cambodia x 2 the beginnings

Hi All,

Here's a bit of a insider's view to what i have been doing.

Been working on finding the local community partners that i want to work with and do a part in fashion to give back. Making the choice to stay in Asia to work with all of the wonderful traditional crafts is probably the best decision that i have made in my fashion life. Makes it all so much more worth it.

This journey led me to Siem Reap Cambodia.

I went to visit one community in Siem reap
They started out in 1998 as a project to support the local community - 10 years on they have built a sustainable company that creates jobs in rural Cambodia as well keep the traditional arts alive.
It's really an amazing community workshop that they have built.

They run a series of workshops that make stone sculptures/ wood carvings, lacquer work, silk painting to sell locally




... and the part that excites me the most is the entire silk process. It's a less glamourous side to fashion, when you back track to the raw material.. but this is where the beauty can begin...

They are totally self sufficient from the silk worm to the end product.
Mulberry trees - leaves to feed the silk worms ... to harvesting the silk and spinning it into fine silk
as well as raw silk


.
these are the spinning looms to spin the silk into a yarn to use in weaving.


lush silk yarns being washed after spinning. Prepared ready to dye.


silk yarns being cleaned then washed and hanging to dry from the dyeing.



these have been made into scarves which are hand dyed..in roots etc to achieve beautiful colors.

hand fringing...... long process but love the vibrant color!!



Next is a very special process called Ikat - called Hol silk - patterns are prepared in advance by hand tying and then dyeing certain threads.. lengthy process.. can take a month or so dependent on how complicated the pattern.



Different traditional patterns...




the outdoor dyeing process..different pots for dyeing and beating the silk to even out the dye color for the ikat silk.




after dyeing -- drying and checking the color as you untie all of the little ties.. out comes the pattern.




next comes the hand weaving. Everything is done on hand looms.. back to basics.
One of the oldest ways to make cloth - thru weaving.


Some of the artisans have developed their skills and overcome their disabilities while learning their crafts here.

One of the artisan's kids was realy curious and let me take a picture.. she was full of giggles! Mom was weaving next to her.



Some the finished silk is made into home products - and get hand screened....in this little room




this is the sewing room, where many of the products are assembled.



this is one of my favorites from the archives - absolutely delicious!
stacks of silks and traditional patterns that are soooo inspiring.. that i could just dive into!

thats all for now... inthe next few months i will be helping to set up some workshops to teach sewing and other basic techniques while developing a collection out there.

I will keep you all up to date with the progress!! Meanwhile u can check the rest of the photos from this part of my trip.

XXP