Tailor fashions wood-bark clothes
By Meng Na |
October 9, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
"OLD Chieftain" Shen Tai-mou, around 80 years old, makes clothes out of tree bark, a traditional skill of the Amis minority in Taiwan.
This truly is a lost fashion art. Shen says that after he passes on, there's no one who can duplicate his work. He has a few temporary apprentices, they come and go, but there's no master to take his place.
He's looking for a chip off the old block.
Over the years he has demonstrated to 2,000 locals and tourists how he uses mulberry tree bark - its cellulose fiber is highly flexible - to make wedding outfits, hats and waistcoats. All his work is exhibited, none is for sale, but he is a big tourist draw for Dulan Village, Taitung County in Taiwan.
Shen runs a bark clothes-making workshop with an exhibition room of clothing; signs describe his techniques.
Outside the exhibition room is a DIY area for tourists and Shen's temporary apprentices; it contains dozens of chairs and some round tables. There are pieces of bark and small mallets on the tables so people can have a go at making bark clothes, or at least pounding the elastic fiber.
The Amis are one of Taiwan's major ethnic minorities, numbering around 180,000, mostly living in Hualien, Taitung and Pingtung counties.
The Amis stopped making bark clothes more than 60 years ago, but Shen, formerly chieftan of his tribe, carries on. When he was five years old, he came across some antique bark clothes and treasured them; when he was older, he recreated them.
The process is complicated. The first step is to cut down a tree, chop the trunk into pieces and then collect its bark. Mulberry pulp is the best material since it's resilient and doesn't crack easily.
Removing the bark from the trunk is tricky. One hand constantly turns the wood, while the other hand pounds the surface evenly with a small iron hammer. After around 15 minutes of pounding the bark gradually separates from the trunk and comes away as a cylinder.
A fellow villager named Siki explains the technique to tourists in Mandarin. Because the mulberry fiber is so flexible, it can be enlarged and stretched by around a third through pounding.
The well-hammered bark is then cleaned and dried in the sun. Pieces are sewn together to make larger pieces and then clothes can be cut from the fiber.
Shen says it usually takes around two weeks to make one piece of clothing. He once sold clothing to museums to spread the culture of the Amis people. A pieces of clothes, such as a jacket sold for the equivalent of US$130, a hat for a fraction of that.
But he does not sell to tourists.
"Making bark clothes is very time-consuming. If I sell them to visitors, I won't have enough left to exhibit," Shen says.
For 10 years while he was the leader of his tribe, Shen used to think about what he and his generation could give to younger generations of Amis.
"We should try our best to pass on our traditional culture," says Shen.
Though he has taught more than 2,000 people how to make a bark clothes, Shen has not found anyone willing to be his successor.
"People come to learn and try just for fun and that's understandable," he says. "Today factory-made clothes are cheap and you can't commercialize tree bark clothes."
The bright side is that She's workshop has become an important tourism destination. Every day, Shen puts on his homemade bark waistcoat and receives tourists from around the world.
Many are eager to know every detail and tourists ask to have their photos taken with Shen.
Meanwhile, students in local primary and middle school are required to learn the technique and make a hat before they can graduate.
This truly is a lost fashion art. Shen says that after he passes on, there's no one who can duplicate his work. He has a few temporary apprentices, they come and go, but there's no master to take his place.
He's looking for a chip off the old block.
Over the years he has demonstrated to 2,000 locals and tourists how he uses mulberry tree bark - its cellulose fiber is highly flexible - to make wedding outfits, hats and waistcoats. All his work is exhibited, none is for sale, but he is a big tourist draw for Dulan Village, Taitung County in Taiwan.
Shen runs a bark clothes-making workshop with an exhibition room of clothing; signs describe his techniques.
Outside the exhibition room is a DIY area for tourists and Shen's temporary apprentices; it contains dozens of chairs and some round tables. There are pieces of bark and small mallets on the tables so people can have a go at making bark clothes, or at least pounding the elastic fiber.
The Amis are one of Taiwan's major ethnic minorities, numbering around 180,000, mostly living in Hualien, Taitung and Pingtung counties.
The Amis stopped making bark clothes more than 60 years ago, but Shen, formerly chieftan of his tribe, carries on. When he was five years old, he came across some antique bark clothes and treasured them; when he was older, he recreated them.
The process is complicated. The first step is to cut down a tree, chop the trunk into pieces and then collect its bark. Mulberry pulp is the best material since it's resilient and doesn't crack easily.
Removing the bark from the trunk is tricky. One hand constantly turns the wood, while the other hand pounds the surface evenly with a small iron hammer. After around 15 minutes of pounding the bark gradually separates from the trunk and comes away as a cylinder.
A fellow villager named Siki explains the technique to tourists in Mandarin. Because the mulberry fiber is so flexible, it can be enlarged and stretched by around a third through pounding.
The well-hammered bark is then cleaned and dried in the sun. Pieces are sewn together to make larger pieces and then clothes can be cut from the fiber.
Shen says it usually takes around two weeks to make one piece of clothing. He once sold clothing to museums to spread the culture of the Amis people. A pieces of clothes, such as a jacket sold for the equivalent of US$130, a hat for a fraction of that.
But he does not sell to tourists.
"Making bark clothes is very time-consuming. If I sell them to visitors, I won't have enough left to exhibit," Shen says.
For 10 years while he was the leader of his tribe, Shen used to think about what he and his generation could give to younger generations of Amis.
"We should try our best to pass on our traditional culture," says Shen.
Though he has taught more than 2,000 people how to make a bark clothes, Shen has not found anyone willing to be his successor.
"People come to learn and try just for fun and that's understandable," he says. "Today factory-made clothes are cheap and you can't commercialize tree bark clothes."
The bright side is that She's workshop has become an important tourism destination. Every day, Shen puts on his homemade bark waistcoat and receives tourists from around the world.
Many are eager to know every detail and tourists ask to have their photos taken with Shen.
Meanwhile, students in local primary and middle school are required to learn the technique and make a hat before they can graduate.
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