Blog
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
Apr 12
Textile Travel to Peruvian Highlands
In our monthly textile events calendar, we highlight a textile tour, either one we have taken or know the person leading the tour. Since adding this listing a year ago, we’ve learned one thing—you love to travel. And if traveling is textile-focused, all the better. We’ve also learned that you→ Read more
Mar 22
Amina Yabis, More Than A Moroccan Button Maker
Amina Yabis is a grassroots feminist button maker. She went from being a Moroccan housewife to founding and leading an organization helping thousands of women and girls to gain education and a voice through traditional Moroccan textile crafts. ClothRoads first interviewed and wrote about Amina in 2012. We had the→ Read more
Mar 15
Guatemalan Basket Makers Triumph
Two years ago, I wrote this blog about our visit with the Guatemalan basket makers at the Mayan Hands field office in Panajachel. Every time ClothRoads receives a shipment of baskets, we marvel at the ingenuity and skill of the women who make them. We’ve followed along with their updates→ Read more
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Myanmar Diamonds and Scrolls Cotton Runner $120.00
