Download - OATG. Oxford Asian Textile Group

REPORTS
8
A Vietnamese project focusing on traditional crafts
Jennifer Glastonbury reviews a talk on a crafts project in Vietnam by Professor Michael
Hitchcock, Deputy Dean, University of Chichester, on 24 June 2009
Professor Hitchcock gave OATG members an unusual angle on textile culture in describing his
involvement in an EU-funded multi-agency project in the Red River area of North Vietnam from
2002 to 2004. The project had several strands, including tourism development, heritage trails and
the design and marketing of handicrafts in the context of EU import regulations.
However, for us the most interesting aspect was the survey of craft villages. As North Vietnam
was under Chinese rule for 1,000 years, Hai Duong was a repository of Vietnamese and Chinese
craft knowledge and in former times village-founders travelled to China to learn their trade.
Many of the villages around Hai Duong were engaged in both agriculture and specialist craft
production: Chu Dau, for example, was famous for its blue and white floral ceramics in the Le Dynasty
(1427-1788) and a Saigon-based company has now established a modern factory there repro-
I spotted these two Afghan nomad children on the back of a horse in Natyagali, in the Murree Hills,
north of Islamabad in Pakistan. Both are covered in amulets and are wearing kohl around their eyes.
The girl's dress seems to be made from a Turkoman carpet. Note the lamb lying between the two
children. They were part of a large group bringing their huge flocks of goat and sheep down from
the mountains for the winter. (Ed)