HANOI: Phan Thi Thuan, a Vietnamese weaver, hitches up her pants as she steps into a lotus paddy to collect the stems needed to produce a rare and highly coveted thread. During the colonial rule, her great-aunt made and sold traditional silk to the French, passing the practise on to Thuan, who began to weave when she was six in her home, just outside Hanoi.
But three years ago, after the seeds had been picked for fruit, Thuan found a new chance in the lotus stems left to rot on nearby fields. To produce “lotus silk,” an exquisite fabric widely sought after by fashion designers, she started removing the fibres found in the stems.
“I was the first in Vietnam,” the 65-year-old told AFP proudly. “I started all by myself, then I trained those already in my workshop,” she added.
Farmers often toil for hours to clear lotus paddies of rotting stems, which ruin the soil and bring unwanted insects. But thanks to her vision, Thuan today leads a team of about 20 mostly female workers who snap off the stems in the paddies, before they tease out the fragile fibres and roll them into thread.
Dressed head toe in brown silk and sporting a necklace of pearl-the same outfit she dons as she sorts through the paddies of the lotus-Thuan explains her work. It’s a tedious process-a large scarf takes up yarn from about 9,200 stems and it will take about two months for one worker to finish-but Thuan insists it’s worth it.
“I see this as my task now, to generate jobs, and to do my bit for the environment,” she said, adding that during busy periods, she employs hundreds to weave from home.
Profits are also another reason to endure. While a standard silk scarf could go for US$ 20, a smaller one made from lotus silk is worth more than 10 times that. While lotus silk is produced in a handful of countries-including Myanmar and Cambodia- in Vietnam, Thuan is seen as an innovator.
Nguyen Thi Xoa, 40, was taught by Thuan in 2017 and she now wants her children to follow in her thread. “At the beginning it was very difficult, but now I love doing it,” she said. “It’s a stable job and I’m proud of it.”
SOURCE: CNA
