| Material Choices: Refashioning Bast and Leaf Fibers in Asia and the Pacific Contributor(s): Hamilton, Roy W. (Editor), Milgram, B. Lynne (Editor) |
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ISBN: 0974872989 ISBN-13: 9780974872988 Publisher: University of Washington Press OUR PRICE: $28.50 Product Type: Paperback Published: November 2007 Annotation: In a world awash in a global trade of industrially produced cottons and synthetic fabrics, it is easy to forget that all of the cloth needed in any community once had to be woven by hand and that much of it was made from bast (fibers found in plant stems) or leaf fibers. Material Choices features an unusual array of garments and other items made of these challenging fibers, exploring their significant use in the Pacific region where many bast and leaf fiber weaving traditions nearly became extinct in the mid-20th century but have now undergone a revival. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Technology & Engineering | Technical & Manufacturing Industries & Trades |
| Dewey: 677.109 |
| LCCN: 2006033706 |
| Series: Fowler Museum Textile |
| Physical Information: 0.6" H x 9.1" W x 11.77" (2.14 lbs) 188 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: 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. |
