Workshops breathe life into traditional crafts
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Sitting on a lounge chair in her studio in northwest London, Duan Yiran, the founder of Yi Crafts, a handcrafts workshop that focuses on promoting the traditional indigo dyeing technique practised by the Chinese Bai ethnic group, admits she used to “hate” the craft.
“I grew up with it, but it wasn’t something you felt cool about when you were a teenager. So, I never really liked it,” she recalls.
Duan, a member of the Bai ethnic group, was born and raised in Zhoucheng village, in Dali city, Southwest China’s Yunnan province.
At one time, in Zhoucheng, nearly every household boasted members who had mastered the tie-dyeing technique. Duan’s family also ran an indigo farm that dated back five generations, alongside a business that produced handwoven, hand-dyed fabrics.
To tie-dye pieces of cloth, the craftsperson uses needles and threads to create different folds in the fabrics before putting them in dye vats several times. Typically, the dye vats contain sky-blue-coloured dye extracted from plants.
Unfolding the fabrics reveals beautiful patterns, such as geometric shapes and flowers. The areas stitched and bound by threads remain white because they were not immersed in the dye, while other areas turn blue.
In 2006, the tie-dyeing technique of the Bai ethnic group was listed as a form of national intangible cultural heritage in China.
The 29-year-old Duan, who spent her childhood helping out by cutting the threads after cloth had been dyed, never thought about inheriting the craft until she moved to London in 2015 and enrolled at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, to study costume design.
“I learned a lot of Western techniques at the school, like making a suit, a Victorian dress, a corset, but I lost that connection because I don’t have a history associated with (those garments),” she says. “And when making the Victorian-style costumes, I found myself unconsciously applying the Chinese embroidery stitching and knotting techniques that I learned from my grandmother.”
It was at that moment Duan realised that a person may not be entirely separated from the land they were raised on and the cultural imprints that come with it.
After graduating in 2019, Duan decided to set up her own handcrafts studio. Since then she has organised more than 500 online and in-person workshops, with in excess of 10,000 participants.
The studio has evolved into a space where various types of Chinese handicrafts, including embroidery, lantern making, paper-cutting, bamboo weaving, and more, have been shared.
Unlike Duan, Lu Yinkai has been enamoured with traditional Chinese culture since a young age and now dreams of sharing with the world the details of Chinese incense culture, a centuries-old art that has almost vanished.
The 25-year-old set up his studio Timelessmoon in London last year.
Chinese incense culture dates back more than 4,000 years, when fragrant herbs were first burned, primarily during rituals to worship ancestors, Lu says.
During the Song Dynasty (960-1279), the use of incense reached its peak as the upper classes regarded incense as an elegant pursuit, and ancient scholars, poets, and artists of that period burned it while composing poetry, playing the guqin (a traditional Chinese plucked-string zither), appreciating flowers, and hosting guests, Lu explains.
Lu has been apprenticing under experts who have long studied Chinese incense, delving into ancient texts, and learning about the tools, materials, and methods involved in using incense.
His studio regularly organises workshops where participants can learn to appreciate the timeless tradition while experiencing Chinese incense or making incense sachets.
Although their specialties differ, the two young Chinese artisans both express a desire for their events to serve as a space that transcends borders.
“There are always commonalities between cultures because we are all human beings,” says Lu.
Duan adds: “We are merely bridges, the important part is the people on both sides of the bridge.”