《Cuzhi》Magazine Introduction:
“CuZhi” is a print Chinese publication that focuses on traditional hand-weaving culture and the related practitioners and creators.
It aims to use textiles as a medium for discussion, to convey and discover the complex connections between people, craftsmanship, and the local environment in different times and production states. It presents the real situations, thoughts, experiences, and daily lives of the artisans.
At the same time, it also hopes to find local knowledge and cultural clues that can inspire contemporary people within the tools, materials, techniques, geographical features, and daily labor of the traditional weaving forms.
In an era of hurried affairs, paying attention to the seemingly slow hand-weaving culture is not an attempt to return to the past, but to allow knowledge and experience to inspire each other in a more equal exchange, and for people in different craftsmanship stages to understand each other.
May we find or find methods in the unknown historical culture of craftsmanship and the present life that can alleviate the tense rhythm of our bodies and minds, and even enable us to live in friendly harmony with the “future” that has not yet arrived.
Editorial Standards:
-All presented content and works must be ones that the main creators have personally experienced or thought valuable.
-Emphasizing first-hand information and experience.
-Plain and sincere language.
-Responsibility towards the writing subject and interviewee.
-Has reference value and inspiring significance for fabric enthusiasts and practitioners.
-Transmits local knowledge and insights beyond the current time.
-Although focusing on traditional craftsmanship, it does not convey conservative or localist ideas.
-View and discuss people, events, and things in a relational context.
-Capture and present the texture of people, details and complexity in the interaction between people and the place.
Magazine Sections:
-Preface
-Theme/Feature: Presenting the interwoven landscape of place, craft and people
-People: Textile creators/textile producers, presenting the perspectives of the individuals and preserving the authenticity of their voices
-Voices: Podcasts, fragmented environmental sound materials, interviews, etc.
-Sight: Books, audio-visual works, exhibitions, criticism, etc.
-Bootleg: Documents, archives, historical information
-Editor’s
The background of the first ISSUE: “Northern Thailand Weaving Culture and Weavers”:
My name is Ling Min(凌敏), a writer from China.
In the past, my job was to create special content and conduct interviews for Chinese magazines, mostly in the fields of design, art, and humanities.
Besides, I have long been interested in the people and events in the field of handicrafts, and I have always tried to reach the places where the crafts are practiced to enrich my writing.
This year, I have started a new project, hoping to produce a Chinese magazine book(MOOK) that focuses on and records the current development status of traditional textile culture and spreads the humanistic landscape behind textiles.
I hope to provide true handicraft practitioners and enthusiasts with more timely records and observations of textile techniques and industry conditions, and to trigger more information exchanges and experience sharing about textile techniques and the textile cultures of different regions.
The name of this magazine book is “促织” (Cùzhī).I hope to make some valuable records of craft culture and stories about people and places in an era of increasingly rapid development, and to provide a platform for different textile practitioners to express their voices, share their insights, and enrich their understanding of the possibilities of handicrafts.
In each issue of the magazine book, we will select a location where textile culture is well-preserved as a special topic, accompanied by on-site interviews and multiple perspectives. Since I majored in Thai in college and Thailand has well-preserved handwoven textile culture, we have chosen northern Thailand as the destination for the first issue’s special topic and will visit there multiple times for research, recording, and interviews. From the end of last year to the beginning of this year, I have visited there twice for initial exploration and understanding.
Due to language and cultural differences, it is difficult for outsiders to reach the core of a place’s true textile culture (whether it be customs, development history, patterns, tools and materials, etc.) with short visits and records. I know that in Thailand, there are many official institutions, scholars, textile practitioners, and enthusiasts who are paying attention to and doing similar things, and they may have more complete experiences and perspectives to share, or at least know better where to seek help when we have such needs.
I am curious about how the textile industry as a cultural industry is jointly promoted and built by workers from different fields, how small textile brands are established and develop their own styles, and how local young entrepreneurs view the land they are on and the craft experience there. I want to know how they integrate design knowledge from school with the real production environment, how they communicate with weavers in traditional weaving villages, and how they transform this simple knowledge into useful and aesthetically pleasing products. I am also curious about the evolution of local textile techniques in northern Thailand, how they have retained local characteristics in terms of materials, tools, patterns, and aesthetics, and what changes and new aesthetics they have integrated during the overall development process. I am also interested in the changes in the lives and mindsets of the producers themselves. I am curious about the mountain people who have migrated from southwestern China or neighboring countries, how their textile cultures have changed from their places of origin, what parts have been retained, what kind of life they are leading, and how they identify and position their own belonging. Perhaps I also need more professional researchers in this field to share their experiences, insights, or some kind of summary.
Sometimes, by looking at another culture, we can think more clearly about our own problems.
I believe that exchange and communication themselves are valuable, but they are never enough. Although we have cognitive limitations due to different cultural backgrounds, a certain common passion for handicrafts will align us in each other’s coordinates. Find some common predicament or draw on each other’s coping methods.
As a student majoring in foreign languages, I often feel that language should not be a high wall but a bridge. Although there are many tourists visiting Thailand today, most of them are still looking for places that are good for shopping, eating, buying, and having fun. I think, in addition to this, the stories about how the locals live, work, and view the place they belong to, are also very precious. Besides emphasizing the time spent by the makers on handicrafts, there are also more cultural traditions, production environments, and aesthetic propositions that can be conveyed behind them. I once entered an English bookstore on a nimman road in Chiang Mai, but unfortunately, most of the books sold there were English picture books about fashion, and there were few introductions to local culture.
I am also determined to fill the gap in the coverage of hand weaving in the upcoming issue of the special topic.
However, I also need more platforms, experts and individuals who are deeply involved in this field to offer their help. Whether it is introducing relevant figures and leads, sharing professional knowledge, providing some suggestions on the work direction, or helping me visit those villages with more representative and original textile cultural ecology.
If you have any suggestions, support or clues related to the above, please feel free to contact me via email：lingmin1022@126.com