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The pre-story to Tamay’s UK Tour

This summer I began to plan my annual trip to Vietnam.   It was now nearly 9 years ago since I met Tamay. When she taught me how to make the Red Dzao embroidery. It turned into a magical three months of delving deep into embroidery. A skill that I had touched on with my Grandma but I had never been particularly interested in. I didn’t really understand it. I saw it as beautiful decoration and had always loved textiles and quality pieces but it was not something that I ever really thought about or knew much about.    The process of learning was what interested me so much because I was an anthropologist and I was interested in what relates...

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TAMAY'S UK TOUR 2017

Tamay is joining us in the UK from the 20th November to the 1st December! We hope you will be able to make it to one of these events to meet her,  Get in touch if you can't we might be able to make something else work.    Wednesday 22nd November BRISTOL   Come and Chatter with Tamay, the Red Dzao half of Tamay & Me. (Hannah, the other half, works from our studio at BTQ HQ.)  Drink tea (Tamay’s is green tea.)   Find just the right jacket for you.  Bring your embroidery to share, interesting textile pieces you have made or treasure   When: Wednesday 22nd November, 10 am – 4pm   How to book: Please contact Hannah to book an appointment (these will...

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Marriage. The textiles and their importance to to pave the way for happy married life and family life.

I never posted this last October 2016 ... here it is: a few words on a Dzao wedding. Today I went to a wedding. It was the second Dzao wedding I have been to in Taphin, this time I got to see the ceremony. It was a treat. Slowly slowly I am piecing together a better and better understanding of what it means to be Dzao and today a few things came together by seeing the wedding ceremony.    Being a woman in Dzao culture and being respected means learning how to make tiny intricate embroidery. A girl starts to learn at the age of 8 with the most basic of Dzao embroidery and by the age of marriage, normally...

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