Saturday, 24 September 2016

EARLY PHOTOGRAPHY IN ESAN AND LAOS
(WORKING: WEAVING)

 
Weaving used to be a  major activity in Laos and Esan, producing cotton and silk fabric used mostly by locals. If the emergence of industrially produced fabric as well as the cheaper silk produced in China played a major role on the extinction of artisanal weaving. The high quality of the silk traditionally produced by women on both sides of the Mekong gained an international reputation and is now exported and used for the haute couture market and the production of luxurious items.
A woman filling cotton.
Various weaving setups in villages.
(on the right): Weaving setup under a house and women folding some fabric.
 Exemples of paterns produced in Esan and Laos
A woman knitting some ornamental elements.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Enjoy the photos on your blog. I know you posted this a long time ago (24/09/2016), but can you tell me where this photo came from? It is the fourth photo in the row of five photos near the bottom of the blog posted on that date, and shows two Tai women standing, but wearing different costumes. I haven't seen it before.

Best regards
Russell

SAOBAO ESAN said...

Hi Russel, some are from my own collection, some from Esan, Phu Tai or Laotian websites (often french photographers who published colonial postcards or some from Thai or Lao archives). As this photo is not from my collection, I could not help much, sorry