We Are Tomodachi Spring / Summer 2016

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25From production of Qmonos to fabrication of apparelMolecular structure of fibroinSpiber’s headquarters, located in a rural district of Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture.The fibroin powder is spun into thread with a device developed by the company.Kazuhide Sekiyama, Spiber’s top executive, poses with a parka made using Qmonos. Sekiyama, now 32 years old, started researching artificial spider silk as a student majoring in biotechnology at Keio University, and he founded Spiber while pursing doctoral studies.The molecular structure of fibroin is divided into hard crystallized segments and soft non-crystallized segments. This structure is thought to be related to the combination of strength and elasticity.Fibroin, the protein in spider silk, is produced by microorganism culture and powdered.Fibroin (one molecule)A component of spider silkEnhancedelasticityNon-crystallizedsegmentsEnhancedstrengthCrystallizedsegmentsTokyoYamagataTsuruoka

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