“My grandmother wove in me a tapestry
that was impossible to unwind,” Vigo said. “Since then, I’ve dedicated
my life to the sea, just as those who have come before me.”

Like the 23 women before her, Vigo has never made a penny from her
work. She is bound by a sacred ‘Sea Oath’ that maintains that byssus
should never be bought or sold.

Instead, Vigo explained that the only way to receive byssus is as a gift. […]

“Byssus doesn’t belong to me, but to everyone,” Vigo asserted.
“Selling it would be like trying to profit from the sun or the tides.”

More recently, a Japanese businessman approached Vigo with an offer
to purchase her most famous piece, ‘The Lion of Women’, for €2.5
million. It took Vigo four years to stitch the glimmering 45x45cm design
with her fingernails, and she dedicated it to women everywhere.

“I told him, ‘Absolutely not’,” she declared. “The women of the world are not for sale.”

The last surviving sea silk seamstress