Keeping Ikat Silk Dyeing Alive in Cambodia

摘要

A specialist silk organisation is working to keep the traditional process of Cambodian ikat silk dyeing alive. It involves yarns being tied into segments and dyed separately - using all natural dyes - before hand-weaving these into patterned fabric. The process, said Seila Polham, the founder of Khmer Artisanry, is 'complicated and time-consuming' - but it is what sets this traditional segment of textiles in Cambodia apart from machine-produced chemical dyed silk widely available in the market.