Sur Le Fil

Dede's adventures around Southeast Asia, following tribes' "fil" to learn about their lifestyles and handicrafts

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after 7 months in northern Vietnam, here is the south! short cooling break in Dalat, with the best sunrises ever seen...

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From Da Nang to Lao border

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Hoi An serenity

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Presqu'île at Hue

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Hue citadel

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On the way to Dong Hoi

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Day 49: Indigo and wax print creation at Ta Van. The wax is warmly melted to be used as ink and applied on the hemp fabric with wood and metal thin instrument. Then we leave the piece of hemp in few indigo natural baths, still made by Cham leaves. After drying, we boiled it in hot water to separate the wax from the hemp. I choose to experiment my own design with this technic, keeping some traditional prints. The result will need to be more experiment!

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Day 47: Sue's view homestay in Ta Van village, down to Sapa valley. Such a nice, peaceful and quiet place! People are very welcoming, the view amazing, and food... Whoever you are, you should go there! www.facebook.com/suesviewhomestay

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Sapa O'Chau! Hmong organization help local people from villages. 35 children live and learn there to prepare their university exams with extra English classes. It also runs a cafe, a shop, some homestays and trekking with guide, and also a workshop. People working there are mostly from traditional villages or volunteers. I had the chance to stay for two weeks with impressive people and create a small collection with traditional fabrics like hemp, embroideries or indigo prints. In Hmong language, O'Chau means thank you!

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Thank you to the volunteers models, workshop ladies, photographers for helping to develop this collection and for their smiles!

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Day 43: after 10 days hard working with Sapa O'Chau's workshop, the collaborative collection between Dede and this grand Hmong organization is finally ready!

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Children from Ta Phin, waiting patiently for working time to end up and share with you their laughs their smiles and their happiness... With love...

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Day 27: Wake up early in the morning, our graceful Ly May Chan takes us to visit one of her Dao sister who makes indigo. This famous color is naturally made from leaves of "Cham". But to get this very dark blue, similar as a black, they need to plunge the fabric, cotton or hemp, in nine different baths! We can not imagine how this step of creation so important to get to the wonderful traditional costume, but it is because of those darkness that embroideries stayed so bright!

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Life in Ta Phin, it is like a way back to old times, in wooden houses, kitchen with fire, smock smell in bedrooms, animals hanging everywhere. But all this with flat screens, wifi and smartphones! After taking rice from fields, people burn the dry leaves, the smoke smells warm and comfort. The atmosphere is smoky and lightened by a hidden hot sun that create a very particular ambiance.

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Day 26: First step in my handicraft journey, at Ly May Chan’s atelier. This great women is just massive… She runs a “Bia Hội”, a home stay, a shop from Dao women cooperative's creations, treats her family’s lands and animals, takes care of several Coopératives in Ta Phin town, and works in association with Craftlink and other designers who wants to preserve traditional Vietnamese knowledge. So this is were May Chan accept to work with me, our job is still in progress, but I had to leave her to carry over this trip. I'm glad we spent these times together. Dao embroideries is a huge work, some pieces takes more than 6 months to be done! But for sure we’ll work together very soon! Thank you May Chan!

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Day 25: Along Sapa, most touristic city of northern Vietnam, district composed of tribes' villages specialized in handicrafts, we found shelter at Ta Phin, Dao village surrounded by rice fields. People never go out without their traditional costumes, work in yellow rice fields, or sale their handmade creations.

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Day 22: End of September, almost one month spent in Vietnam, we are back to Ha Giang and can enjoy a night show organized for children. The Luna festival is also children fest, people create tanks which seems like discotheque. Highlight neons, techno miso wye, and people dancing around it, only children are on these tanks saying with bright smile some loud "hello"!