contemporary designs

(picture above from own personal selection)

I happened to visit the Handicraft Emporium in Thimphu not long ago. I was struck by the contemporary design products that I hadn't seen before. Shawls and stoles of raw silk and fine silk in particular. I was told they had been woven by our very own village women weavers from Radhi and Khoma. The former said to be specialized in raw silk. The latter in fine silk. The designs had been taught to them by foreign experts. I liked the fact that the yarn used were natural/vegetable dyed. I was told this is what sells more at the international market.

What caught my attention the most was the inspiration for the designs. I was told a foreign expert got the inspiration from the surrounding nature mostly. There was the design of the fish in water, the flowing river, the basket, etc. I was informed that even some of our daily practices (traditions) could be an inspiration. One example was our tradition of drying meat, which was used as a weave design. How cool!

I went back home thinking we Bhutanese could learn to be more creative in our weaving. We could fuse our traditional weaving with contemporary designs.