Bai wood block prints
These bold, fantastical prints are used as blessings and lucky charms by the Bai people, an ethnic minority of Yunnan province, south west China. There are over 500 allegoric images depicting strange characters, beasts and symbols that have existed since the Tang and Song dynasties, traditionally used on doors, in homes or carried in person for their protective promises.
Lacquerware Pots
This wooden bowl and pot are beautiful examples of Chinese lacquerware from Liangshan, Sichuan province. The Jipi family are currently the 16th generation to run their workshop, using natural materials and traditional techniques and designs.
Tailored Dong Jacket
An exquisite hand made jacket made in the traditional cut of the Dong ethnic minority from south east China, Guizhou province. Tailored to fit by a local seamstress, it is beautifully detailed with knotted buttons and colour hem stitch. The fabric is cotton dyed with natural local ingredients to a dark glossy black, and involves the unusual treatment of egg whites and hammering to achieve its stiff shiny texture. The result is similar to a starched linen. In Chinese it is simply called 亮布 liang bu - shiny fabric. This fabric is unique to the Dong tribe and makes their traditional garments.
Offerings Basket
A bright yellow 笾 Bian - a basket for fruits. I found this in basket maker Qian Ji Huai's workshop which also holds his collection of basket curiosities, each one with an archaic purpose and story. This one caught my eye for its striking colour and quirky shape. He tells me the story of its origin: first as a display vessel for dried fruits in the emperor's palace (hence the bright yellow, the royal colour) and later used in temples to hold symbolic offerings (painted black). It feels bold and contemporary, contrary to its long history. Qian Ji Hua still makes this in his workshop using the skills handed down to him by his father.
Summer Shirts
Each series of XIN PIN shirts uses a different handcraft fabric from China, all beautifully made in a small studio in Shanghai. Featured here, a soft silk cotton printed by hand in a small village in Guizhou, South West China using a traditional indigo batik technique. These unique prints are inspired by the natural environment: rice grains and bamboo stripes and come in a short sleeve shirt. Lightweight, breathable and perfect for summer.
It's June and it is hot; these beautifully painted fans offer some elegant relief from sweltering summer days in Shanghai. In a corner of Lu Xun park, casually set-up on a fold out table, Mr Yang hand paints traditional Chinese florals and calligraphy of a Tang Dynasty poem by Li Bai praising the beauty of nature.
Indigo workwear
Workwear jacket and trouser in soft cotton fabric that is hand woven and dyed in natural indigo in Guizhou, south west China. The Dong people, one of China’s ethnic minority groups of this region, are known for their ancient weaving and dying practices. The whole process of creating this fabric is completed in the traditional Dong technique in their village. The raw cotton is spun, woven in their traditional chevron pattern and dyed by hand using indigo plants that are locally grown and fermented for dyes. The garments are made bespoke by a tailor in Shanghai, making each piece totally unique.
Thinking of friends and family around the world needing to stay safe at home reminded me of Lan's natural incense that I came across last year. She explained China's ancient tradition of incense, which has many medicinal as well as spiritual properties. It is believed to nourish the body and spirit, and used to create a sense of calm and sanctity. Hers is made in Guangdong and is 100% natural with no flammable additives. I burn it in a slate pot I found, made for calligraphy ink but makes a lovely holder.
Beautiful gold earrings inspired and made by the skilled metal workers of the Nuosu – one of southern China’s ethnic minority groups from the mountainous regions of Sichuan province. Their metal-work practices date back over a thousand years, and their traditional jewellery carry meanings of auspiciousness and blessings. The bead on these 'Halo' earrings is a powerful motif in Nuosu culture spreading luck and wisdom. When Nuosu women get married they wear a long chain of these beads given to them by the older generation to say best wishes to the next.
Gorgeous little shoes courtesy of Teng Yin Yuan who lives in the tiny village of Sixiyan in Jiangxi province. She hand embroiders motifs of luck and prosperity wishing health and happiness for baby. Her embroideries are not only traditional symbols but scenes from her imagination - a mouse at the bottom of a pine tree, a man in a basket boat, cranes flying above lotus plants. At 93, blind in one eye, she is still impressively stitching these pretty scenes and proudly pulls out a drawer displaying her range of these tiny embroidered shoes.
Inspired by found fabric of retro Chinese prints from the 1960s - 1970s. I've made bright cotton kimonos from this vintage fabric. The prints feature traditional Chinese florals combined with period motifs such as tractors, ping pong, dancers, and communist stars. The fabric is woven on a handloom, giving it a lovely homespun texture and substantial handle. Maximising the narrow width of the fabric, the kimono is cut in the traditional shape using rectangular pieces to use the full width of the fabric ensuring no waste of cloth. Made at a social enterprise in Shanghai supporting those with special needs; training homeless and disabled people in sewing skills and employing them at their small factory.
This beautifully soft silk cotton is hand printed using a traditional indigo batik technique in a small village in Guizhou. Each piece of fabric is individually hand drawn by local villagers using beeswax, which retains the white pattern when the fabric is dipped into vats of natural indigo dye. These unique prints are inspired by the natural environment: rice grains and bamboo stripes and come in a refined short sleeve shirt and drawstring trouser.
A collection of some favourite pieces collected over the last year of Shanghai Sharing. A selected range of items carefully packaged with Chinese printed-paper, natural and degradable packaging, and including a notebook that shares the stories of the makers behind the product.
On Chongming island He Di Yong and her husband grow their own indigo plants on their farm, make vats of the natural dye in their outhouse and dye each bolt of home spun cotton by hand. The cloth is cut in to bold geometric designs and patch worked in to cushion covers and curtains.
Tuck Chong Sum Kee’s father moved from Guangzhou to Hong Kong in 1947 and set-up his business making bamboo steamers. The bamboo steamer is a key utensil in a traditional Chinese kitchen, used for steaming everything from dumplings to vegetables; its design has changed surprisingly little over the years. Finding handmade steamers is rare now that they can be machine made, and Tuck Chong Sum Kee takes much pride in continuing his father’s handcraft tradition.
It is now rarely made but old bolts of traditional Chinese homespun cotton can still be found. I have collected some of my favourites and made them in to overshirts. The vintage fabric is totally unique and only makes 1 to 2 shirts from each bolt of cloth. Chinese homespun cotton was traditionally grown locally, spun, dyed and woven at home. Women often worked on the fabric during fallow periods of farming, and the labour intensive hand-woven cloth was considered part of a woman’s dowry. The tough, durable cotton is true work wear fabric with pretty checks woven in blues and creams.