Fashion

A popular brocade weaving tradition

Making souvenirs using Thai brocaded fabric, Sam Thi Tinh has built the Hoa Tien Brocade brand which is known around the world. Hoa Tien showroom in Nam Tu Liem, Hanoi, is a popular destination for brocade lovers.
The owner of Hoa Tien Brocade brand said that the Thai people in Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district, Nghe An province consider brocade an important item in their daily lives, especially during holidays, village festivals, or weddings. All Thai girls are taught by their mothers to weave fabric. Once a girl masters all those skills including growing mulberries, raising silkworm, collecting silk fibers, weaving fabric, and embroidering, she is considered to be an adult. The local girls often make their own dresses, blankets, mattresses and pieu scarves (a traditional towel).

“In the past, I just thought that the brocade products of Hoa Tien village were purely made for villagers. Later on, I realized these were cultural values that many ethnic brocade lovers were interested in and willing to buy. In 2015, I created the products with a practical use and tried to promote Hoa Tien brocaded items,” said Tinh.

Sam Thi Tinh is weaving to make brocade products. Photo: Thanh Giang


 Sam Thi Tinh introduces Hoa Tien Brocade products to customers. Photo: Thanh Giang 


The dyed colors are made from herbs, flowers, leaves and bark. Photo: Thanh Giang








Coloring, spinning and weaving stages of the Hoa Tien Brocade brand. Photo: Thanh Giang 
 
Fiber and cotton materials are locally produced by Hoa Tien mulberry growers. After the fibers are available, the Thai in Hoa Tien village will weave them into fabric and then create patterns as ordered by customers.

The patterns used in Hoa Tien Brocade’s products are the familiar floral motifs from daily life or animals like tigers or elephants which are considered as a symbol of hope and luck in Thai culture. The most important stage in deciding the value of the product is creating a pattern. Some patterns only take one day to complete but others take a month. In addition, to avoid damage to the fabric and wasting time to disassemble and rework the item, the workers must be very careful.

Along with embroidered patterns, Hoa Tien Brocade's products are also dyed with natural colors. The substances are irritating to the skin and are environmentally friendly.  The dyed colors are made from herbs, flowers, leaves and bark. For example, yellow is made from tumeric, green from almonds and tea leaves, and purple from the glutinous rice plant.

The time to dye is based on each type of product. The longest time for a product of Hoa Tien brocade is 15 days.

Hoa Tien products are worth from 350,000 to 800,000 dong (15-35 US dollars) each. Bags are priced from 200,000 to 600,000 dong (8,7-26 US dollars) each. Blankets are priced from 2 million to 5 million dong (87-220 US dollars) and shoes cost from 250,000 to 400,000 dong (11-17 US dollars). Clothes are priced from 500,000 to 1 million dong (22-44 US dollars).

Currently, Hoa Tien Brocade’s products are not only displayed in big cities such as Hanoi, and Ho Chi Minh city but also exported to Germany, the US, France, Canada and Japan.

Hoa Tien Brocade products: 





















 
Story: Ngan Ha - Photos: Thanh Giang & Files

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