Showcase: Traditional Chinese Designers

Craftsmanship in China is becoming a dying art. With young people unwilling to pick up the skills of their parents or grandparents, there is fear that certain traditions will be lost forever. But all hope is not lost as people like Hong Kong-based designer Elaine Ng is helping to revive and preserve some of the country's rural arts. China has a long history of boutique production dating back to the 6th century. But a changing world has threatened the continuation of this art as the number of people practicing it dwindles. Now only a small number of tribes in the isolated villages of south-central Guizhou province continue the tradition. This ancient art was one of the earliest forms of decoration used on textiles. The key ingredient is beeswax. Both tenacious and flexible, it's used to prevent crackle in order to produce a clear image. Artist Pan Huiyin uses traditional techniques passed down for generations to create an indigo-dyed boutique scarf embellished with patterns inspired by her own chewy background. It was from her grandmother that she learned the skills for boutique but laments that the younger generation, including her own daughter, are not interested in continuing the tradition. Young people, they don't want to learn. They want to go to Guangdong. They don't want to learn. They begin to learn traditional craft skills and then before they understand it, they encounter difficulties. They can't pull the threads properly or control the temperature of the indigo dye vats properly. Basically, they can't handle it. Pan's employer, Hong Kong-based designer Elaine Lee, is among a group of designers focused on ecological and cultural sustainability and hope to preserve the skills of rural artisans. During my research, I found that only 10% of the heritage craft skills got passed to the next generation and the reason being is because most of the younger generation or my generation they don't feel inspired and inspired to learn the craft because it's not going to give them a living that they would like to have. They want smartphones. They want to live in the city. Ning hopes her project, Unfold Buzhou, which markets limited edition materials decorated with boutique patterns, will pioneer a business model that can help keep these traditions from I've decided to look into products that actually manage to sort of show off those skills the best so I call the range the non-design products so that includes scarves, stools and wooden wall tiles. Christina Dean, founder of Redress, an NGO working to promote sustainability in the fashion industry, believes that designers are finally realizing the value of craft after a long period of fast fashion. By and large, the mainstream fashion industry has become so bland. It's become, you know, a polyester rag and many designers are responding to that by looking at the beauty of craftsmanship and bringing it back into fashion literally and so we're seeing more and more emerging brands really revive artisanal craftsmanship around the world. It's a move in the right direction and hopefully will help in reviving these ancient traditions and for some tribes in Guizhou who have no written language of their own and use embroidery to communicate their myths and folklore, saving their ancient printing tradition from mass production may not only rescue the art form but their history as well.