My first time to China, what a place. The energy, the joy, the people and, of course, the food. It seemed that everyone was on the move, unintentionally we had scheduled our time in China to coincide with Golden Week, which is a week of celebrations surrounding the anniversary of the founding of the Peoples Republic of China, this year was the 59^th anniversary.

Lijiang and Dali were the two cities that we visited. Both walled cities originally built in the seventeenth century, and while, as you can imagine, full of tourists – us included, the main tourist groups were however city Chinese enjoying the more rural experience.

My search for traditional textiles was a little disappointing until we arrived in Dali, where I found the more tribal appliqué pieces on the web site. Dali is the centre of the Naxi people and the goods are bought from the villages into small shops and stalls for sale. I was very thrilled to find these particular pieces as I have never seen anything quite like them before,
The downside is that I still I have a long way to go in developing my negotiation skills!

The only consolation is that the Naxi are considered to be some of the most skilled in the art of bargaining in the world. A work in progress.

The land of the lotus eaters, whatever that means, for me Laos is a land of beautiful weaving, a whole population that seems artistic with a serious sense of style, the food a fascinating blend between traditional Laotian food, with it’s fresh herbs and chilli, and French food, with it’s flair and imagination.

Beer Lao is to be enjoyed on the banks of the Mekong, whilst the occasional, almost affordable, glass of wine and a good cup of coffee is also possible. (For those of you who have not travelled through South East Asia, two things that are sometimes difficult to acquire are an affordable glass of wine and a reasonable cup of coffee).

Luang Prabang is a beautiful town, now world heritage listed and the centre of some of the most interesting contemporary designs in weaving, based on traditional techniques, to be produced in Laos in the last decade.

What is not to love?

Over the next year I will include textiles from Africa, especially some of the Kuba monochromatic geometric textiles, which I believe will look great in contemporary homes; also Central American reverse appliqué and embroidered pieces, and also not to leave out the raffia pieces from the Pacific Islands – a whole new world of textiles to explore.

 The other area that I will be exploring is both Aboriginal contemporary print fabrics and traditional Aboriginal bark painting, both which can fit quite comfortably under the broad heading of “Textiles.“

I love textiles; I love the colour of them, the feel of them and the warmth that they bring into a room.   Somehow things that are hand made and individual seem to take on a depth and presence that factory made goods just do not possess.

Traditional textiles reflect much about the cultures that produce them, and, as the world becomes on some level more homogenous, the individuality of culture reflected in these textiles is wonderful to behold.

 ‘Textiles of the World’ has begun with textiles from a region of the world that I have been acquainted with for a number of years – South East Asia.  A wonderful part of the world, where the cultures are diverse, the food is delicious; the weather is warm, and the people generous of time and spirit.

For the last 15 years I have been boring my friends and family senseless with the idea of travelling the world, buying hand made traditional and contemporary textiles, and then introducing these beautiful pieces of art to the world, or at least to my small section of it.

In 2009 I decided to stop talking about the idea and to turn it into a reality.

Having a retail background, my original thoughts turned to a retail outlet, however over the last 15 years the internet has become both mainstream, and an intriguing platform to launch into the new generation of retail.

Hence ‘Textiles of the World’ www.textilesoftheworld.com.au , and the start of a new adventure…