 Ladies and gentlemen, this is more than a map. This is a story of two rivers who, like true lovers, have shared everything together. They have survived invasions and wars while sharing religions, arts and culture. And that's the reason why you are standing here today, Textiles. Welcome to the Mekonganga Museum of Asian Traditional Textiles. So take a deep breath and get ready to time travel across six nations as we meet the amazing magicians who don't just weave cloth, they weave dreams. You don't believe me? Right now the long fabric that drapes over the Mekonganga is unraveling, thread by thread. The highlight of this evening is a textile show presented by weavers and designers from all six Mekonganga countries. What a better place to start our journey from the Kingdom of Cambodia. One of the biggest symbols of Cambodia and the largest religious monuments in the world is Angkor Wat. Rising from the flood bank of the Mekong River, Angkor Wat was originally built as a Hindu temple dedicated to God Vishnu. Technically, everything was Hindu, but like in India, after Buddhism came in, here also some of the kings moved from Hinduism to Buddhism and back. So Angkor always remained a Hindu temple, but some of the other temples like Bayon and others became Buddhist temples and then again turned back into Hindu temples. There was a Chinese author, a person who came here and wrote a book in the 13th century. His name was Chodagwan. He wrote about the customs and manners of the people in this area. And one of the few things he wrote was the rich bought the textiles from India. These temples are the reflection of the stone crafts mentioned because they are all done in stone. But even if they are done in stone, all the similes, the textiles are exhibited. The costumes and textiles are displayed there and there is a lot of synergy between the carvings of these temples and the textile costumes of that period and contemporary Cambodia. In downtown Nongpen, the capital of Cambodia, designer Romida Ket uses indigenous Khmer silk to accentuate her designs. First of all, I'm Cambodian and I'm very proud to be able to use our Cambodian silk again because it's been forgotten for years and now that it is back, I'm very proud to be able to use it. What is special about Khmer silk is that it's imperfection. I like it. The fact that, you know, from a piece to another one, it can be completely different. It's very surprising. I've done five different models because I wanted to choose in particular the red, the pink, fuchsia and orange. So this is an organza dress made of silk. This is the laser cut part. So it's been first laser cut and that's been replicated on the organza. All these details are replicated one by one on the dress. I wanted warm colors. I wanted silk and organza then, of course, to represent my country. This one is silk with satin-applicated on. All those applications have been cut by laser and all the leaves have been replicated one by one on the dress. Each dress has its particularity and I think it shows what we're able to do. This is the orientation gallery because the Mekong Ganga is so vast, one requires a little orientation. You get a glimpse of the centuries-old cultural connections between the Mekong and the Ganga, winding and intertwining, warping and weaving into an intricate mesh. Legends, inaccuracies, myths and history. In the Mekong Ganga, they all live under the same roof. Let's move now to one of the most mysterious countries in the region, Laos. In the heart of bustling Indochina is a wonderland waiting to be discovered. Laos. Laos is a treasure trove of uncharted rivers, unclimbed mountains and untouched forests that house dozens of indigenous tribes and cultures. The people of Laos did not write down their history. They wove it instead. For the last 15 years, the social enterprise Okpop Tok, or East Meets West, has been striving to preserve the rich textile traditions of Laos. The women here that we work with, you know, they're so proud of the skill that they have. I would say this is something that we've kind of fought with over the years. Laos is so rich in its cultural diversity. And with that cultural diversity comes handicrafts and traditional culture and those sort of things. And this is something that the women here are now starting to feel really proud of. They're the carriers of this culture. We're not just selling textiles. We give people education, like how the textiles made, who made it. And, you know, for one product, who gets involved in every process. Even, you know, the last part of the sales person have to know, you know, how the product made. It's the experience you get. And then you feel like you get to know. Even you don't meet the artists in person, but you feel like you know them, you know. Their collection for the fashion show embodies the spirit of modern Laos, a country rooted in tradition, yet ready to take on the world. Our collection is based on folklore and mythological tales of Laos. The V's reflect historical storylines, but the design has a very modern twist. Many countries in Southeast Asia believe Naga, or water serpent. I think one of the Buddha's lie that Naga had protected from the flood. So that is why I have the big queen Naga motif with traditional color. It's red, but we come by the color more modern looking. Yeah, come with the show, with the third eye, this eye. Does anybody know what this is? That's right and wrong. The world knows this as a saree, but for those who wear it, and those who make it, it's six degrees of seduction hidden behind six yards of simplicity. But if you knew all that went into the making of a saree, you will fall in love with it. And this part of the museum, the materials and process gallery, wants to do just that. Make you fall in love with textiles. Fabrics, dyes, fibers, equipment, brocade looms, and even a DIY, or do-it-yourself block-print encounter to learn new skills. It's all here so that you get deeper and deeper into understanding the craft. And here, in the Vietnam section, there are detailed accounts on the role of women played in spearheading the textile movement for centuries. Even today, women lead the pack in Vietnam. There are 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam. The village of Mai Chau is made up of the ethnic group called Wai Tai. 400 years ago, this group moved to Vietnam, turning marshland into cultivable fields. Farmer by day and weaver by night. Ms. Oan still weaves on her ancestral looms to make jackwatt fabric. Enter Linda Mai Phung, the young and modern face of Vietnamese fashion. When I first met them, I came to this little traditional Thai house and I discovered a community of women that are very passionate about their own traditional textiles and I immediately fell in love with how they work together and how they gather their forces together. This jackal fabric is that it has been made by generations of mothers and daughters inside this community, this ethnic group. They told me it's in centuries that they use the same motifs and patterns and it's even a skill and a craftsmanship that they learn before they learn to write or read actually. And also it's only since 30 years that they use the traditional weaving machine before they would just only do it by hand. Together, Linda and Ms. Oan are creating an Asian collection called Shoot at the Moon for the Mekong Ganga Museum. I decided to work with them because my new inspiration for this fashion show was the story of an Asian legend that tells the story of a couple made of an archa and his wife who is a silkweaver actually. It tells the story of the apparition of the moon in ancient times and at those times the moon was burning everything on Earth. So this couple decided to shoot with the bow. They shoot arrows at the moon with silk made with the work of his wife. And just when Linda was busy adding finishing touches to the collection the weavers decided to have some fun. Ladies and gentlemen, let's play a little game. How long do you think this fabric must have taken to weave? Five days. No, I think two weeks. I think it's three days. Professor Gupta and Ms. Keria, what's the correct answer? So what do you think? The right answer? It is completely handmade, so at least six months. Wow, wow. Really six months? Time and cloth wait for no man. Here at the traditional textiles gallery you get a glimpse of rare hand-woven pieces that are a calculated result of precision, talent and hard work. Did we say talent? It is time to travel to Thailand. Every year, thousands of visitors are drawn into one of the most exotic and enigmatic kingdoms on Earth. Striking architecture, rich natural beauty and a kaleidoscope of colour, this is Thailand. For the Thai people, if colour means pride, then textiles are life's philosophy. Studio Naena in Chiang Mai specializes in blending tradition with modernity. More importantly, Studio Naena connects the traditional river with the international fashion market. Founded by Patricia Cheeseman, the studio is reviving Waft Ikat, Thailand's ancient and intricate weaving technique. Waft Ikat is a very important textile in Thailand. There aren't very many countries in the world that make Waft Ikat and in Thailand it's done with great skill. So I was very interested in conserving this technique but also exploring its possibilities in fashion. One of the key fabrics we were working with a lot of fabrics for this collection and one of the key fabrics that we are working with is a traditional Ikat pattern but working in the silk and cotton blend fabric. So again, that is the connection between the past and also the present. Evidence in Thailand about 1600 BC of Indigo being made in the northeast of Thailand. So with its long history and with its beauty it is hard to resist it really. And then the way that the color evolves as you oxidize it from the green up into the blue it's a magical process. What we are introducing is that this silk and cotton blend is a nice lightweight fabric and also has a very light colorway but using the traditional stripe Ikat pattern with the Indigo colors is a connection again connecting the past with the present. With Patricia's mother's research she has researched the past and we are creating textiles of the future. And the Cambodian government provided a beautiful piece of land for the same. We are talking about two civilizational rivers the Mekong and the Ganga and the people who lived around it built a life which where the fabric, the textiles was the essence of the living. These two areas had something in common one was that the peasants, the workers the people who lived naturally grew out of these two rivers but the other was the great civilizational empires that was done. There in India the great civilizational which was built around the Ganga and here the great civilizational of the Khmer Republic, of the Maishan of Myanmar, of Thailand the great civilizational and what these two did was that when you have great civilizational you need great textiles the kings, the emperors they have to wear textiles which are of a higher level than peasants whereas the peasants had a different way of doing it they grew out of life itself our work was to put these things together to bring together traditions which flowed across each other like seamless rivers these were rivers which actually never meet together you know the Mekong and Ganga have no confluence but the people of the region had a confluence in that they moved seamlessly across each other and finally history meets happening in this part of the museum the contemporary trends gallery over here it's all about stitching innovation with relevance like this costume from Myanmar the fabric is made by native kaya tribes but the design is as modern as it gets Myanmar's diverse ethnic groups have come to define its textile traditions weddings, funerals, births and festivals are all earmarked with a rare hand woven piece which are preserved by each passing generation designer Mohom works closely with the lotus weavers of Inle Lake perhaps the only community in the world to make fabric out of the lotus flowers we are talking about a freshwater lake where the way of transportation is boats 70,000 people survive on farming and fishing 8 different ethnic groups in this area preserve the rich tradition of lotus weaving the story goes that about 100 years ago a woman named Pawsaro discovered that if she cut the stem of a lotus plant pull them into halves, threads appeared this is a great symbol for the possibility in life lotus thrives in the pristine waters of Inle Lake and bright pink flowers indicate the best fibre the time consuming stripping of the stalk takes place when the stems are freshly picked many intricate and labour intensive steps later the thread is ready to be woven as fabric my collection is rather simple I have used the traditional lotus fabric and given it a very modern touch since this fashion shows about the power of six countries I have used a lot of oriental inspiration in the design an Indian kurta, a lotus fabric and very Myanmar ethnic designing the collection from Myanmar also boasts of one more quality healing powers which make it the perfect fabric for the robes of Buddhist monks ladies and gentlemen the final destination India India's textile story is the stuff of legends the first account of Hanwoven textiles dates back to the Indus valley civilization 4000 years ago many centuries later Indian textiles continue to capture the world's imagination the Sabyasachi collective stands for empowerment since its debut in the Indian fashion industry the collective has aspired to revive Indian fabrics every Sabyasachi piece is created by skilled artisans working intimately with the designer India is many countries within a country so whether you go to north, west, east and south the demographics of textiles in this country change quite rapidly and quite diversely and distinctly so in Kashmir you will have your woven Pashminas in Gujarat you are going to have your printed textiles and your ikkats like for instance the Patan Patola which is one of the most supreme form of textiles probably anywhere in the world in the east when you come you have fine hand looms like you have Banarsis and you have Jamdhanis and then you go down to south you have the most stunning silks whether it's the Pochampaldi whether it's the Kanjivaram Sari whether it's Venkat Giris so I think if you look at the textiles in India whether they are made up textiles which are embroidered or printed or they are dyed or they are just plain woven there is such distinct diversity I don't think anywhere in the world you will not be able to find such an array of textiles well you know what I have done for them is two distinctive Bangalas because I wanted to make something that was Indian but could also be worn by somebody who was not from an Indian country and I thought the Bangala is very Indian but at the same time it's like a mandarin jacket and it has oriental influences so I thought it would be an appropriate garment to send and I did the other jacket so the Bangala was made with antique sequins and it was hand dyed, textured, hand embroidered and used with a lot of prints and block printing that we did in West Bengal the other jacket was hand textured re-engineered with a lot of old stone semi-precious stones antique Zardosi what we tried to do in both of them is we tried to show Indian hand woven fabrics Indian dyeing and Indian hand embroidery which are the pillars of the garment industry in India the Ganga museum of Asian traditional textiles with special thanks to Ramita Kiat from Cambodia people are still working with their hands which is almost impossible everywhere else except of course in India people are very good with their hands and very talented in Europe nobody is working with their hands anymore More home from Myanmar it's time that we show the world what we are capable of the fact that there is so much synergy between us the fact that together we have a rich history and culture and a very unique textile tradition I love this idea of bringing six countries together this speaks so much to my philosophy of you know, strength in numbers and so not just bringing a small group of women together in Laos bringing like different countries together really putting like the spotlight on the handmade on traditional culture and so yeah, and I think this is a brilliant idea Patricia and Lamona Cheeseman from Thailand I think this is a great collaboration of many different countries and to be able to present what is being created and present time of the best of the best in hand woven textiles and handicrafts Linda Mai Phuong from Vietnam I would love to work with other designers that thinks alike and maybe make some techniques or styles together I would just like to say that you know as the world mechanizes it is very very important for us to sustain handicraft because otherwise we'll have no connection with the past and the world is going to become an extremely sterile place to live in I have four galleries the Orientation Gallery, Material Process Gallery Traditional Textile and the last gallery is Contemporary Trends Gallery so this itself talks of the symbiotic relationship between the tradition and contemporary Prior to these borders being made this whole area was an area of flux and people were travelling and moving around and ideas were moving so I think that the connection between these six countries is very very strong in their artistic expressions