This morning we embarked on a tour of the Nanjin Yunjin(Brocade) Museum and Institute/Factory. Nanjing is known for it's Brocade which is intricate silk weaving to make everything from table runners to ties and in ancient times emperors formal wear. The artisans in the factory memorize the pattern and on each loom two people work to build the design into the fabric. It takes each team of people 8 hours to make 5 inches of material a day. The thing that amazed me most is it is all done by hand and memory. The designs are drawn and then they build the pattern from memory while they are on the loom. I had always pictured things like these as being computerized and automated but they are still doing it by hand the way it was done over 600 years ago.
It was amazing to see what they created in the factory. In some cases they created duplicates of ancient formal wear and decorative pieces based on designs from the Ming Dynasty. during the tour we even got a family portrait on a replica of an emperors throne. Jia Lu stayed awake for this tour and towards the end of the tour one of the women who worked at the museum was playfully interacting with her. Lu Lu enjoyed the attention and cracked a big smile for her. I can't wait to show these slides to Jia Lu as she grows older and share with her the deep rich heritage of her birth country. -- Paul
1 comment:
This is a great picture!
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