Blog
Nov 08
Textile Travel With A Natural Dye Highlight
Over the past few weeks, we have journeyed on textile travels along two very different cloth roads : Linda Stark, along with Linda Ligon and Karen Brock of Thrums Books, were traveling in Morocco visiting with artisans from the Thrums Books, Women Artisans of Morocco. And I was in the→ Read more
Oct 18
The Next Weaving Generation in Peru
Linda Ligon, publisher of our sister company Thrums Books, recently wrote a blog about who will be carrying on the textile-making traditions into the next generation. We’re sharing her blog here and doing a big shout-out for their newest release, Las Tradiciones Viven! (As you’re reading this, I will be meeting→ Read more
Oct 04
Ikat The World Over
Handweaving of ikat cloth is not for sissies. The laborious and skillful process of resist-dyeing and weaving fine threads is not one quickly learned. Take me for instance–this resist-dyeing process has intrigued me since college when I spent a semester teaching myself warp ikat, studying whatever I could from the→ Read more
Sep 13
Bandhani to Shibori, How an Indian Artisan Innovates
It’s the strong pull of the tactile that brings forth memories. For Abdul Aziz Khatri from Kutch, India, it was the learning of bandhani, a resist-dyeing technique, at the feet of his elders that permeated his tactile senses providing a connection to cloth and imbedding cultural meaning.→ Read more
Sep 06
Acadian Brown Cotton Ever-Growing
It’s all about brown cotton in Louisiana and Acadian brown cotton (ABC) is becoming an ever-growing sustainable movement. In a recent blog, we introduced you to the story of Acadian brown cotton by tracing the history and culture of the Cajun people of Louisiana. The documentary film Coton jaune: Acadian Brown→ Read more
Aug 16
Witnessing Change in Lao Textiles
Traveling to Laos once or twice a year for over twenty years, I have witnessed remarkable changes in the textile field. As tourism developed, new markets for Lao textiles opened and designers from the U.S.A., Europe, Japan, and Australia came to work with local weavers introducing new ideas, designs, materials→ Read more
Aug 09
Memories of Friendship on the Cloth Road
What are the threads that bind friendships? This past Sunday, disparate friends of Dee Lockwood’s came together to celebrate her life, to share their memories, to laugh, to cry. Dee was ClothRoads’s business partner and a long-term friend; she left this life too soon on June 23. I’m sharing some→ Read more
Jun 21
Indian Artisans and Design Education
It was a rare opportunity to meet Judy Frater, the Founder Director of Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV), an institute for artisans’ education in Kutch, Gujarat, while attending Tinkuy in Cusco, Peru, in November, and again the following month on Christmas Eve in Oaxaca, Mexico, where we were visiting friends and→ Read more
Jun 14
Celebrate Folk Art and Volunteer with Global Artisans
In the world of the best-of-the-best artisanal markets, none rises higher than the International Folk Art Market on Museum Hill in Santa Fe, New Mexico. This July marks 15 years of art and impact as 150 folk artists from 50 countries gather at the world’s largest, most diverse folk art festival→ Read more
May 10
Mothers as Artisans
I’m seated on the ground next to a Peruvian artisan from Chinchero, Peru, as she weaves on a backstrap loom. I carefully watch her fingers deftly picking a pattern, a pattern she has memorized, no notes needed. A baby is wailing close by, very close by. Looking around, I don’t→ Read more
