Look East for a Feast of Fabrics
Financial TimesTeresa Levonian Cole is hot on the trail of the trend scouts who are getting excited about hand-woven textiles from Laos
Published: February 6 2004 16:13 | Last Updated: February 6 2004 16:13
Trend scouts have found their way to Laos. In their search for new inspiration, they have been spotted in villages along the Mekong River, fingering sumptuous fabrics and flashing Hasselblads at showers of colour. Discreet minimalism is Out, they proclaim; vibrant exoticism is In. And just as you had finished paying for all those furnishings in meditative shades of beige.
Fear not, all is not lost. Neutrals are the perfect showcase for a new design phenomenon bursting out of east Asia. One or two strategically placed pieces are all it takes to add spice to a diet of yoghurt-whites. We are talking textiles: specifically, hand-dyed, hand-woven silks from Luang Prabang, the sleepy, ancient capital of Laos, cradled between the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers.
Weaving is synonymous with Lao culture, where women traditionally weave their own clothes and a girl's desirability in the marriage stakes is commensurate with her creative use of a shuttle. Techniques are passed from mother to daughter, with a rich array of motifs drawn from mythology, nature and religion. They are woven with remarkable intricacy and deftness to the ubiquitous clackety-clack of ancient shuttle looms: apparently primitive contraptions of wood, held together with a cat's cradle of string, yet capable of the utmost sophistication. Nothing has changed.
In Luang Prabang - a tiny town of former palaces, Buddhist temples and orange-robed monks - weaving enjoyed royal patronage until the deposition of the monarchy in 1975. With the gradual growth of tourism, textile emporia proliferated between the temple compounds. Stylised crabs, birds, and Nagas - the mythical sea serpent that protects the Buddha - intertwine on shawls and wall hangings in every conceivable colour, and flutter from rafters like festive banners.
Browsing is hassle-free as proprietors snooze on makeshift cots or eat lunch on the pavements, while tuk tuks sputter past. For good measure, a kilometre-long Night Market extends shopping hours, rallying women from the surrounding villages, who sit four-deep along the street, and entice you by torchlight to buy their silks. Bargaining, accomplished by sign language, is fierce, and a decorative hanging of about 200cm x 70cm, can be had for $30. But the quality here is variable.
Not so at OckPopTok, where only the finest silks, dyes and weavers can be found as the owners seek to revive the refinement and expertise of old skills that have been deteriorating since the demise of royal patronage. This tiny gallery of beautiful textiles was set up in October 2000, the brainchild of two twentysomething women, Veo Duangdala and Jo Smith.
A stone's throw from Xieng Thong Temple, it is a treasure trove for designers - from antique weavings and traditional patterns laden with symbolism to those adapted for a contemporary feel. And so the border design of a skirt is elaborated into a shawl; the pattern above a mosquito net inspires a bright stripey throw. Old designs might be reproduced "straight", translated into a different colour palate, or combined with other motifs. The permutations are infinite.
"A healthy society is a dynamic one," says Smith, "and while respecting design tradition, we recognise that it, too, is constantly evolving. It reflects a living culture, rather than being the static mirror of history."
You might find the abstract expressionist Mark Rothko hard to place within the Lao tradition, evolving or otherwise. But one exception - a witty reference to the artist in shades of grey and red silk ikat - hangs majestic yet incongruous amongst traditional wall hangings, table runners, shawls and cushion covers, each individually worked with geometric butterflies, snakes, turtles and elephants.
Pride of place belongs to a shimmering silk room divider, measuring 400cm x 60cm, overlaid by eight layers of differently coloured supplementary weft that form over 1,000 patterns - the result of four months' labour. "That's not really for sale," says Smith, "though $1,000 might be a guideline".
The philosophy of "East meets West", the meaning of OckPopTok, is applied equally to its workforce of 15 local weavers employed under the benevolent direction of Duangdala, herself a weaver since the age of eight. "Nowadays young girls feel there is a stigma to being a mere 'weaving-girl from the village'," says Smith. "So we try to instil a sense of pride in their work, to keep the tradition alive. We involve them in design projects, and also teach them modern skills to complement the old ones - computer design, or how to use digicams, for example. And that makes them feel cool about what they're doing."
Among the lucky few who have stumbled across OckPopTok are Mick Jagger and Kylie Minogue. American textile designer Jack Larsen has also bought its work. OckPopTock has been approached by a hotelier renowned for her sense of style, and is the subject of a forthcoming documentary by a Canadian television company and a feature by a French interiors magazine. But the two proprietors remain unaffected by their celebrity clients and the media buzz. Despite their burgeoning export market and newly-opened outlet at the Pansea Hotel in Luang Prabang and soon-to-open one in Bangkok, their priority remains the high-quality production of individual weavings. The drawing rooms of Europe are smiling in anticipation.
ROUTE TO THE BEST SILK
Hand-woven silks and commissions may be ordered over the internet (visit www.ockpoptok.com ). Textile tours of Indochina are available through Audley Travel (tel: +44 1869 276200).
The silks
Lao silk is of a higher quality than that of its neighbours, as it absorbs natural dyes with greater depth. The best Lao silk, as used by OckPopTok, comes from around the Plain of Jars. The cocoon is boiled, spun (a cocoon yields approx 100m of raw silk and 300m of fine silk) washed, bleached and finally dyed. The texture of silk is further affected by the length of time it was boiled, and the silkworms' diet.
The dyes
There has been an influx of cheap synthetic dyes and fibres from China and Thailand. Traditionally, natural dyes were used - a laborious process involving several "baths". OckpopTok uses mangostine, indigo, turmeric, jackfruit, teak, rosewood and insect wax.
There are three classic weaving techniques:
Ikat - a single length of thread is wound around a frame corresponding to the width of the weft, tied with water-resistant tape to form a pattern, dyed, spun and then woven through the warp.
Tapestry - where the weft forms a flat pattern in a single colour across the warp.
Supplementary weft (or brocade) - where several colours are woven across the warp, forming an often complex, discontinuous pattern. The effect is similar to embroidery.
Prices
Prices are as disparate as the quality of the products. Consider the quality of the silk, consistency of thread and the use of natural dyes. Most important is the motif - its rarity, complexity and the quality of weaving. A shawl at source can cost from $25 to $1,000.