An Amazing Talent Now Outlets in America!
In Houaphon Province’s small provincial capital of Xam Neua (Laos), way on the eastern edge of town where the main road ends, past the Buddhist stupa and around the corner on a small side street, sits a modest cement-block home and workshop of a most extraordinary weaver. [We’ll refrain from naming her as we do not have her permission to do so.]
The master dyer and designer showing one of her new shawls.
In 2006, on our first visit to Xam Neua (before Above the Fray), the local tourist office had casually recommended we visit her modest workshop. We did not have a translator but felt confident with our Lao-English dictionary and the calculator to see what she had to offer. She greeted us politely, indicated she knew no English, and invited into to sit down on an old couch. Glasses of water appeared, and then this woman brought out some textiles she had designed and made; our jaws dropped on the floor.
A subtle modernist, she takes the traditional motifs of her Tai Daeng culture and creates her own private line of unique, exquisite silk scarves and shawls. Her motifs and designs are deceptively simple and elegant, and tend to avoid the more traditional complex geometric play. Her use of rich hues and buoyant color-play, all created using natural dyes, allow the energy of her silks to jump right off the shimmering textile and dance. She uses only the finest, thinnest quality of silk thread, and doesn’t fear bold, sharp images; the weaving quality is flawless.
One of the traditional sets of motifs used by this designer in her shawls. This shows a “siho,” or mythological elephant lion, which represents both political and fierce fighting strength; on its back is an ancestor spirit, who helps guide the shaman to the ancestor world to seek help; a “hong” bird, perched to the left, symbolizes male energy. Various flowers, and a spirit tree grow by the siho’s trunk.
One of the young weavers modeling a shawl she just wove (note untwisted fringes) standing in front of finished shawls from the weaving works.
A weaver at work creating another masterpiece. All of the dyes are made from natural materials, even the bright turquoise on the shuttle she is using for the weft on this golden shawl!
She manages a small roomful of younger weavers who operate hand-made wooden looms using the supplemental weft technique. We imagined her to be a tyrant of a boss – how else could her textiles be so unusually error-free? But no. On our several visits (now with translators) we hear nothing but giggles and chat as the young women slide their shuttles back and forth on the nine wooden, hand-made looms that sit in the adjacent room. They quickly get studious when we walk in to admire their creations (and snap a few pictures); the moment we leave, their casual and cheerful banter returns.
On our last visit in 2011, she confessed that the dozen or so pieces we usually purchase from her represent her only regular sales outlet – save one. Yes, she admitted, except for the rare one-time visitors (like us on our first visit), she sells exclusively through a select silk boutique in Singapore. Apparently, the Singaporean contact will take every piece she and her small team can create.
“You are my only other regular customer,” she tells us through our translator. Her eyes brighten. “My special American boutique customer!”
A half-finished shawl on the loom – this weaver was too shy for a photo!