I have always been inspired by craftsmanship and the skill of hand-weaving is acknowledged as one of the oldest surviving crafts of the world.

Weaving is one of the primary methods of textile production and it involves interlinking a set of vertical threads known as the warp, with a set of horizontal threads, the weft. Technological innovations in cloth production made during the industrial revolution dramatically changed weaving and the role of the weaver into a manufacturing industry.

Whilst there are many exciting, environmentally conscious and innovative technological advances in fabric production, the value of hand weaving and the qualities of hand-woven cloth should not be underestimated or forgotten. Thankfully there has been a recent increase in the demand for Artisan-produced cloth for a variety of reasons.

China traditional Indigo Dyeing also champion hand weaving and hand-woven fabric for its unique beauty. The cloth carries the personality and the energy of the weaver and this imperfect beauty is incomparable to anything that is machine-produced.             

This hand-dyed woven cloth showcased the work of craftsmen from the Miao and Dong tribes in Guizhou Provence in rural China.

Indigo plants, indigo leaves fermenting into dye and freshly dyed indigo fabric. 

The weaving of hand-woven coarse cloth is extremely complex, and there are 72 working procedures from picking cotton and spinning to weaving cotton on the machine.

Master weavers spin the cotton and thread on a handloom that resembles a wheel from a horse cart, and each family has its own indigo dye vat, and sometimes dye pieces for up to a year. The material is then pounded on a stone slab, using a wooden mallet to retain the colour, and ingredients such as chilli and pig’s blood are used to change the colour of the dye.