Material Choices

Roy W. Hamilton (Ed.)

ISBN 10: 0974872989 / ISBN 13: 9780974872988

Published by Fowler Museum of Cultural History,U.S., 2007

About this Item

Presents eight essays documenting the state of bast and leaf fibre weaving traditions in Vietnam, Borneo, Korea, Burma, Okinawa, the Philippines, Japan, and Micronesia. This book examines processes that have nurtured or buffeted attempts to preserve or revive the production of these textiles. It is illustrated with colour photographs. Editor(s): Hamilton, Roy W.; Milgram, B. Lynne. Series: Fowler Museum Textile Series. Num Pages: 188 pages, 204 color illus. BIC Classification: 1F; ACBP; JHMC. Category: (P) Professional & Vocational. Dimension: 230 x 304 x 15. Weight in Grams: 962. . 2007. Illustrated. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland.

Seller Inventory # V9780974872988

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Material Choices
• Publisher: Fowler Museum of Cultural History,U.S.
• Publication Date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0974872989
• ISBN 13: 9780974872988
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Winner of the R. L. Shep Ethnic Textiles Award sponsored by the Textile Society of America

Asia is renowned for the production of fine handwoven cottons and luxurious silks ― important items of trade for centuries. In addition to these celebrated fabrics, however, weavers throughout the region produced cloth from ramie, hemp, pina, and banana fibers (including Philippine abaca and Okinawan ito basho), as well as a number of lesser-known plant fibers. Over the course of the twentieth century, many of these Asian plant fiber weaving traditions became marginalized or hovered on the brink of extinction, given the advent of synthetic fabrics, growing industrialization, and increased international textile trade. As the essays in this book testify, however, they have not vanished altogether. Rather, in recent times weavers have purposefully chosen to pursue various efforts directed at their preservation, revival, or reinvention. In many cases, the production of bast and leaf fiber textiles is now thriving in newly globalized situations.

This volume presents eight essays documenting the current state of bast and leaf fiber weaving traditions in Vietnam, Borneo, Korea, Burma, Okinawa, the Philippines, Japan, and Micronesia. The processes that have nurtured or buffeted attempts to preserve or revive the production of these textiles are examined and abundantly illustrated with color photographs.

About the Author

Roy W. Hamilton is curator of Asian and Pacific collections at the Fowler Museum at UCLA. B. Lynne Milgram is professor of anthropology at Ontario College of Art and Design, Toronto. The other contributors include Sylvia Fraser-Lu, Bu-ja Koh, Sophiano Limol, Elizabeth Oley, Melisssa M. Rinne, Donald H. Rubinstein, Amanda Mayer Stinchecum, Ma Thanegi, and Tran Thi Thu Thuy.