Tamay & Me

The pieces come from local tradtions – Tamay taught Hannah how to make Mien embroidery in 2008, just as she taught her daughter and as her mother taught her. Tamay and Hannah sat together for three months working on one tiny piece of embroidery. The two became great friends and ever since have been working to raise awareness of the Mien skills.

The cotton and indigo are homegrown, without pesticides, in one village in North Vietnam.

Tamay goes on a 3 hour motorbike journey to buy the cloth directly from the producers. The White Thai spend all year co-ordinating the planting, nurturing, harvesting of rice, cotton and indigo. Once the cotton is harvested it is beaten and stored, then spun and woven. The indigo is a fermented alchemic process that mostly happens during the winter. The cloth is dipped three times a day for a period of one week – 21 dips. This gives the cloth such a dark and rich colour.