Our LIVE Q&A with FOUNDER OF FAIRE Press
LIVE IG Q&A
TRANSCRIPT
Can you introduce yourself and your wonderful travel experience company Textile Seekers.
The interplay between traditional tribal textile creation, slow travel, and sustainability.
TextileSeekers curates experiences which focus on indigenous textile practices while highlighting the value of provenance.
Founded in the Summer of 2019 - TextileSeekers is much more than just a travel company. It was born as a thought three years ago, rising from a seed of an idea that called out to my heart in a singular question: how can I bring together my passion for slow travel, my fashion industry expertise, and my conviction for preserving cultures and empowering women.
For me, it is the coming together of a collective; one which bonds over shared values and forges deeper connections with the local communities we visit. In doing so, we assist in the survival of ancestral knowledge for future generations.
You launched Textile Seekers in 2019 just before the pandemic hit. Suddenly, the pandemic closed global travel down for nearly two years. How have you been doing the last two years?
International travel grounded to a halt 3 weeks after we returned from our February 2020 retreat. Initially, it was a little frantic and I looked at the idea of moving back home to Melbourne to be closer to family.
Embracing the uncertainty of the global pandemic, we all strived to adapt to our new norm. I myself gave permission to let go and embrace the uncertainty as a reminder to simply slow down, be present, and create space to nourish and further fuel what brings me joy.
What is it about textiles that you love, and why are textiles the channel for your travel experience?
When designing the itinerary to our first destination, my heritage was a poignant decision to explore my own story.
Textiles open doors to colourful destinations, build connections with communities, encourages the interaction between artists and craftspeople, and provides opportunitiy to study ancient textile techniques. My goal is simply to share a journey that not only uncovers indigenous tribes at the root of sustainable textile design, but which also opens a dialogue of self–discovery, planting the seeds for creative aspirations of our own. When unable to communicate, textiles allows for us all a way to do so.
Can you share your thoughts about the economic and social dimensions of clothmaking?
The textile and garment industry of Vietnam is one of the largest in the world. In fact, the Vietnamese garment and textile industry contributes about 15% to the country’s gross domestic product with an 18% increment in exports each year. The industry employs over 1.6 million people, nearly 5% of the country’s labour workforce.
On a macro level, Vietnam is the world’s third largest exporter of textiles.
In the age of climate change, where people across the world are already suffering the impact of global warming, the time is now for everyone to act in a responsible and accountable manner. It is vital for consumers to slow down, demand answers, and be aware.
The ideology of sustainability flows through to the preservation of ethnic traditions. International brands can also support the tribes by giving them a platform to showcase their fashions and traditional textile techniques. Through direct and indirect means of support, the ethnic communities will then be empowered to improve their lives, while being convinced of the value of their crafts.
Tourism can also help with the preservation of textile traditions. Responsible and sustainable travel not only open the eyes of visitors to the situation faced by ethnic communities, it also gives the travellers an opportunity to explore a sustainable art form of producing garments entirely by hand, from thread to cloth.
Can you talk about sustainability versus fast fashion and the direct impact that FF has on heritage skills, handmade and craft?
Sustainability to me means being actively conscious, and as consumers considering what we buy, and what we consume.
Fast fashion demands mass production that puts stress on the environment. To accommodate a rising demand for labour, human trafficking cases will rise in less developed areas. In the name of profit and progress, humanity is lost, as individuals become commodities to be trafficked and traded.
Fast fashion also encourages the sale of clothing at incredibly low prices. Getting consumers excited at newer and cheaper clothing is the objective. Amidst this flurry of commercial consumption, buyers are desensitised. People fail to question how clothing can be made so cheaply. Not many would care to thoroughly investigate the materials used in the clothing they wear, as well as the health effects cheap clothing imposes on the wearers.
Vietnam’s heritage has primed the country as a suitable candidate for championing sustainability in fashion. Made up of 54 ethnic tribes, Vietnam has a diverse microculture dotted along a unique landscape. Vietnamese tribal textile practices offer a treasure trove of knowledge which can be harnessed, along with insights that can inspire designers and textile-makers.
Each tribe is known to be associated with a unique colour, or to incorporate a specific pattern with their clothing. The Red Dao tribe can be distinguished for their dashing red costumes laced with intricately embroidered motifs, coins, and tassels. The flower H'mong tribe are known for their fusion of beautiful colours and fringe designs. The blue H’mong tribe is renowned for its indigo blue garments dyed from natural Indigo plants. These features serve as a part of identity for each of the tribe members, but to the outside world, the colours, textures and designs are refreshing and inspiring.
The techniques required to produce these garments are ancestral knowledge that has been passed down through the generations. There is almost no written information on these skills. Everything is taught through show, tell, learn, do and correct, and it takes decades to master each technique.
The production of tribal clothing is truly sustainable. Since everything is made to order, there is no wastage, and very little pollution. There is a give and take relationship with nature, and a sense of respect for the surrounding, borne out of reliance.
How is TextileSeekers working towards supporting and empowering women?
As a led-by-women company, we make it our goal to work with other women, supporting each other, inspiring each other and in some cases, help to make a difference to some of their lives. We collaborate directly with women from the local communities and tribes in the countries where our tours are organised. There are no third parties.
We also collaborate frequently with other female artists, photographers, writers, filmmakers, musicians, and designers, because it is truly amazing what each woman has achieved in her field of specialty. We know by coming together, we can achieve so much more.
You recently expanded your TextileSeeker travel experiences to include a very special Artist Residency Program. Can you talk to us about what this program entails?
We are launching a Creative Fellowship to offer one place at your Artist Residency retreat this October, can you share with us
- the outline of the programme.
The 11-day feet-to-the-ground journey begins in the historical capital of Vietnam before winding its way northwards towards the forested mountains of Mai Chau. Your senses will undergo an enduring awakening. The initial first 6 day programme consists of multiple workshops to provide artists with the tools and skills they need to focus on creating or honing their sustainable work. We will connect you with local communities through our retreat in Mai Chau. You will get to immerse in artisanal workshops as well as learn all about traditional textile-making techniques from the different tribes in the region. From botanical dyeing to hand embroidery, you will step right into a wealth of knowledge that has been passed down through generations.
- The contrast between the energy of Hanoi to the peaceful and expansive countryside in northern Vietnam?
Hanoi speaks to all our senses, the sounds of the motorbikes, the smell of the street food, the visual of colours…
Hanoi represents the meeting ground of Vietnamese arts, politics and culture. Along its winding streets where time seems to have stood still, you witness history and heritage. In the old colonial buildings, you find a delicate balance of commerce and customs. It is after all, in the liminal space between cultures and ages where intrepid travellers can discover new stories.
Mai Chau region is comprising just under 50,000 inhabitants. There are a multitude of beautiful treks to consider, as well as opportunities to kayak on the breathtaking Hoa Binh Lake or explore the verdant Pu Luong Nature Reserve which offers tranquil streams, waterfalls, and pools of astonishing colour that one cannot resist bathing in!
- The tribes you will meet with and the heritage craft skills you will experience?
Mai Chau is stunningly ethnically diverse, and is primarily home to the Ban Lac people. These tribal communities - loosely split between groups known as the White Tay and Black Tay - originate from Thailand. Experts at rearing silkworms to create wonderful silk fabrics and jacquard weaving.
To explore Mai Chau is to immerse oneself in the visual culture and history of the Ban Lac, and the differences between the White and Black Tay people are evident in a multitude of ways, each as fascinating as the last.
For example, the homes of the White Tay are thatched and gabled, supported with bamboo walls, and feature plenty of windows. Those of the Black Tay are famed for their ‘tortoiseshell’ roofs and raised interior platforms, and the weaving styles of each tribe are evident throughout the beautifully-dyed fabrics and garments produced by the community’s women.
The Hmong people who migrated from China’s Yunnan province also brings their unique vibrancy to the region. Most closely associated with Mai Chau’s indigo-dying traditions.
- who /what kind of creative project or proposal would this residency be best suited to?
All creatives whom wish to connect with the interdependence of nature and embody a sense of curiousity to seek. The main objective of establishing the Artist Retreat residence programme is to foster professional development and opportunities for both visiting artists and the host community, as well as providing a platform for a creative community to be invigorated through an exchange of ideas and new ways of working. We hope to cultivate relationships with other artists while raising the profile of local tribes in Vietnam.
We believe artist residencies are vital in giving an aspiring artist the time and space to explore and create from within. Through cultural and artistic exchanges, new ideas are hatched and experimentations can be nurtured. Artist residencies also forge networking opportunities for an artist who is taking his or her first steps into the creative industry.
Ultimately such an experience will not only shape one’s work, but also sculpt one’s approach and thinking.
- You will be on-site as chief creative consultant. can you talk about the ways you will be on hand to share your experience in design and facilitate creative projects.
Before joining, the travellers who have signed up have the chance to sit down and connect with me, giving them a chance to share their ideas, their hopes and their expectations. From this, we can build a tailored itinerary together. I love to be hands-on, an extension of their vision, and a sounding board that can guide the artist on their creative journey. The five days that follow the initial retreat program are all about them - a chance for them to work independently and let their ideas take form. The aim, after all, is to guide them through the process of developing a brand new project or giving rise to those ideas which have laid dormant in their minds. It’s also the perfect chance to be awakened to the beauty of sustainable textile practices.
Textile Seekers is a travel experience that gives you the time to immerse in local culture, to slow down, to find steps towards wellness. You’ve mentioned that the biggest luxury in 2022 is time - can you elaborate on this?
TextileSeekers is a platform created to explore themes that showcase our four pillars - Slow travel, time as a luxury, women empowerment, and destinations. Time as the new luxury is the concept of moving with consideration to our connection with the land, respecting the tribes we connect with and ultimately ourselves.
Selecting the right accommodation is equally important for us. The Avana lodge sits in a valley of green terraces, with over 10 hectares of reforestation and 90% of the staff are local community members. From our driver to the restaurants, museums and shops we visit along the way, each one is an extension of our TextileSeekers team.
You created a beautiful, consequential indie magazine during the pandemic. What was the motivation behind creating The Journal, and how was this experience? Will you create a second issue?
The book was published last year and was produced in a limited run of 100 copies printed locally on the most beautiful Old Mill Fredigoni paper. I was initially motivated to create something which embodied both a practical travel brochure and a keepsake notebook, allowing travellers to document their journey and experiences during the retreat.
However, it quickly became apparent that it could be more than this, and it manifested as a tapestry of stories that reached out to readers during the pandemic - a way of bridging continents and building connections with communities, and encouraging artistic interaction between creatives and craftspeople, and showcasing the beauty of all those wonders, to travel through words and pictures.
To answer the second part of your question, a revised version with new stories will be available online at the end of the year. On top of this, a project is in the works for a manifesto highlighting the crafts we’ll be utilising and studying, That’s very much in the works right now!
What is next for you? Do you have plans for TS elsewhere, and in other destinations?
TextileSeekers is an experience filled with art, design, garments and the discovery of new places and cultures.
From the very beginning, the vision for TextileSeekers was always an ever evolving one. It was conceived to go way beyond just the itineraries for Vietnam, and as we speak, the idea of exploring new destinations is very much on the radar, In 2023 we will launch a new (as yet secret) location and we’ll also be looking at further collaborations with brands in the interiors sector. I would eventually love to fill TextileSeekers with a broad-ranging curation of wondrous artisanal craftsmanship.
As for long term goals, I’d love TextileSeekers to set up small permaculture hubs, to have a permanant place in the region where we can support the communities we connect with. For now, however, we’re just going to keep on exploring, keep on championing artisanship and traditional textile producers, and open our eyes to the beauty of these cultural treasures.
Do take the time to read and explore Our Pillars, and Our Ethos and let us know what you think.
Photo by Bao Vu Khanh for TextileSeekers