CHIN TEXTILES OF MYANMAR
Presented by
Chomporn Dhanesnittaya and Wipawee Tiyawes
It was Khun Chomporn’s interest in old beads that led her to Chin textiles which she has collected for more than 20 years. Running out of beads, her dealer showed her the ones he had amongst in a large pile of textiles he identified as those from hill tribes in Myanmar. Chomporn was persuaded to buy some of these even though they were mostly well worn and very dirty. Against the advice of her fellow textile-collector friends and much to their horror, she washed them! A few pieces were damaged in the process but many had survived.
Although she could not recognize the pieces, Chomporn noticed some common characteristics to these pieces. They were all woven of cotton and on back-strap looms, and were warp faced. Several pieces had patterns on the face only and some pieces seemed to have embroidery on them, but overall, the weave structure and patterning of these textiles seemed very complex. Not knowing anything about the textiles, Chomporn began to research and came across the volume, “Textiles from Burma” featuring the James Henry Green Collection, and that is when she recognized the Chin textiles, remembering that she owned quite a collection of these. The Chin live in the far northwestern mountains of Myanmar bordering India and Bangladesh, and are known for their tattooed faces. Their unique weaving is less known outside their region. Chomporn will show selected pieces fr om her collection - blankets, tunics, loincloths, skirts, breast- cloths and head wrappers, to illustrate the masterful skills of the women weavers in the various Chin group of tribes in Myanmar. Wipawee will add some more remarkable pieces from Tilleke & Gibbins Collection as a highlight of this talk as well. It will be a great opportunity for textiles enthusiasts to see these wonderful pieces up close.
Venue: Tilleke and Gibbins Office
Supalai Grand Tower, 26th Floor,
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