Publicity

By Nonthawan Sakura

Living in Thailand (January 1994)

The art of weaving textiles by hand has long been practised by local villagers and hilltribes throughout mainland and island countries in Southeast Asia. The beautifully crafted and intricately designed textiles are used for clothing, in ceremonial costumes for festive occasions, as decorative pieces, and for religious functions. The size, shape and design of each piece vary depending on the piece's intended use. The fabric may after all be used as head cloth, shoulder cloth, waistband, hip-wrapper, blanket, bed cover, wall-hanging, banner, etc. These ethnic fabrics have an elegance that is very sophisticated in our modern world. And today, a law firm in Bangkok has decorated its modern office building--a three-storey edifice with a marble glass facade located on Soi Tonson off Ploenchit Road--with such old ethnic textiles.

It all started in 1987 with David Lyman, senior partner of Tilleke & Gibbins, Thailand's oldest and largest independent law firm (founded 1893). Six years ago, Mr Lyman was faced with the dilemma of how to decorate the firm's new purpose-built office premises in a manner that would convey both friendliness and elegance as well as reflect the Southeast Asian location and heritage of the firm.

Woodcarvings and wall-paintings were out of the question: Mr Lyman says he did not want the office to resemble a hotel lobby. Contemporary Thai handicraft textiles were suggested, and the idea--Mr Lyman being an avid collector of oriental rugs--aroused his interest. The concept began to take shape in 1989, when an American lady, Mrs Dagmar Painter, a textile expert and collector for 16 years, showed Mr Lyman handwoven ethnic Tai cloths. The only drawback was that these were old, not contemporary.

Still, it was instant fascination for Mr Lyman! The lawyer commissioned Mrs Painter to acquire for the firm the initial pieces in the collection and to frame and hang the rare and beautiful pieces throughout the office. Tilleke & Gibbins committed itself to preserve this unique and almost lost aspect of Southeast Asian culture, to build a museum-quality collection of handicraft textiles: to remain within Thailand for the enjoyment by future generations of the Thai people and Tilleke & Gibbins staff.

Ms Karen Anderson Chungyampin, the present curator of the collection and Mrs Painter's protege, came into the picture when Mrs Painter left Thailand in 1990. Ms Chungyampin took over not only the caring for and display of the collection, but also the acquisition of more pieces, a task made imperative by the disturbing fact that large numbers of the better examples of older ethnic textiles were leaving the region. It was through the efforts of Ms Chungyampin that Tilleke & Gibbins acquired a significant collection of Tai pieces, and the textile collection continues to grow. It now comprises more than 300 pieces, which are displayed in the office on a rotating schedule. Those which are not on display are stored in the firm's vault using current archival techniques, materials and procedures.

An active student of this art form, Ms Chungyampin has acquired considerable knowledge and expertise in weaving techniques, conservation, framing, displaying and preservation of antique textiles. About a year ago, the law firm sent her to the US, where she attended courses conducted by professional conservators, on the preservation of ancient textiles. Her travels as the firm's curator have taken her to textile museums and collections in the United States, and, being fluent in Thai and comfortable with the Lao and Isan dialects, to northeastern Laos as well as villages in the northern and northeastern parts of Thailand.

The Tilleke & Gibbins Textile Collection is comprised mostly of textiles of the Tai, and related ethno-linguistic groups found in regions of Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam, southern China, and Myanmar. The collection, which focuses on mainland Southeast Asia, also includes pieces made by Khmer and Burmese ethnic groups, Vietnamese ethnic minorities, and hilltribes.

The origins of a textile can be distinguished by its design and colours, as well as weaving technique. The process of weaving consists of interlacing one series of parallel longitudinal threads, called the warp, at right angles with another series of lateral threads, called the weft. This process forms a continuous web of cloth. Most people make use of the loom, a special device to facilitate the weaving process, of which there are a variety of types and sizes. Following are the different weaving techniques used by Southeast Asian weavers.

• Weft and warp floats. The weft and warp threads go through a loom in an organised way so that they create a pattern. The threads used in one piece can vary from one colour to many colours. There are at least 50 kinds of weft and warp floats. This weaving technique is used by all groups of weavers.
• Complementary weft. In this technique, three weft threads alternate colours. In a fabric woven in complementary weft using for example, black, orange and white threads, if the white threads are woven in a way that they dominate on the front part, the black and orange threads are more visible on the back of the cloth. This technique is used in northeastern Laos, southern China and northern Vietnam.
• Supplementary weft and warp. When weaving, different-coloured threads are added to the base cloth to create a pattern. This technique is used by Thai, Burmese, Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodian weavers. Supplementary weft and warp may appear difficult since, when one is weaving, one is decorating at the same time.

Mudmee or ikat is a decorative technique. The design is first created on the threads before the final act of weaving the predecorated threads. That is, the threads are dyed off the loom, and thereafter, when the weaver is at the loom, all she does is simple weaving. The whole process, however, is far from simple. The preparation of the threads before mudmee weaving is very complicated and time-consuming.

Old pieces of textiles were usually woven with natural-dyed threads, but chemical dyes have also been in use since the late 19th century. Due to a lack of knowledge about the proper use of these chemical dyes, some pieces made of chemical-dyed threads, although newly woven, do not look as exquisite as the older vegetable dyed pieces.

The two predominant colours of Tai textiles are indigo (navy blue) and lac red. What other colours are used depends on what dyes or raw materials are available. Moreover, each village has its own colour preferences. The Yao hilltribe in three villages may favour pink, yellow and blue, respectively, and would wear clothes woven in these three colours. If a stranger were to walk into one of these villages wearing clothes of other colours, the villagers would be able to tell that he is not one of them. So characteristic are these colours.

The Tilleke & Gibbins collection also includes some pieces that are unique examples of their kind: for example, Cambodian mudmee hip-wrappers and wall-hangings that utilise a high quality weft ikat no longer produced. Also, some textile pieces carry fabulous patterns,including pagodas, dancers, elephants, trees and birds.

Ms Chungyampin takes great care in the framing, display and storage of the textiles in order to better preserve them. Improper handling and light are the worst enemies of textiles, she says. She uses a polyester cover on the hardboard or wooden frame so that acid from the wood does not damage the fibres of the piece.

She also rotates the items on display for better preservation. A piece mounted on a frame is subject to tension as it is stretched, and could lead to damage of the fibres. Ms Chungyampin therefore puts a piece on display for some time, then removes it from the frame and rolls it on a paper tube covered with polyester. The rolled textile is then wrapped in a cotton cloth and returned to storage in the vault.

In the Tilleke & Gibbins office, the framed textiles are hung on walls away from windows to reduce their exposure to the damaging effects of sunlight, which can cause the colours of the materials to fade. As the office is lighted with fluorescent bulbs, ultraviolet filters are placed over the bulbs to protect the pieces on display. And while the rolls of textiles are in storage in the vault, camphor is used as insect repellent. The textiles are cleaned by vacuuming rather than washing or dry-cleaning.

To commemorate Tilleke & Gibbins' centenary celebrations in 1993, the firm published a brochure on its textile collection. Textile enthusiasts, experts, collectors and others interested in this handicraft who wish to view the collection are welcome to do so by contacting Ms Chungyampin on 254-2640-58 in Bangkok.