Dream Weavers
Contact Vietcraft 20 Ly Thuong Kiet, Hanoi Tel: 84.4.39369284 Fax: 84.4.3936 6759 Email: vietcraft@fpt.vn Chieng Chau Group Hoa - Binh Province Ms. Vi Thi Oanh Na Phon Group - Hoa Binh Province Ms. Ha Thi Xuyen Dong Lai Group - Hoa Binh Province Ms. Bui Thi LiĂŞn Pa Co Group - Hoa Binh Province Ms. Tenh Thi Sua Hoa Tien Group - Nghe An Province Ms. Sam Thi Bich Chau Hanh Group - Nghe An Province Ms. Luong Thi Hoa
Dream Weavers
DREAM WEAVERS Dream Weavers is the brand name of the group of over 1,000 ethnic Hmong,Thai and Muong women living and weaving in remote mountainous villages in the Northern part of Vietnam. Dream Weavers is operating under fair trade principles and emphasize culture and conservation to alleviate poverty in their region. Dream Weavers receives support from the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and Vietnam Handicraft Exporters Association (Vietcraft), Vietnam Rural Industries Research and Development Institute (VIRI) for the development of sustainable homespun hemp, silk and cotton fibers. They use cleaner production, new design and product development techniques, to better meet the requirements of Vietnamese and international buyers. Dream Weavers is committed to preserving and developing local knowledge, traditional decorative identities, weaving and decorating techniques (batik, ikat, applique, embroidery, etc...). In particular, Dream Weavers promotes natural dyes with a wide range of unique colours. Dream Weavers is working with a team of designers from Vietnam, Sweden and France. By combining traditional identities and contemporary designs, the stunning products of Dream Weavers (scarves, bags, table runners, cushions, seats, etc... ) definitely meet the tastes of all buyers.
Thai textile
THAI TEXTILE Brocade weaving of Thai’s people in Vietnam has been existed for such a long time. The brocade products were originally made for the family needs and to use as dowry when girl comes to her husband’s house. All Thai’s girls and women know brocade weaving and embroidery, they usually make by themselves blanket, mattress, “Pieu” scarf,.... brocade is becoming an inseparable part in their physical and spiritual life. Thai young girl from 6-7 years olds started getting familiar with cotton, weaving and started embroidery at the age of 12-13 years old. Despite of hard work on the field, Thai women usually utilize their free time to work on their loom. Therefore, each design & pattern & color illustrate their love to work and homeland. The loom is simply made by wood but it help Thai’s women in making their necessary weaving items both for decoration and for usage.
Their characters and the ages also reflected on their brocade products. The young Thai’s girl in love can not hide her sentiments through light & bright colors. The older women prefer deep colours with solid and meditative designs... Especially, the distinguish natural dyeing technique from herb, flower, leaf, bark,... has made Thai brocade ranked as high value added fashion. Please visit our group to enjoy our special “ruou can” (wine drunk out of a jar through pipes) and admire beautiful Thai’s dancers in a romantic sound of weaving looms...And definitely, you will discover much more about our textile products
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H’mong textile
H’MONG TEXTILE H’mong community is often hidden among rocky mountains and foggy all year round. According to H’mong tradition, each grown-up girl has her own field to grow hemp. They believe that “only wearing hemp cloth that avoid losing ancestors” The H’mong people usually use back-strap weaving loom. A weaved cloth will be washed many times to make white, then crush many time on a round wood with a block of marble and wax to make need and smooth. It is the pride of H’mong women to make a good hemp cloth, therefore, all production stages are made very carefully and cautiously, even thread stretching or loom preparing. Based on their wishes to make good clothes, many strict principles formed such as man is not allowed to stay next to a women who is stretching thread or preparing loom because it may cause her wrong operation. After weaving, the cloth must be washed many time, than soaked with ash water and sun dried in order to make white and smooth finished product. A good hemp cloth should be smooth, steady small fiber, white.... and create the feeling of soft and airy for the people wearing it.
H’mong people is not only good at weaving but also at incomparable indigo dyeing. Indigo dyeing is a hard work, time consume and requires a lot of patience. The cloth is dyed many times over many days to get the right color. As of that dyeing techniques, indigo color of H’mong people is very shinning, durable and always bring back the fresh feeling. Last but not least, Hmong people is very good at appliqué. The art of appliqué is a method of “applying” fabric shapes by hand to produce decorative patterns on a variety of woven products. According to legend, the H’mong people had their own written script but when they were defeated by the Han Chinese they were forced to flee. In order to keep from losing their script, they applied it to their clothing, and this became the well known Appliqué of today.
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Muong textile
MUONG TEXTILE The way of life in which Muong ethnic people produce handmade textiles reveals a great deal about their beliefs, culture and relationship with the environment. Today, Northern Muong weavers use common raw materials such as cotton and silk for everyday items. Weaving is a skill that young Muong women learn through their mothers, grandmothers or even sisters. The Muong women are very good at weaving, they design their decorative motifs without the use of drawn patterns or guides, but instead, rely on a mental image of the designs.
The two types of textiles that Muong women spend most of their time and effort to weave are belts for their traditional long skirt and duvet covers for their wedding. The belt of a Muong woman has three parts - the upper “dang tren,” the lower “dang duoi,” and the elaborately brocaded middle “cao vay.” Traditionally, the “cao vay” for the upper class in the society is woven with dragon and phoenix patterns while the belt for peasants could only have patterns that resemble flowers and farm animals. The “cao vay” is made from silk and woven very densely so that water cannot infiltrate. Traditionally produced for personal and family usage, each piece was weaved for months with very intricate patterns and hand-made natural materials like silk and cotton. Unlike the Thai’s textile whose color tone is more calm and deep, textiles of the Muong group carry a distinctive mix of radiant and contrasting colors, with bold yet harmonious mix of bright yellow, red and violet. Made from natural fibers and dyed with locally found herbs and plants, the textiles age beautifully and serve as an inscription of culture and traditions. With a loom, the cultural identity of the Muong are preserved and passed along generations.