Thai Textiles in Focus

January 10, 2014

Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles Symposium

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'Weaving Royal Traditions Through Time', from 5 - 9 November 2013, offered behind the scenes access to the Bangkok museum and visits to private collections of Southeast Asian textiles. Cheri Hunter of the Textile Museum Associates of Southern California shares a selection of photographs from the events.

: Meredith-Straus, Conservator Julia Brennan, and Denver Art Museum Curator of Textiles Alice Zrebiec examine some of the Queen’s gowns in the QSMT conservation lab

: Display of the Queen’s fashions at the QSMT, Bangkok

: Phrae wa technique, Siam Society Collection, Bangkok

: Tilleke & Gibbins Collection, Bangkok

: Tilleke & Gibbins Collection, Bangkok

: Khon dancer

: Khon dancers

: Substances used for cotton dyeing at Pa Da Textile Museum

: Pavillion of looms at Baan Khampun

: A few of Baan Khampun’s antique silk reelers

: Collection of charming antique heddle pulleys at Baan Khampun

: Unique carved loom that the owner of Baan Khampun had made for his mother

: Old reel holders in the form of Nagas at Baan Khampun

: Supplementary weft decoration added to ikat at Baan Khampun

: Silk reels at Baan Khampun

: Collection of old wooden warping racks at Ban Khampun

: Dyeing silk for dyeing with palm fiber at Baan Khampun

: Tyeing ikat at Ban Khampun

: Fashion show at Baan Tha Sawang

: Baan Tha Sawang embroidery with green sequins are made from beetle wings

: Baan Tha Sawang silk and metallic thread brocade

: Pattern sticks and harnesses on the draw loom at Baan Tha Sawang

: Silk and metallic thread brocade, woven from the back on the draw loom

: Large scale draw loom Baan Tha Sawang

: Tying patterns for ikat dyed cloth

: Mat Mee ikat at Baan Na Pho

: Mat mee ikat yardage at Baan Na Pho

: Dried flowers for dyes

: Fermenting indigo at Baan Tha Sawang

: Silk tied in preparation for dying

: Distribiting mature worms into trays to make cocoons

: All stages of sericulture in progress

: Feeding silkworms fresh mulberry leaves

: Mature silk worms ready for sleep

: Silk cocoons ready to reel

: Hand reeling silk from boiling cocoons

: Baan Hua Saphan ikat sarong

: Baan Hua Saphan village ladies performing welcome dance

: Baan Hua Saphan logo

: Textile demonstrating phrae wa supplementary weft technique

: Phu Thai weavers

: Phu Thai weavers wearing phrae wa shoulder cloths

: Silk dyed with natural substances at Patricia Cheesman’s studio, Naenna

: Tied off ikat at Studio Naenna

: Textile from Patricia Cheesman’s collection

: Weaving a band, Baan Pon

‘Weaving Royal Traditions Through Time’, the first international symposium to take place at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles (QSMT) in Bangkok, Thailand took place from 5 – 9 November 2013. The event, organised by the QSMT with the assistance of former LACMA and FAMSF textile curators Dale Carolyn Gluckman and Melissa Leventon, offered special opportunities to see behind the scenes at the new museum and visit private collections of Southeast Asian textiles not accessible to the general public, as well as a post-conference Thai textiles tour.

Cheri Hunter of the Textile Museum Associates of Southern California was one of a sizeable group who attended. We are delighted to be able to share a selection of her fascinating photographs of events. These included performances by traditional Khon dancers in costume, a fashion show flaunting the allure of Thai silk, a visit to the conservation lab at QSMT and viewing of textiles from the collections of the Siam Society, Tilleke & Gibbins, Udom Riantrakool and others, along with visits to the Pa-Da Textile Museum and the Baan Khampun and Baan Na Pho ikat dye plants and weaving studios. The symposium and tour demonstrated that a rich textile industry still thrives in Thailand and is showcased adeptly by the QSMT.

The QSMT’s mission is ‘…to serve as a centre for all who wish to learn about textiles, past and present, from Southeast, South and East Asia… with special emphasis on costume and textiles pertaining to the royal court… and to create public awareness of Thai identity and culture and the beauty of Thai traditional textiles, through research, exhibition and interpretation’.