Reimagining Xiabu

A brief set by the China Design Centre to reimagine a traditional woven cloth using traditional techniques. ‘Xia’ means summer - a reference to the connection Xiabu cloth has with nature and the seasons. I have always been interested in Chinese philosophy, in particular, theories relating to the elements and nature so I wanted my exploration and reinvention of Xiabu to reflect it’s rich cultural history and relationship to nature. This directed my research toward the I Ching or Yi Jing ‘book of changes’, an ancient Chinese divination text. Yi simply means ‘change’ and the I Ching is based on the patterns of the world. Like Xiabu, it also has a lot of history and predates written texts. It seemed appropriate when reimagining Xiabu, to reference something that is a part of Chinese history but alludes to change. Each woven fabric sample is based on a hexagram from the I Ching. All of the colours used reference the elements used in the I Ching – Wind, fire, earth, lake, heaven, water, mountain and thunder.