My Journey in Craft
Hello,
My name is Phong and I am a natural dyer and maker of handcrafted things and general all round DIYer. I thought it about time I introduced myself to those who do not know me.
I have always loved making things since I was a kid growing up in Adelaide, Australia. I also love design, fashion, art, ethnic and antique textiles and cultures.
Like many Vietnamese migrant families, my parents worked in the rag trade. My parents have owned (and still do) a small clothing factory where my siblings and I were incentivised to work during my school holidays. They made casual wear for the likes of Target and Kmart back in the late eighties until everything went off shore. Quelle horreur! Imagine a 14 yo kid inserting drawstrings into track pants, snipping loose threads and bundling up clothes ready for delivery (it still happens today in developing countries) during their school break, lucky for me, the monetary incentives where too good to pass up. This was the unglamorous side to the fashion industry and hand workers. I didn’t want to be part of it, I just wanted to make things that interested me, like greeting cards, paintings and collages. Today, I value the skills my parents have in the art of clothing construction.
After graduating from a Marketing degree, I moved to London. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do career wise, other than something creative. I ended up working in luxury fashion retail for a couple of years before moving to Paris to learn French. On top of the french lessons I helped out whenever I could at the atelier of LouLou de la Falaise, the muse to Yves Saint laurent. This experience cemented my love of all things artisanal. It was amazing to observe LouLou at work, playing around with jewel stones or experiencing the handling of handwoven silks and lace. Mind boggling for a kid from Adelaide!
After 3.5 years away, I wanted to cement my knowledge in some craft form, I chose footwear, a course offered in Adelaide. I moved to Melbourne upon graduating and started my handmade footwear label, Phong Chi Lai Handcraft. It was challenging to operate and run a small artisanal footwear label, but also very rewarding. I love that I can make shoes from scratch. And I still miss it! There were 2 highlights to my footwear career, the first was my very first wholesale order and the second, exhibiting in ‘Melbourne Now’ at The National Gallery of Victoria. I was throughly thrilled to exhibit my shoes within such an important and influential institution. But I wasn’t being fully fulfilled, keeping to deadlines, sell dates, making, etc, it became restrictive to the creative process.
So where has the natural dyeing and quilting evolved from you may be asking… it begins now!
The idea of sustainability and ethically produced goods has always been at the forefront of my mind in whatever I do. I wanted to combine it with social responsibility as well, so when in 2014, the opportunity to work for a handicraft social enterprise, Mekong Quilts in Vietnam arose, I jumped at it ( it was through a DFAT funded initiative - Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID)). I was aware of the traditional quilting works in India (kantha) and Japan (Boro and Shashiko), but had never encountered traditional American and European quilts before. Mekong quilts, an employment program designed to create sustainable employment for women in rural Vietnam and Cambodia was all about these traditional quilts with Western heritage. I was there as a design/marketing mentor to help update their design aesthetic. The best thing about this experience was the two way learning exchange that took place, I started learning about how quilts were made and hand quilting and we utilised these techniques to create new products.
I was exposed to the art of natural dyeing while in Vietnam as well, particularly indigo. Mekong Quilts were already using naturally dyed, hand woven and embroidered textiles from the ethnic minorities in their quilts. I pushed the use of more of these textiles into other product categories as well. And so, I went on a research rampage about natural dyes. Being based in Vietnam made it easier to access other regions that employ the use of natural dyes. I travelled to India, Cambodia, Japan, the Northern Highlands of Vietnam and China to learn and discover more. From the Khatri’s Ajrakh block printing studios in Kutch, India to small villages in the northern highlands of Vietnam, I couldn’t get enough. I also managed to buy my share of antique textiles, who doesn’t need 20 Rabari bags or 3 black H’mong Coats or what about a Miao handwoven and madder dyed carpet?
After 2 years in Vietnam working with handmade quilters and numerous research trips, I had another opportunity to work in Kathmandu, Nepal with The Federation of Handicraft Associations of Nepal, the peak handicraft body in Nepal. Again, my interest and curiosity about handcrafted textiles and traditional crafts was piqued. I was there for 6 months and worked closely with designers from a handicraft social enterprise called Mahaguthi to develop new product ranges, mainly home wares to improve their offerings for the export market. I also facilitated a shoe making workshop.
So, we are up to date with my journey thus far, which leads me to the now. These experiences have reinforced the social and environmental care that has always underpinned my ethos as an artisan – slow, functional luxury, made by hand. Taking inspiration from my experiences, I have developed my own textile practice based in Tasmania, Australia. Turning to the immediate environment as my source of raw materials: dyes made from plants, reclaimed natural fibres and veg tanned leather. Studio PCL is a culmination of all of my research, experiments and experiences over the past 5 years.
Natural dyeing is not an exact science, there are many variables to take into consideration, and the results may be hard to replicate. This influences my design approach, I doodle and make notes of loose ideas and concepts. The high level approach to design allows for the chance encounter that arises in the handmade and natural process. Creating intuitively, each work is assembled and pieced as a response to my materials and the techniques employed. Every process and every piece is individual and imbued with this maker’s handprint.
