Inheriting the quintessence of the craft, combined with constant creativity, women in the highlands of Hoa Binh have created unique handmade brocade weaving products. The skillful hands of the locals create brocade products that both preserve traditional cultural features and are modern and trendy. Therefore, Chieng Chau brocade has reached the consumer market, reaching many customers in other provinces and even abroad.
Promoting national identity
For Thai ethnic women living in Mai Chau, brocade has been closely associated with daily life for hundreds of years. According to the elders, brocade weaving began when the Thai people settled here.
Initially, the purpose of weaving brocade was only to embroider to serve the daily clothing and self-sufficiency needs of local people. Brocade is present from childhood with familiar objects in the house until marriage and dowry of Thai women.
However, later, when the population became more and more crowded, the need for clothing became more and more diverse in the modern life, brocade weaving was preserved to become a profession with its own identity of the Thai people here.
In the past, brocade garment products were simply focused on essential household items such as blankets, curtains, towels, pillows, clothes, etc. Currently, many other products such as bags, wallets, fashion accessories, stuffed animals, etc. have been added to meet the diverse needs of domestic and foreign tourists.
However, the quintessence of traditional brocade patterns is still preserved and fully exploited. This is also one of the proud aspects of the current generation pursuing the craft of handmade brocade weaving.
The Thai people in Mai Chau still use natural cotton fibers, following the manual production method from spinning, dyeing to weaving. The brocade weaving process requires the skill of the worker and the finishing stage of the product requires the support of machines.
According to Mr. Mac Van Phang, Director of Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Service Cooperative, unlike in Hoa Binh, the brocade weaving profession of the Thai people in Hoa Tien village, Chau Tien commune, Quy Chau district, Nghe An province, often uses silk material with larger patterns and simple colors.
“The biggest difference between the brocade weaving craft of the Thai people in Mai Chau and that of other ethnic groups is that we have preserved our ethnic identity until now,” he said.
To improve the experience of tourists at Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Service Cooperative, the director also continuously researches, explores and expands tourism activities here. Not only are they introduced to the origin and observe the brocade weaving products, but they can also directly try the weaving steps with skilled women at the cooperative.
Mr. Phang recalled the memory of many foreign tourists who came here being quite curious about how to build a loom, so they kept asking questions.
Create jobs for local people
Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Service Cooperative was established in 2013. After 11 years of operation, Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Tourism Service Cooperative currently has 20 employees. In Chieng Chau commune, Mai Chau, there is also Hoa Ban Cooperative with 4 employees and 7 households participating in the weaving profession. In addition, there are still many weaving looms in hamlets and residential groups.
By 2017, Chieng Chau was recognized by the Chairman of the People's Committee of Hoa Binh province as a traditional brocade weaving village. In addition, the brocade products of Chieng Chau Cooperative and Tourism Services have been recognized as 3-star and 4-star OCOP products.
It can be said that the Thai people in this locality are constantly making efforts to preserve the cultural beauty of traditional weaving. The craft of handmade brocade weaving is oriented to become one of the key occupations with the goal of both increasing people's income and promoting traditional culture.
From July to December is the peak season, when women have to complete many orders. Ms. Vi Thi Oanh, Deputy Director of Chieng Chau Brocade Weaving and Service Cooperative, revealed that the average income of women is about 4-5 million VND/month.
With two crop seasons a year, the cooperative also creates conditions for women to have 10-15 days to harvest rice at home. During the low season, the cooperative always finds ways to connect and develop products with domestic and foreign partners to maintain work. Therefore, during the time when the economy was heavily affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, production activities at the brocade weaving cooperative were not interrupted.
To promote the development of handicraft weaving, the Department of Culture and Information of Mai Chau district has implemented Resolution 15-NQ/HU, dated January 10, 2020 on preserving national cultural identity associated with tourism development in Mai Chau district for the period 2020-2025, with a vision to 2030.
However, according to Mr. Ngan Van Tuan, Head of the Department of Culture and Information of Mai Chau district, promoting the development of the weaving profession faces a number of significant challenges. That is, traditional weaving products are not as popular as industrial products, and finding outlets for the products is difficult.
Traditional weaving is gradually disappearing because young people today tend to abandon traditional crafts to find higher-paying jobs. Skilled weavers are aging and there is no successor generation.
Financial support is not enough to invest in machinery, raw materials, and infrastructure. Hand-woven products are often more expensive than industrial products, making it difficult to compete in the market.
“The local government has directed cooperatives to create unique textile products such as stuffed animals, wallets, handbags, backpacks, clothes or decorative items in restaurants and hotels; improve colors and designs to suit market needs.
In addition, it is necessary to develop experiential tourism by allowing tourists to participate in the process of silk spinning and weaving so that they can better understand the cultural value of traditional weaving as well as promote the district's brocade products on social networking sites and mass media," Mr. Tuan informed.
