Craft

Tattoos and Patriarchy

For the Konyaks, tattoos are associated with traditional customs and culture which have their own distinct origin and significance and are called Huhtu or tatu in their language. The word ta means body, tu means to prick and ‘huh’ means ‘thorn’, which translates to pricking the body with thorns. The word huhtu is more commonly used among the Konyak Nagas over tatu.

Weaving luntaya acheik (1): Modernising Traditional Craft Practice

The Saunders Weaving and Vocational Institute (SWVI) is situated in Yay-twin-nyi-naung ward, Lay-su quarter, Amarapura Township, Mandalay Region on the side of Mandalay-Sagaing road.

Till 1910, the local weavers used the hand throwing loom which could weave 24 inches only. When Mr. L. H. Saunders, Judicial Commissioner of Upper Burma, found that the technology of hand loom in Myanmar was old, he introduced in 1910, a fly shuttle loom used in England.

Luntaya acheik: The Making of Myanmar's Traditional Dress

In the first figure, the governors of Myanmar are being awarded the cloth as a mark of honour. Luntaya acheik was the sacred cloth of the ancient Myanmar royals. But under the colonial rule everyone could wear this acheik.

To know the preferences of the people of Myanmar better, the governemnt conducted a survey after which the acheik became the national costume.

Reflection Through Learning Body and Environmental Knowledge

Traditional handicrafts are a kind of embodied local knowledge, so does indigo. On the course of "Blue Across Boarders", students had a chance to talk with artisan Tang Wen-chun (湯文君), who is also an educator, motivator and researcher on indigo. Tang introduced the plants of indigo which are harvested in her farm, the practice she was conducting on also the process and tips for harvesting plants of indigo. Students had a field visit to the farm that grows the plants of indigo dye.

Indigo: The Center of ‘Locality’

Similar in many other places in the world, natural dyeing in Taiwan disappeared when the synthetic dye was widely distributed. Taiwan underwent fast modernization during the Japanese colonial period (1895-1945) that was also when Taiwanese indigo dye production and dyeing went down the lane. As a massive amount of Japanese machine-printed textiles entered the Taiwanese market, local dyeing workshops quickly shut down or turned into dealer shops of ready-made textiles. Since then, Taiwan indigo industry, once prevailing, now only existed in the memory of the elders.

 

Indigo as Pedagogy

Starting 2012, the TNUA Centre for Traditional Arts (CTA) initiated a series of field courses, including indigenous boat making, bark cloth making, banana fiber crafts, ritual parades etc.; the course of ‘Natural Dyeing’ was one of them. These courses aimed to bring students out of the classroom to learn from the soil and different people who give life to traditional arts, and to learn how traditional arts are related to the society and their generation. The 2013 course of ‘Natural Dyeing’, conducted with many partners, was divided into three main stages.

Sub-Theme Discussion in the Course 'Blue Across Borders'

As for the semester of Spring 2019, some changes were made such as the adoption of theme-based group discussion. The students were divided into four discussion groups on (1) language and memory, (2) landscape and place, (3) gender and labour, and (4) market and aesthetics. These four sub-themes were adopted in the HaB methodologies workshop in in October 2018. This new trial helped to open up viewpoints based on cultural and historical understandings acquired in the previous stage.

To Image Blue Through Making: Preparation Vat of Indigo in School

Many of us may have seen or bought indigo products from market. Seldom do we have the privilege to explore the beauty and hardship of a craftsmanship, know the process and knowledge of it from school. For the semester of Spring 2019, there is a course "Blue Across Boarders", which provided students a brief understanding of indigo, from plants, process of making indigo dye to dyeing, also provided them a chance to witness the process and experimented with dyeing by themselves in school. 

Time in the craft

“ Pronck” is one of the brewing company in Leiden, Netherlands, which was founded in 2014. Today we have Benjamin, one of the founder, who was a tax lawyer before guided us. His love and enthusiasm toward beer inspired him to start the brewery without the background of brewing ancestors, but with his university friends. 

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