{"id":428,"date":"2013-11-26T18:19:52","date_gmt":"2013-11-26T23:19:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/?p=428"},"modified":"2013-11-26T18:23:20","modified_gmt":"2013-11-26T23:23:20","slug":"phout-of-houaphon-province-laos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/?p=428","title":{"rendered":"Phout of Houaphon Province, Laos"},"content":{"rendered":"

Phout of Houaphon Province, NE Laos<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Our good friend, Phout, wearing one of her healing cloths (phaa phi mon).<\/p><\/div>\n

We are in Houaphan Province in NE Laos, getting ready for a dinner with our weaving and dyeing friends.\u00a0 A dozen or so people are already at Souk\u2019s house, the women chatting quietly while chopping garlic and ginger for dinner\u2019s preparation, and the men sharing another bottle of Beer Lao.\u00a0 Then a motorcycle revs into the front, carrying Phout (pronounced \u201cput\u201d with a little bit of an \u201ch\u201d after the \u201cp\u201d) and her husband.\u00a0 Phout charges in, wrestles her too-small helmet off her tied-up hair, and, eyes glowing and teeth exposed, says something in a loud voice that ends with a high-pitched \u201cooo-eee\u201d; everyone laughs, including us. \u00a0Phout grabs Maren\u2019s shoulders and gives a quick hug, then offers her outstretched hand to Josh and the boys for a firm deliberate handshake.\u00a0 She continues to talk quickly and loudly and again the room erupts in laughter.<\/p>\n

Mai, who grew up with Phout and Souk (rhymes with \u201cbook\u201d) but later learned English, offers us a quick translation for Phout\u2019s paragraphs of gushing and animated energy.\u00a0 \u201cShe says\u201d Mai manages through her laughter, \u201cshe says she is so glad to see all of you, and she wishes you to celebrate with us that we are together again.\u201d\u00a0 There is a moment of quiet when the English is spoken.\u00a0 A dozen smiling heads bob as if hearing a toast.\u00a0 The room catches a breath and Phout reaches for a short glass of Beer Lao offered from her smiling husband.\u00a0 She raises the glass slightly in both hands, does a quick, honorable dip to acknowledge the celebration, and drains the glass quickly so, as tradition holds, it can be refilled and passed to the next person.\u00a0 She shakes her hand at the men pouring the beer and says something spiritedly \u2013 the tone alone meant \u201cGet this glass moving.\u00a0 This party has officially begun.\u201d \u00a0And we all laugh again.<\/p>\n

\"Sharing<\/a>

Sharing a meal at Souk’s home. From left to right: Ari, Maren, Josh’s mom Joy, Zall, Sukavit (expert weaver and village elder), Phout, Mai (our translator, friend and a childhood friend of Phout and Souk), and master-dyer Souk.<\/p><\/div>\n

Phout is an expert dyer and weaver.\u00a0 As is often the tradition in this region, the dyer is at the \u2018\u2019hub\u201d of the weaving process.\u00a0 She obtains the raw silk, dyes it using only traditional natural dyes, and then distributes the prepared silk and pattern-templates to the area\u2019s best weavers.\u00a0 A single piece may take a weaver several months to create. These weavers then return the completed textiles to, in this case, Phout, who will be responsible for getting them to a market.\u00a0 Phout is renown for her rich purples and vibrant color-play. She is also a savvy business-woman, ensuring that everyone from silk-raiser to weaver is fairly compensated.\u00a0 She is also eager to connect the regional talent and her silk products to a world market.\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Maren and Phout have become, for lack of a better word, \u201csisters.\u201d\u00a0 We all met in 2006 quite by accident as we were touring the region as a family.\u00a0\u00a0 We fell in love with the area, and the textiles, and \u2026 well, the people as well, like Phout and Souk.\u00a0 Their honesty, warmth, and open friendship has enriched us so much. These women are also central to many of the highest quality silk weavings that Above the Fray – or anyone in the world for that matter – can offer.<\/p>\n

Maren\u2019s recent (as in two weeks ago!) trip to Bangkok and Vientiane brought Phout and her together again, this time in the urban setting of Vientiane, Laos\u2019 capital, and here is her \u201cfriendship report.\u201d\u00a0 [Maren promises more on the Textile Symposium itself soon!]<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Maren\u2019s Report from Laos, November, 2013:\u00a0Celebrating with Phout in the City<\/strong><\/p>\n

During my recently-completed trip to Bangkok for the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles Symposium 2013:\u00a0 Weaving Royal Traditions Through Time, I took a side trip to Vientiane, Laos, where Phout met me for a few days of laughter, textiles, and local life.<\/p>\n

\"Maren<\/a>

Maren and Phout in Vientiane early this month – dressed for an event!<\/p><\/div>\n

What a kick!\u00a0 Phout\u2019s daughter, 4 months pregnant with her first child, and her husband, Nan, kept us company the whole time.\u00a0 Nan, who works for the Laos PDR Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, took a day off from work and he and his wife spent two additional evenings off from their lives to translate for Phout and me.\u00a0 We spent a day having lunch that Phout cooked \u2013 lovely plain boiled chicken, greens, sticky rice, and jhao \u2013 spicy dip \u2013 with all four of us at Nan and Phout\u2019s daughter\u2019s house.\u00a0 Then several hours of looking at some new textiles from Phout \u2013 how could I resist!\u00a0 I even bought a very fancy skirt from Phout of her recent design \u2013 ask to see it at our events!\u00a0 I got a few more healing cloths and love tokens from her also that I couldn\u2019t resist\u2026<\/p>\n

Phout\u2019s mom also accompanied her to Vientiane for some dental work.\u00a0 Her mom wanted to sell me her blanket that she wove at age 12 (she\u2019s maybe 70 now?) in silk with natural dyes and handspun cotton border and backing. \u00a0Having a treasure such as this, that survived the Vietnam war and the bombing of Laos for 9 years, is the curse of the business side of Above the Fray.\u00a0 No \u2013 I could never sell it.\u00a0 Such rarities really belong in museums.\u00a0 I even have a photo of Phout\u2019s mom, also named Mai, wearing the blanket to complete the textile\u2019s documentation.<\/p>\n

\"Phout's<\/a>

Phout’s mom, Mai, wearing the cloth she wove over 50 years ago.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Phout\u2019s daughter\u2019s husband\u2019s father\u2019s neighbor\u2019s daughter was getting married on one of the days I was with Phout.\u00a0 They asked if I could attend, and the answer, of course was \u201cYes!\u201d\u00a0 I was the only \u201cfalang\u201d (foreigner) invited to the 300+ person wedding at a fancy hotel \u2013 sit-down dinner with Johnny Walker Black and soda served to all with a live band and traditional Laos dancing \u2013 I was dragged onto the dance floor by Phout\u2019s son-in-law, his dad, and by Phout herself \u2013 what fun!<\/p>\n

The next night we went to the main temple in Vientiane where an annual ceremony was centered for two days later \u2013 the one where people make boats out of banana leaves and float them down the river with a candle lit in them to send wishes to the ancestor world \u2013 as depicted by the \u201cwax naga boats\u201d on many Laos textiles.\u00a0 Boy was it a wild party!\u00a0 In addition to monks accepting donations in return for the tying on of \u201cbasi strings\u201d for good health and good fortune (I got two!), there were multiple (six plus stages) full of music and dancers, loud sellers of Chinese clothing, cars, motorcycles, ferris wheels, kids rides, and copious volumes of sustenance, including quail eggs, chestnuts, fried dough, barbequed dried squid, and other delicacies.\u00a0 Phout and I held hands the whole time.\u00a0 So sweet!\u00a0 I am honored to be considered a good friend of such a talented designer, dyer, and weaver.<\/p>\n

\"Dancers<\/a>

Dancers from the Lawae culture dance at the celebration in Vientiane.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Phout of Houaphon Province, NE Laos We are in Houaphan Province in NE Laos, getting ready for a dinner with our weaving and dyeing friends.\u00a0 A dozen or so people are already at Souk\u2019s house, the women chatting quietly while … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}