This is from the little road trip I took two weeks ago with my parents... it was just good to get away from home for a few days and enjoy some beautiful scenery and good food. We drove across the Swiss/Italian border into the Valtellina, one of the northern alpine valleys of Italy. It's famous for it's wine mostly, but they produce some other great specialties too like bresaola and pizzocheri. Anyway, we crossed back into Switzerland via the Val Poschiavo, the south eastern most valley of Switzerland, where Italian is the official language though the local dialect is something different - and it simply has it's own unique feel. Not quite Italy, not quite Switzerland or at least like the rest of the canton Graubünden it belongs to. Anyway, our last stop there was at the valley's main town Poschiavo, and my mom thankfully remembered that this is home to the Tessitura Valposchiavo - a local handweaving business! They produce fabric that can be bought by the meter, but also things like napkins, tablecloths, kitchen towels, bath towels, shawls, bread bags, cushion covers... or you could have things custom made by them! Yes, they are not cheap, but all things considered, it's not super expensive either - after all, this is all made by hand. The Tessitura was founded in 1955 to keep traditions alive but also to provide jobs and keep people from moving away. I just think it's wonderful that something like this still exists and obviously can be a business that works. I couldn't photograph the whole shop, but here's a photo of a modern hand loom and some of the items they had for sale - a shawl and bath towels - these are woven with two different thread colors in a waffle-like texture and look just fantastic. Anyone who loves beautiful fabrics would love this place! From the outside - the shop is located in one of the many beautiful palazzi of Poschiavo. In the olden days, many of the locals sought their fortunes abroad (often as confectioners and pastry cooks) and when they returned, they built houses like this to show their prosperity.
And on the other side of the world... I took my daughter on the trip of a lifetime to Vietnam and Cambodia in late January. A good portion of the travel was down the Mekong River with Avalon Waterways with about 30 other travelers. It was well planned, with stops along the way - some to see ancient historical sites and some to see how local people live. One of the stops was by sampan to a village in the Hong Ngu district that specializes in weaving. The family we visited had the old wooden looms operated by hand as well as newer ones that were partly automated. They were happy to sell us cotton scarves and other goods in various color patterns, but they also insisted on serving us tea and a small snack. And because it was Chinese New Year, they gave us each a small bright red paper gift bag with a small denomination bill inside - IIRC, it was 1,000 dong, worth about 4 cents in US money. "Lucky Money" is an important tradition, considered lucky for the giver as well as recipient.
That looks beautiful, Maggie! Reminds me of my trip to Uzbekistan years ago. We visited silk weavers (a small family business) in the Ferghana Valley and were shown how the silk was made, literally from the cocoon to the finished fabric. I bought some beautiful, brightly colored shawls there that I wear regularly in winter. The traditional ikat pattern silks they use for their clothing were something like 7 dollars a meter, some of it was still hand woven, some by automated looms. I bought several meters of different ikat silks at a small shop in Bukhara, adding a couple of kilos to my luggage. The lady there spoke only Uzbek and a bit of Russian, me only English, but we got there anyway.
Oh oh oh, this is all wonderful. My interest in all things fibre related is growing and growing. I love seeing these traditional processes.
Maggie, they don't have a texture like terry cloth, it's a waffle-like texture - see http://tessitura.ch/bagn.html.
Oh how wonderful. I love hearing stories of traditional crafts finding a way to thrive in these days of mass production. I love the pink checked Vietnamese wedding dress! I wrote a short bio on Anokhi for the label resource recently. It's printing more than weaving, and also beading and embroidery. Anokhi are a clothing brand founded in the 70s and have played a part in keeping the traditional fabric crafts of Rajasthan, India alive. They went on to found a museum of hand printing. Here's my bio https://vintagefashionguild.org/label-resource/anokhi/ This article gives some history, though without many images https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/todays-paper/tp-life/article29156203.ece And Anokhi museum blog is interesting https://anokhimuseum.wordpress.com/
