Guangxi Zhuang Brocade

Guangxi Zhuang Brocade

　　Produced in Tian'e, Guangxi.

　　Legend has it that in the early years of the Song Dynasty, there was a skilled weaver among the Zhuang women named Danimei. Danimei had a unique trait in her weaving—she loved to innovate constantly. Once, in search of a new pattern, she sat on the doorstep, staring intently at a large spider web under the eaves, deep in thought. She pondered from moonrise to moonset, and from moonset to the next morning when the sun rose. She thought all night but still couldn’t come up with anything. Just as she was about to get up and leave, she suddenly noticed the morning sunlight shining on the dew-covered spider web. At that moment, the entire web shimmered with a dazzling array of colorful hues, absolutely beautiful. Inspired by the sight, Danimei quickly ran to the main hall, moved her loom under the eaves, and began weaving using the beautiful patterns and colors of the spider web as her guide. With multicolored silk threads, she wove non-stop, her hands flying up and down. In less than half a day, she had created a piece of brocade. When the news spread, weavers from all over came to learn from Danimei. And so, the craft of making Zhuang brocade began to spread throughout the Zhuang-inhabited regions.

　　The weaving process uses undyed cotton yarn as the warp and various colored silk threads as the weft to create jacquard patterns. A traditional wooden loom, also known as a bamboo cage loom, is used. This loom features a “pattern cage” for weaving floral designs, and the use of the pattern cage to create patterns is the most distinctive characteristic of the Zhuang brocade loom. The weaver can sketch out the desired patterns using a pattern ruler, then arrange them on the pattern cage using pattern bamboo strips and main heddles. During the weaving process, the pattern bamboo strips on the cage are transferred one by one in sequence, and through the traction of the heddles, the patterns are manifested on the brocade.