Heading to Laos next week with family and I've booked a half day workshop at the silk weaving textile center. An American woman and lifelong weaver (Carol Cassidy) is responsible for helping to reorganize the silk weaving trade after it all but disappeared in the last century's communist regime. There are villages there where most men fish the Mekong River while most women care for children and weave traditional Laotian motifs to sell. I'm so excited to visit a place where weaving is so prominent in peoples' lives!

Comments

Wed, 12/10/2014 - 01:59

ingamarie

Sounds like a great trip.. do you know Deb McClintock? She's made quite a few visits to Laos and knows a great deal about the weaving there...

She's on Weavolution at http://www.weavolution.com/?q=weaver/debmcclintock

Wed, 12/10/2014 - 03:22

Sara von Tresckow

Hope you've looked up Carol and her website here.

http://www.laotextiles.com/

She sells her silk goods at outlets here such as MOMA and other top art museums and upscale gift shops. I own a few of her scarves and they are spectacular.

She has not only revived the traditional weaving methods, the designs emanating from her work are beyond traditional and very lovely.

Wed, 12/10/2014 - 12:52

Sue in VT

Yes, I have looked up Carol, but I wasn't aware about Deb McClintock's connection! Thanks!
Wed, 12/10/2014 - 14:45

debmcclintock

Hi 6024, I saw your post yesterday and was pondering a reply.  If you private message me where you will be in Laos I can offer some suggestions if I know where and how much time you have on weaving lessons.  Phaeng Mai in Vietniane is awesome for lessons. 

http://www.silk-phaengmai.laopdr.com

Laos is a wonderful place to be a weaver.  Most of the villages have looms up during the dry season and it is great to see items in production.

I want to assure you that weaving in Laos was alive and well during the Communist regime.  Many Lao women wove thru the war and continued to create beautiful cloth for their ceremonies and personal wear.  Weaving did not disappear.  It did not need to be "saved".  What Carol did so well was to adapt the designs and create a marketable product to the West, thus increasing US museum and vender awareness.  She upgraded her looms for production rather than village small production and is very successfully in marketing her adaptations (think Kaffe Fasset with his knitting designs from the British Museum artwork or Jim Thompson's success with the clothing from The King & I for Thailand).  She simplified the designs to show the beauty and appeal to her market's fashion taste.   Other galleries and workshops were alive and well.  As a Westerner with the freedom of traveling/marketing OUTSIDE of Laos in the 70's and 80's I think Carol should be known for her work in marketing the weaving to the Western world and creating an example of weaver benefits in Laos.  Many Lao weavers marketed their work within the Communist restrictions and did not have the travel freedom to reach the marketplace.  It was a different marketplace 15 - 20 years ago.  

I feel like I should attach a disclaimer in that I think her work on the weaving is awesome and recognition for her artwork is well deserved, but I don't think she reorganized the weaving trade.  Please don't interpret this as a knock on all her hard work.  regards  Deb McClintock

Wed, 12/10/2014 - 20:58

Sue in VT

Thank you Deb, I am so lucky and blessed to be able to network with experienced weavers! I appreciate your insights. I have sent you a private email with the name of the lesson I've booked. i will be asking about silk yarn as well, though I'm not hopeful. We'll see.
Thu, 12/11/2014 - 15:13

debmcclintock

posting my response to 6024, for future reference for others...please remember as time goes by some of these links might not work and some schools may close but this gives other travelers weaving ideas in Laos.  AND I have no doubt I have left someone fabulous out but we can always add them when we remember them.  These are the basics:

Ok, you asked! Don't get anxious if you get a weaving teacher that does not speak English. It is all in the hands and eyes. Watch and learn, really! I learned that no words is a good thing and too much talking gets in the way learning of the technique. Someone with English will be around and you can go to them for critical information.

Keep the half day at OPT, it will be a good into for you to the weaving culture

http://ockpoptok.com/create/

Make sure you go here for an overview http://www.taeclaos.org/visitorinformation.html

When you get to Vientiane you can take more lessons here

http://www.houeyhongcentre.com/visit_the_centre.php

Try to do the whole day to experience the sounds and workshop flow

Or here is where I have learned (HH wasn't operating when I was there). At the minimum, go see their workshop. I have heard they have expanded so I do not know what it looks like now. Read their back history. Email them to see if you can take a shorter class.  I will always be grateful for their assistance. We still keep in touch. Poke around on their website for history.

Phaeng Mai Gallery

http://laotextile.blogspot.com/p/weaving-dyeing-courses.html

Other wonderful galleries are Kanchana, Maicome and Nikonne

http://www.laohandicraftassociation.com/wordpress/aboutlha/members/

At this point your husband will be writhing in textile agony, tell him you will never be in a country where being a weaver is so understood and you must wallow and he must let you.

In Vientiane definitely go to Carol Cassidy's studio.  It is lovely and peaceful.  

Across from Carol one block over in front of the huge meeting hall is a Lao cultural museum. They had begun setting up a weaving cultural exhibit. I know it was started, not sure if it finished. It is called the Lao National History Museum.

And if you are in Bangkok look for the Queen's Silk Museum on the Teak Palace grounds. It gives you a good look at the difference between Thailand and Lao weaving plus a magnificent ethnic group overview. 

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g293916-d3178526-r141662530-Queen_Sirikit_Museum_of_Textiles-Bangkok.html

Also, silk is everywhere.  Be sure and look for the polyester thread that is used to make the khit it heddles, you can't find it on this side of the ocean. One settles for kite string. Ask your teachers where you can buy it. You'll see what I mean. And of course you can buy the entire fumm at the marketplace (reed, two shafts and pattern storage) and bring it back.

Have fun and please take notes for updating this thread for others.  Who knows what you find new.  

Deb McClintock

 

 

Fri, 12/12/2014 - 14:34

Sue in VT

Thank you Ingamarie, Deb and Sara! I've been browsing the sites you posted and yes, I will be in villages where visits are possible. I've packed also my Jan/Feb Handweaving magazine which is all silk, so I have long haul flight reading to do. Cheers to all!
Wed, 12/24/2014 - 10:45

Sue in VT

After a wonderful breakfast of dumplings and glass noodles, we rented bikes and trekked to Houeyhong Centre, which is an education center to teach young women traditional skills. We were quite lost because the sign HHTC was taken down because of construction. Locals couldn't speak English.....we approached at least ten people before one could help us. The ladies at the center were eating lunch, but we were allowed to wander and take shots of the many incredible looms with works in progress. Reeled silk was hanging in hanks everywhere, and big vats were steaming with simmering silk in many different natural colors. The color is taken from plants and insects (I think) and are waiting in bowls to be used. When we returned to Vientiane, we visited Carol Cassidy's amazing workshop, and were permitted to wander freely and take pictures. The guide was very helpful, and taught us a lot about the meanings of designs on wall hangings and runners. When I picked out a wall hanging, I was taken to the finishing room so they could show me how to press it with mist and a cool iron after it travels home in luggage. Having a ball!!