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January 10, 2008
Nobel Peace Prize Nominee brings
the art and craft of silk farming, natural dyes and Lao textiles to the
Sustainable Living Festival, Melbourne, 15-17 February
Part of the Lao Silk & Craft
Australia Tour
Boby Vosinthavong of Lao Silks and Craft, Melbourne brings
mother Kommaly Chanthavong, master weaver and fibre artist from Laos
to exhibit the art
and craft of Lao weaving, natural dyes and ecological silk farming techniques
in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra from February to June 2008.
The
tour beings with the Lao Silk and Craft’s exhibition and talks
titled Sustainable traditions – ‘Mulberries’, silk farming
and weaving artistry at the Sustainable Living Festival, Federation Square,
Melbourne from 15 to 17 February 2008.
Visitors to the exhibition will learn how an interdependent
silk farming cycle of cattle raising, mulberry plantation, silk worm rearing
and the cross-breeding
of silk worms produces a natural and unique silk fibre. Displays offer plants
and minerals used to extract colour dyes, silk cocoons, raw and dyed yarn
and a collection of silk woven textiles, fashion and home wares labeled ‘Mulberries’,
will illustrate Kommaly’s artistic traditions and the natural world
around her in her contemporary designs.
A demonstration and interactive hand spinning and weaving program will give
visitors the experience of weaving silk fibres using a traditional Lao wooden
hand loom to produce an EcoTextile.
Kommaly’s dyeing and complex weaving techniques are distinctive to
her home town of Meuang Purn District in Houaphan province. This northern
mountainous area in Laos is rich in forest products. ‘Mulberries’ textiles
are produced on wooden straddled looms. Kommaly’s designs employ plain
weaves, continuous and discontinuous supplementary weft, supplementary warp,
weft ikat, warp ikat, and tapestry weaving techniques. The region is also
home to the traditional embroidery and appliqué techniques characteristic
of the hilltribe Hmong people.
Lao Sericulture’s ‘Mulberries’ residency program has attracted
apparel designer Dorothy Reglar from the United Kingdom and fibre artist,
Kelly Leonard from Australia. The residency offers international textile
artists and sericulture specialists a hands-on experience of silk farming,
natural dyes and weaving on the family’s silk farm located on 40 hectares
in Xieng Khoang Province in northern Laos.
At the 2007 Lao Handicraft Festival of Textiles, ‘Mulberries’ silk
fibres and dyes were 100% in accordance with JETRO Japan’s external
trade organisation’s standard for natural fibres and dyes. Craft Victoria’s
2006 Scarf Festival and in 2003 UNESCO Bangkok highly awarded ‘Mulberries’ for
its excellence in quality silk fiber and artistry.
Kommaly founded the Phontong Weavers Cooperative in 1976 post Indochina
war Laos. In 1990 Kommaly and her husband Nouliem set up a research-model
silk farm in Xieng Khoang. Today Kommaly is Director of the Phontong-Camacrafts
Handicrafts Cooperative and the Lao Sericulture Company. Established as a
cooperative, the social enterprise aims to advance an ecologically, economic,
cultural and socially sustainable Lao silk industry by engaging rural communities
in education programs for farmers, women and informal training for their
family members.
The cooperative is certified by the International Fair Trading Association,
and Lao Silk and Craft Melbourne is a member of the Fair Trade Association
of Australia and New Zealand.
In 2005 Kommaly was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for Artistic Endeavours
and her contribution in strengthening the social and economic position of
Lao women and their families. For more information, visit www.laosilkandcraft.com,
or contact Boby Vosinthavong on 03 9873 2418.
Media contact
Boby Vosinthavong
Telephone: +61 3 987 32418
Mobile: 0419 373891
Fax: + 61 3 987 32418
Email:
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