Lively tapestries from a fading past

[rooster59]

Lively tapestries from a fading past

Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Lue Lai Kham Museum displays rare Tai Lue textiles from the north of Thailand and neighbouring countries.

CHIANG RAI: Dazzling patterns in remarkable costumes tell the story of the Tai Lue at a new museum of textiles in Chiang Rai

ONE MAN'S efforts to save an important aspect of his ancestral legacy from extinction have culminated in a wonderful new museum in Chiang Rai, dedicated to the increasingly rare fabrics woven by ethnic Tai Lue artisans.

Suriya Wongchai spent more than a decade gathering as many fine samples of the textiles and costumes as he could before opening the Lue Lai Kham Museum three weeks ago in Baan Sri Don Chai, his birthplace. As an added attraction, it also boasts a quaint cafe overlooking rice fields. The project has cost him Bt5 million thus far.

The private museum was Suriya's own residence, formerly a rustic wooden house on stilts, now augmented with concrete walls and an inclined "hip roof". With more than 1,000 exhibits on view, it tells the history of Tai Lue people - who are thinly spread out in the upper Thai North, Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar and southern China - and lovingly illustrates the obsession of a dedicated collector.

"My ancestors migrated from Xishuangbanna in China and settled in Baan Sri Don Chai during the reign of King Rama V," says the former schoolteacher. "Our village, not far from the town of Chiang Khong, only has about 2,000 residents, but we all share the same surname!"

Around 200 villagers are weavers and Suriya acquired 60 looms for their use, selling their textiles and tapestries at the museum. It's extra income for them and helps keep the legacy alive. "The traditional textiles and the people who have the knowledge and skills to make them are slowly disappearing, so I wanted to preserve and share what makes all of this so fascinating."

Suriya's guide to collecting was the book "The Cultural Heritage of Tai Lue Textiles" by Soangsak Prangwatanakun of Chiang Mai University. The first floor of the museum has display panels with excerpts from the book, used with the author's blessing, that provide an overview of the various Tai Lue groups and their distinctive styles.

On the second floor, dressmakers' mannequins are set up to show how the remarkable textiles are worn, again with excerpts and photos from Soangsak's book lending context.

"Baan Sri Don Chai and Baan Hat Bai are the two Tai Lue villages in Chiang Khong district with quite distinctive weaving," Suriya points out. "Sri Don Chai is noted for its koh luang technique, in which the supplementary weft is run back and forth with different-coloured thread. Each thread as it's added is tied into the wrap yarn to strengthen the fabric and create the intricate pattern called lai nam lai [flowing water], which signifies the Tai Lue's resettlement along the Mekong River.

"Hat Bai is known for its chok technique, where the supplementary weft forms a complex and colourful geometric pattern."

A glass-front cupboard holds a stunning array of century-old tube skirts and blouses that the women of Sri Don Chai would have worn when attending weddings. The long-sleeved blouses are made from dark indigo-dyed cotton and decorated with triangular patterns of coloured thread.

"The typical tube skirt consists of the waistband, the main body and the hem border," says Suriya. "The Sri Don Chai tube skirt is recognisable from the emphasis on bright horizontal patterns at the midriff and the plain, dark-tone hem. The coloured yarn remains bright because the women wore inner garments and didn't have to wash the skirts that often."

From a large Tai Lue population in Chiang Rai's eastern Wiang Kaen district comes another woman's costume featuring a plain, long-sleeved blouse in dark indigo and a tube skirt with a waistband in alternating green and black stripes. The rest of the skirt is a colourful geometric design combining the chok and koh luang methods.

Suriya also owns a rare selection of Tai Lue weaving from Laos, particularly the northern province of Luang Namtha. A typical woman's cotton blouse might be black or dyed dark with indigo and have embroidered bands at the front, while the tube skirt mixed the techniques of chok, koh luang, ikat (mudmee), khit (using a continuous supplementary weft) and pan kai, the last with stripes of different-coloured yarn twisted together.

Thanks to their vivid shades, the textiles from Baan Doi Oup Fah in Laos' northwest Sayaboury province are quite outstanding, and yet there are also expressions of the sorrow of war - mingled in with flowers and butterflies in the motifs are bombs and helicopters.

"The skirts were woven from small synthetic yarns using chemical dyes, so they're much more colourful," Suriya notes. "The decorative chok pattern on the main body might also indicate the wearer's marital status. A married woman's skirt would have a thinner pattern."

Two mannequins wear the costumes of Tai Lue noble ladies from Chiang Tung in Myanmar. The blouses are Persian black velvet and rose-hued Chinese silk. The skirts have small alternating horizontal stripes and silky velvet at the hem.

From northern Vietnam there are a man's black trousers and long-sleeved shirt with an embroidered standing collar and a woman's blouse that's all black except for coloured strips of prefabricated fabrics. The skirt bears geometric and symbolic motifs, rendered in the chok technique, the hems adorned with vertical embroidered fabric bands.

Also on display at the museum are ornaments and everyday items, including pha lop (a bed sheet), pha hom (a blanket) and pha chet (a shoulder cloth). These were generally woven from cotton and adorned with multi-coloured patterns.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/sunday/Lively-tapestries-from-a-fading-past-30273906.html

-- The Nation 2015-11-29

[Garry]

Nice, something new to take my family to and let my girls appreciate some history.

[wileycoyote]

Excellent posting

[Manassas]

Thanks. Hadn't heard of this museum. I think I'll stop by and see this.

[Manassas]

Wow. Thanks to the OP for this post. Stopped by here New Years Day with a car full of younger family members. While small, it is one of the nicer cultural exhibits I've seen. Even the kids put down their smart phones for a bit to explore the exhibits. And the bonus is an excellent coffee shop with cakes featuring an excellent view. I may stop regularly just for the coffee shop when driving this direction. We plan to bring my mother-in-law next time because she is/was also a weaver. Still have her loom stored in the barn. Definitely worth a look if headed toward Chiang Khong. And no admission fee, at least when we stopped.

[chiang mai]

I haven't been but I will go at end of this month when we visit, it looks excellent.

[fcgprg]

Good post thanks for the information ,well worth a visit

[villagefarang]

This is a nice place so thought I would bump the topic and add some photos from today.

They serve a nice cup of coffee as well.