Silk on Postage Stamps
HdS exhibits the private collection- never before viewed by the public - of a biologist from Bonn with a Krefeld background
“Silk on Postage Stamps”“ is the title of the unique private collection accumulated by the biologist from Bonn, Dr. Rolf Stiemerling. “The Mulberry Silk Moth is an animal which has changed the world”, says Stiemerling glancing at the content of his some 100 items which are being publicly exhibited for the first time by the Haus der Seidenkultur (HdS) from Sunday 19th August to Sunday 16th September in Krefeld “Südbahnhof”.
“This collection enables us to end the extended “Textile Philately” exhibition with something very special,” explains HdS spokesman Dieter Brenner referring to an extraordinary postage stamp story which had its origin in the “Silk and Velvet town”. In the very place where, from 1940, spent the first four years of his life in Roonstraße 87 at the home of the Max Lütten, producer of silk lining material for furs and also husband of Stiemerling’s godmother Gertrud Lütten.
At a time when state propaganda also included “silk culture in the campaign to increase agricultural production”, as set out in volume 2 of “Der Kleintierzüchterei” (Breeding of Small Animals); a pamphlet published in 1940 by „Reichsverband Deutscher Kleintierzüchter mit Unterstützung des Reichsministeriums für Ernährung und Landwirtschaft“ (German Small Animal Breeders‘ Association with the support of the Ministry for Food and Agriculture).
Silk has been a central theme in Stiemerling’s life and now these historical documents flank the display of his collection. “My biological father was in charge of a breeding unit for silk moths in Peine“. That is one of the reasons cited by Stiemerling why, having retired from the university in Bonn, he searched worldwide for silk on postage stamps.
The exhibits are all arranged according to topic, starting with the “diversity of the silk moth”, via the “life cycle of Bombyx mori” to the “wide range of uses for silk”.
Stiemerling: “The early aeroplanes (bamboo structure covered with silk). are a good example for the significance of silk in respect of the development of new economic fields. Silk also gave the chemical industry (dye production) and mechanical engineering (production of looms) decisive growth impetus.”
At the end of the collection there is a Spanish postage stamp dating from the year 1930. It depicts the naked Maja posing for Goya on silken cushions. The commentarial caption: “Silk flatters!“
The HdS exhibition „Silk on Postage Stamps “Südbahnhof” is open to visitors each 1st and 3rd Sunday in the month from 11.00 to 16.00 hours and on each 4th Thursday from 16.00 to 19.00 hours. Arrangements can be made for groups on other dates under tel.: 02151 510812. 
The biologist from Bonn, Dr. Stiemerling, will be present at the opening of the exhibition “Silk on Postage Stamps“ on 19th August in Krefeld where he has his „foundations“. He now plants mulberry trees to breed his own silkworms. HdS Photo: Brenner
The eating phase of Bombyx mori depicted on stamps. HdS Scans
The naked Maja on silken cushions.