels the reception they received proves the fabric has a future. “In this day and age of mass production, it’s always interesting to have something special. And the brand is still powerful,” he says.

Immagine di copertina tratta da Pixabay su licenza Creative Commons.