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October 17, 2012

Textile Collection at Tilleke & Gibbins Featured in Martha Stewart Living

Martha Stewart Living

The October issue of Martha Stewart Living features a prominent article about valuable textiles originating from all over Southeast Asia. In an interview, Wipawee Tiyawes, curator of the Tilleke & Gibbins Textile Collection, provides some key background information about the firm’s collection, the different regions where the textiles originate, and how they can be distinguished from one another. The article also details how owners must be very careful in preserving the textiles with specific storage conditions and cleaning methods. Particular attention is given to a textile from the Ayudhya-Rattanakosin period, during which the King ordered fabric weaved in India with a Thai design, by the Royal Craftsmen.

In describing the pricelessness of these textiles, the article highlights the collection held at the Tilleke & Gibbins Bangkok office and the role played by David Lyman, the firm’s Chairman & Chief Values Officer, in developing the collection. The author emphasizes that the textiles are seen as paintings that tell the stories of those who weaved the fabrics, and how, over the years, they have become a symbol of history and formed part of Thai heritage.

RELATED INSIGHTS​ 

February 27, 2012
On March 29, Dr. Linda S. McIntosh, Consulting Curator of the Tilleke & Gibbins Textile Collection,  will presents a full morning program on natural dyes. Over three thousand recipes for natural dyes exist. The use of natural dyes has declined throughout the world, but much of the knowledge has been forgotten. Some groups continue to apply natural dyes to their textiles while others work to preserve the knowledge. A 1.5-hour video entitled, In Search of Lost Color: The Story of Natural Dyes, will be played in the program, and Dr.
January 26, 2012
Chula kathin, a Buddhist festival also known as kathin laen, celebrates the end of Buddhist Lent and allows participants to earn merit through the offering of material for monks’ robes to the temple. Celebrated in villages throughout Thailand and neighboring countries in the past, this merit-making tradition used to be held annually, but over the years only a few communities continued to carry out this religious ceremony. In the last few decades, this rite has been revived in some areas.
January 20, 2012
Dr. Linda S. McIntosh, consulting curator of the Tilleke & Gibbins Textile Collection, has planned a field excursion to broaden participants’ understanding of Tai Yuan textiles. This trip will take textile enthusiasts to the Mae Chaem Tiin Chok Festival of Chiang Mai Province, a festival named after the ceremonial skirt of the Tai Yuan. Textiles that have entered this year’s competition will be on display, along with demonstrations of weaving and other stages of textile production. Other traditional crafts will also be demonstrated, such as writing on palm leaf manuscripts.
January 10, 2012
The complex traditional belief system of the Tai requires different types of ceremonies for various purposes. Rites of passages, such as weddings and funerals, are elaborate, and textiles play important roles in them. Other rituals, such as those for healing, spirit appeasement, and honoring ancestors, call for woven accoutrements for their success. Although many Tai groups are Buddhist, pre-Buddhist beliefs are still part of the lives of the Tai people, and many Tai subgroups are not Buddhist but animist, or belief in spirits.