Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) The Art of Indigenous Weaving, an event hosted by Craft Link, introduced theskills of the ethnic Mong in the northern province of Ha Giang, the Thaiethnics from the central province of Nghe An and the Chau Ma from the CentralHighlands province of Lam Dong.
Tran Tuyet Lan, general director of Craft Link Society Enterprise, said thespecial feature in this event is that six representatives of the three ethnicgroups from the three regions of the country were invited to demonstrate theirhandloom weaving skills at the site.
“The three groups have three ways of weaving traditional cloth,” she told VietNam News. “You can see here their similarities in culture as well as theirdifferences in weaving culture.”
Lan explained that during the 26 years of running the enterprise, Craft Linkhas worked with various ethnic groups throughout Vietnam, many of them havingspecial traditional weaving skills handed down through generations.
“During the development process of modern society, many ethnic groups have seentheir weaving skills face away, which is regretful,” she said. “Factoriesproduce new kinds of cloth quickly at cheap prices. It’s very difficult forsuch traditional weaving products by remote ethnic groups to compete againstindustrial textiles.”
That’s why Craft Link hosted this exhibition to introduce these valuable skillsby ethnic groups, she said.
“We want to send a message that we should preserve the traditional identity ofethnic groups through their traditional handicrafts and help them bring thehandicrafts to international friends,” she said. “They can create beautifulproducts for various markets in the world," she said.
Lan said their products have been highly appreciated in foreign markets.
“When working with the ethnic groups, we have done research to understand theircultures and the way they use the cloth in daily life to design the product fora better function and more suitable to the international market,” she said.
Sung Thi Van Anh of the Mông ethnic group in Quan Ba district, Ha Giang province,demonstrated her skills at the exhibition.
“I’m weaving a linen cloth from flax,” she said. “It takes us a lot of time tomake a cloth from tearing off fibres, discolour the fibres, and several stepsbefore reaching this weaving step,” she said.
Anh said she learnt weaving techniques when she was small from her grandmotherand mother.
“I liked weaving and tried to learn the skills,” she said. “Though there aremany more durable, beautiful kinds of cloth in the market, I think ourtraditional linen cloth cannot be replaced. We still wear it for festiveoccasions. It’s natural and has been associated with my ethnic group for a verylong time,” she said.
Anh said women of her age still maintain weaving skills.
“I feel proud of this weaving skill and would like to introduce it tointernational people,” she said.
Dieu Thi Moc of the Chau Ma ethnic group from Lam Dong said she gets a stableincome from weaving traditional cloth.
Moc said with her handloom weaving skills, she uses her hands even though nowthere are machines that do this job.
“We still prefer the artisanal cloth as the patterns are much sharper and dyedcolours look more beautiful,” she said.
Along with 6 million VND (246 USD) in monthly income from weaving, Moc alsoearns money from cultivating cashew and rice.
“We will never stop this traditional weaving as we still can live on it,” she said.
Cindy Cutler, a US citizen based in Hanoi for three years, spent a long time atthe event.
“This is a wonderful exhibition,” she said. “I’m very impressed with theeducational aspects and they explain the techniques and how much goes intomaking these beautiful products. I have just been in Ha Giang and I saw womenwearing traditional dress and still doing traditional trades,” she said.
Cutler appreciated the diversity of the different products and that the eventwas translated into English at the Goethe Institute.
“It’s a very educational exhibition with the artisans here so you can see themmaking the products,” she said.
Craft Link is a non-profit and fair-trade social enterprise which wasestablished in 1996. The enterprise is currently supporting more than 60 groupsof artisans all over Vietnam with more than 6,000 beneficiaries.
Craft Link projects not only help artisans produce arts and crafts to increasetheir income, but also help them improve capacity, moving towards sustainable development./.
VNA
