With a history of nearly 500 years, Ma Chau silk is known for its ancient, precious patterns, durable quality, smooth, firm fabric surface, bearing the typical characteristics of Quang Nam – rustic, simple but smooth and soft. Faced with market competition from industrial fabrics, Chinese silk, silk and the traditional silk weaving profession in Ma Chau once seemed to fall into oblivion.
Difficulties from an ancient silk region
With a long history, each piece of silk is imbued with cultural stories, bearing the soul of Quang Nam, but like many other ancient craft villages, Ma Chau silk village has to face many challenges to survive and develop.
Sharing with reporters, Ms. Tran Thi Yen (Ma Chau silk brand) said: “The open market creates fierce competition in terms of designs and prices. Along with the stubbornness of the craft villagers, silk designs are almost not improved, making the gap with modern tastes increasingly wide.”
Ms. Tran Thi Yen said that Ma Chau has restored the Lanh Hoa line (the ancient royal robe) which had been lost for more than 200 years. At the same time, there have been improvements in patterns and materials to suit modern fashion, and can be widely consumed in the market instead of just being kept in museums.
According to Ms. Yen, the craft village also has internal difficulties such as finding raw materials, preserving traditional weaving techniques (ensuring the characteristics of the silk region), building a brand… Then there are difficulties in capital. Ms. Yen said that investing in silk production requires a large amount of capital to buy raw materials, equipment, improve product quality and expand the market.
“We also have more difficulties with production space. Born in a silk weaving village, my family’s biggest dream is to be given the opportunity to rent land, maintain the workshop, and develop business on this land…”, Ms. Yen confided.
Knowing Ma Chau’s story, designer Le Thanh Hoa stepped in, supporting Ma Chau in promoting the media through using fabric to create designs to be displayed at shows at home and abroad.
Determination from young people of the craft village
Reviving an ancient silk line is not an easy task. To survive, it is not only dependent on silk but also on creating an “ecosystem” for silk.
Ms. Yen said: “My father is the 18th generation to succeed his ancestors. For decades, I felt very sorry for him, seeing him struggling with his profession and the village but still not finding a way out. As soon as I graduated from Da Nang University of Economics, I was determined to return to the village to help my father, set a goal to succeed his profession, and find a direction for Ma Chau.”
Ms. Yen returned to her hometown and developed a project “Restoring and developing the traditional silk craft village of Ma Chau associated with village experience tourism”, and presented it to the Quang Nam Province Creative Startup Steering Committee. Up to now, she and her colleagues have completed phase 1 of the project (restoring production, converting technology – applying modern digital technology to the process of producing patterns for natural silk fabrics).
“To restore silk weaving, we have invested in 10 sword looms and a modern digital head system at a cost of nearly 10 billion VND,” said Ms. Yen.
Efforts to upgrade products in both quality and form have made Ma Chau silk a distinct product on the market, meeting customers’ needs for a modern fashion product, satisfying domestic and foreign fashion designers.
Thanks to the application of digital technology in the pattern creation process instead of traditional cardboard technology, the amount of products created by Ms. Yen’s facility has increased 5 times compared to the old technology, and can weave complex patterns, especially customer-designed patterns instead of small, repetitive patterns of the old technology.
In addition to designer Le Thanh Hoa, Ma Chau silk also accompanies and is the favorite material of designers Huy Vo, Ngo Nhat Huy, LiA…
Sharing with reporters, Mr. Pham Ngoc Sinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Quang Nam province, Head of the Executive Board of Creative Startups of Quang Nam province, said that Ma Chau silk is considered a treasure of Quang Nam, and is being breathed new life into it by Ms. Yen and young friends of the craft village.
“With their burning passion, these young people not only preserve traditional weaving techniques but also create modern designs that suit consumer tastes. Recently, with additional support from the province and South Korea, Ma Chau craft village has been equipped with modern machinery and connected to widespread distribution channels. Ma Chau silk is therefore considered to have added wings, hopefully it will become stronger and stronger,” Mr. Sinh acknowledged.
According to Mr. Sinh, the idea of combining Ma Chau silk with tourism by Ms. Yen and the young people of the craft village has opened up a new and promising direction, helping tourists not only admire the sophisticated handicraft products but also understand more deeply about the culture and people of Quang.
“Ma Chau silk, with its love stories and legends associated with the Thu Bon River, promises to shine even brighter in the world market,” Mr. Sinh believes.
