 | ||
| | ||
         
|
Laos Essential Artistry Archive Page
Sunday, October 26, 2008
 Motifs in Lao textiles leave a lot to the imagination for both scholarly and "causal" minds. We're fascinated with motifs in Lao textiles and in the blog we'll occasionally post an image of a motif we would love to have others comment about. What do you see here? Is it a naga boat carrying a strange ancestor figure to heaven - the boat seems to have legs, but aren't they just scales, and what about the funny appendage on the front. Is that a decorative tree limb (?), and the figure on the boat has a normal torso, but double legs. What could that mean? Does it matter what kind of textile it is in helping determining the meaning of motifs? Does it matter if the textile is old or new? We would love to hear your thoughts and you can always write a comment to this post which everyone can read and then maybe we'll get a conversation going? Or feel free to email us and we can post your comment anonymously. It's up to you! And if you have a motif in a Laos textile you're not sure of then you can send us a photo of the motif and we can post it in our blog and see if we can get some insights into what it means... by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments 
Sunday, October 19, 2008
We are excited to be going back to Laos in December for about three weeks and are already ordering Lao silk textiles that have been popular with our customers. But we know that some of you may be interested in handwoven silk textiles that we currently don't carry and would appreciate any suggestions you may have and when we're in Laos we will try to seek out additional silk scarves and silk shawls that might have more contemporary appeal. We know our favorite textile galleries in Vientiane are always designing new silk textiles, combining the best of traditional patterns and motifs with modern sensibilities. Be sure to check out our blog while we're in Laos because we will try to write posts, including photos, while we're in Laos.
by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Thursday, October 9, 2008
I took the photographs shown below during a traditional Lao wedding of Bai's cousin about six years ago in Vientiane. It's really a classic wedding photograph and in most traditional Lao weddings the bride and groom are taken to the bedroom after the formal sou-khuan ceremony by a respected elder(s) who have had a happy and successful marriage(s) where they are talked to about what it takes and means to truly love each other (hak gan taa taa). And then if a photographer is present, all sorts of photographs are taken with the bride and groom and various family members..
  What we didn't realize when we opened Laos Essential Artistry is that the Lao community here in the states is eager to have access to a wide selection of formal/wedding silk sinhs for women and formal wear for men for wedding and bacci ceremonies. There is no way we could every carry that kind of selection, but luckily we have made arrangements with several shops in the Morning Market to work with us in custom ordering these more formal sinhs. The way the process works is that you let us know what you're looking for, we have our staff in Vientiane try to find formal silk sins in the color and style you want, they take digital photos which they send to us and we then make available to you through a Flickr photo gallery. You then decide if there are any you like and if so with a deposit (you can use your credit card for a custom order we create through our Yahoo! store) we can purchase the silk sinh in Vientiane and our staff will then send it to us (customer decides if they want to pay for regular air or expedited service like DHL or Fed Ex). Once we receive it we check to make sure that it's what you ordered, have you pay the balance of the order and then send it directly to you. Things to think about are that if you see something that you like that is on display in one of the shops we're working with, you need to make a decision fairly quick as the wedding season begins in earnest after Ok Pan Sa and if someone buys the silk sin, then it's no longer available! Silk wedding sinhs can be custom-ordered, but it takes a minimum of two months and there needs to be clear communication that what is being ordered is exactly what you want. Silk wedding sins are expensive and range in price from usually about $200 - $1000 including the pha being. And anything that is for sale at the Morning Market we can make available to our customers. We are also friends with the owner of a high-end formal sinh gallery in Saphantongkang where they specialize in using silver and gold thread imported from France. The silk sinhs and pha beings are absolutely gorgeous and very expensive, but they're an option too! We'll take some photos of the sinhs and pha beings when we're in Laos in December to put on our website. Bai's sister, Bouasai who recently graduated from the University of Laos and is a weaver for Taykeo Textile Gallery heads our staff in Vientiane and she, like Bai, are experts in anything to do about silk sinhs. If you have any questions please contact us. We're here to help! by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
Sunday, October 5, 2008
 I'm sitting here at home, enjoying a beautiful Sunday morning after our first rain of the season on Saturday sipping one of my favorite Lao Mountain Coffee blends, Elephant Express. As far as I know we're the only business here in the states selling Lao Mountain Coffee and while it's gotten rave reviews in Asia, it's relatively unknown here in the states and we're hoping to help market another one of the treasures of Laos. I'm currently working on our itinerary when we go to Laos in December and I have to be honest, I really miss Laos just about as much as my wife, and she's from Laos and her entire family is in Laos! Being in Laos is so different from our hectic lives here in the states, and just like here at home, I like to start my day with Lao coffee. But I have to be honest, even if I had the opportunity to choose between a cup of Lao Mountain Coffee or the traditional coffee the Lao drink (Café Lao), I would readily choose Café Lao when I am in Laos. It's not made with Arabica beans and there are no specially-trained baristas or Starbuck's type coffee houses, usually it's just your typical street vendor or open-air stall selling the coffee and usually some fried doughnut-like pastry the Lao like to eat with their coffee. What makes drinking coffee in a Southeast Asian country like Laos unique is that they use condensed milk instead of half & half or fresh milk. For two reasons, there are few milk cows and little fresh milk to be had outside of major cities (and it's expensive) and most Lao don't have refrigerators to keep the milk refrigerated even if they had access to it. So, it's condensed milk or nothing at all. And believe it or not it grows on you and it's usually all I have for breakfast and then in late morning we'll have some kind of noodle soup, fer, khao soay, or khao piak. I've included a video here of one of my favorite little coffee "shops" in Luang Prabang by he Mekong River where you can see Lao coffee being made. Sometimes they call it bag coffee because of the bag filter they use and you can see the layer of condensed milk they add to the glass (no coffee cups for most Lao) before pouring in the coffee. I have to admit I love Lao coffee and it's a magical time for me when I can sit outside in a stall like this, savoring my very Lao, Café Lao, and soaking in the early morning activities of the Lao wherever I might be. It's not a connoisseur's coffee, but it's one of the highlights of being in Laos, at least for me! And it's only about 50 cents for one glass! The photos below are of the original owners of the coffee shop in the video. They were so friendly and proud of the wide variety of people who came by their shop, which included a lot of falang (foreigners) and they kept guest books where people could write comments and it was amazing to see the global connections that happened at this little coffee shop. Unfortunately about four years ago the man felt a sharp pain in his stomach one afternoon, they took him to the local hospital and he was dead by the next morning. Men have a life expectancy in Laos of about 55 years...  We're definitely looking forward to going back to Laos in December for three weeks and I just had to share my memories of traditional Café Lao. But, I have to admit I also love drinking Lao Mountain Coffee which is now featured in all of the best restaurants and cafés in Laos and if you want to experience the best in Lao coffee, try one of the four Lao Mountain Coffee blends we carry, Elephant Express, White Parasol, Naga, and the very best, Peaberry Coffee. by: Laos Essential Artistry 1 Comments
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
 We’ve isolated this diamond shape piece from a tapestry-style textile woven in Sam Neua because we find the motifs, design and color especially mesmerizing in this textile. We included in the introduction to the Sam Neua Silk Tapestry Wall-hangings as is written the catalog Weaving Tradition: Carol Cassidy and Woven Silks of Laos in the section Patterns and Motifs that “The motifs in Lao textiles reflect and record the complex history of the region. Some are drawn from the unique Lao Tai culture and are said to represent characters in traditional Lao epics. Others are derived from outside influences both ancient and recent. The imported motifs have been adopted and adapted by each weaver and translated into designs that express personal experiences, hopes and dreams…" But what do all the motifs in the diamond shape mean? Luckily, we had the opportunity to guide Elli Findley, Religious Studies Chair at Trinity College, through northern Laos this last December as she was researching the use of Tai Daeng (Red Tai) textiles in ceremonies, such as weddings and funerals. She's currently writing a book based on her research and so we asked her if she would provide insight into the possible meaning of the motifs used in this diamond shape piece. Elli wrote back that: “This brightly colored diamond shape is called a "lantern" and is often found on such Lao-Tai textiles as shoulder cloths (phaa biang) and door curtains (phaa kang). Here it may come from a funeral panel. The central design is a saang hong (or siho) that represents a mythical being that is half elephant (see the trunk) and half bird (see the legs). In the center, the siho appears in a mirror-reversed design, and again on each side in two smaller versions. The siho is pregnant with double-headed serpent or ngueak (naga) in its belly, and on its back is a candle house with a figure inside -- representing a boat taking someone to the other world. The figure is either a recently deceased member of the community or the shaman accompanying him as guide into the after life. Notice the five-fingered hands of the figure and the naga heads on either side of him. Rainbow patterns occur in the candles on top of the houseboat, in the “S” designs representing baby nagas, and in the hooks of the sihos’ hair. There is one story that says that such a design can occur on coffin covers of fathers who die before their children are grown and that the double headed naga in the siho’s belly represents the youths who must mature before the mourning process helped by this textile can be completed." Thank you Elli! We love it. Not only are the textiles exquisite works of art, they’re incredibly rich in meaning. One of the reasons my wife and I have opened Laos Essential Artistry. A post to come will talk more about the Ngeuak/Nagas and a recently published book titled Naga Cities of the Mekong: A guide to the temples, legends and history of Laos written by Martin Stuart-Fox with Photographs by Steve Northup and published by Media Masters Pte Ltd. in Singapore (2006) by: Laos Essential Artistry 0 Comments
|
Previous Posts
Archives
|
| | |||||
| |
|  | |||
| |||||
