Taiwan embroiderer sees boom for her specialist craft

Tag : Spangle Embroidery
Embroidery may seem like an oldfashioned hobby but Chang Mei-yun, a world master of the craft,says demand is growing for skills that can restore antique textilesto their former glory.
In her quest to become the master embroiderer she is today, Changcriss-crossed the globe studying needlework in all its guises,learning some 1,587 stitching techniques along the way.
Her dedication elevated her into the elite ranks of the handful ofembroiderers with the expertise needed to restore embroideredantiques.
"I sometimes relied on word of mouth to learn a special techniqueand often exchanged my skills to learn it," said Chang, director ofthe embroidery R&D centre at Tainan University of Technology insouthern Taiwan.
Slim and bespectacled, Chang says she once even travelled fornearly a day to reach a remote Turkish monastery, which had notreceived visitors in three decades, to pick up a traditionalstitching pattern.
Now 56, Chang started learning needlecraft as a teenager and laterhoned her skills in Japan, where she became the first and onlyTaiwanese certified by the Japanese cultural authorities for therestoration of embroidery artifacts.
The experience in Japan led her to join a project in thethen-Soviet Union where she stayed on and off for nine yearshelping restore imperial embroidery in the Kremlin -- despite thelack of diplomatic and civil exchanges between Taipei and Moscowduring the Cold War.
Moscow recognises China over Taiwan but has a trade office inTaipei to handle civil and tourism affairs.
"The Russians were very respectful and protective of art items.They welcomed a helping hand from those who shared their concept,"Chang said.
"I was very fortunate to see the embroidery artifacts from theEastern Roman Empire and learned to restore them."
Today Chang's clients include local and foreign museums and privatecollectors, and has reportedly been asked by the National Museum ofAmerican History in Washington to mend a nearly 200-year-old StarSpangled Banner.
Chang declined to comment on the reports citing clientconfidentiality, although she did say she plans to visit the US andItaly soon for research.
She sees good potential in embroidery restoration amid growingawareness of cultural and historical conservation.
In Taiwan, for example, some 20,000 antique embroidery items heldby museums are pending restoration while private collectors havepurchased tens of millions of US dollars worth of vintageembroidery from Europe which also requires attention, Chang said.
China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s also left a vast amount ofembroidered artifacts damaged, she said.
Launched by communist leader Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolutionsaw millions of "red guards" destroy objects deemed symbols offeudalism, including artworks and religious relics.
Tainan University's embroidery centre, which Chang heads, wasfounded in 2000 and currently has 145 students, and she says thatapplications are steadily increasing as the craft becomes morepopular.
The cost of restoring an antique embroidery can go up to severalmillion Taiwan dollars depending on the extent of the damage, Changsaid.
"Restoring an antique embroidery is a delicate work of precision aswe have to repair it while retaining its ancient look."
The process, including assessing the damage, analysing thematerials, treating the threads and mending, takes an average ofthree to four months.
Chang, a devout Christian, said she had found peace of mind in herembroidery during a long recovery from thyroid cancer almost adecade ago.
"Embroidering helped me find inner peace and faith when doctorsalmost gave up on me," she said.