Mike and Leigh's UnBlog

Embroidery Factory Visit

Yesterday, on Mary Day4, we visited the Hunan Embroidery Reasearch Institute, a school/museum/gift shop that keeps the Hunan tradition of fine embroidery alive. It was amazing. When I think embroidery, I think of a logo on a shirt. This is high art. The pieces look like photographs or paintings, but are actually created one silk thread at a time. Some of my favorites (and most difficult/expensive) are two-sided pieces created on relatively translucent fabric and meant to be viewed from the front or back with images on both sides. The panda/tiger images are actually the front and back of a single piece, as is the seated lady. Really cool. The women are working on a large tiger piece that will take months to complete. They work in very low light, drinking green tea and chatting constantly.

posted by Michael Fresina @ 11:16 PM