The Lotus Flower: A Textile Hidden in the Water
Loro Piana and Bruna Rotunno
Emotional photographs from the Far East to discover a product of excellence. The latest textile treasure discovered by Loro Piana grows in the waters of Inle Lake in eastern Myanmar: the fibre of the lotus flower. This extraordinary raw material of vegetable origin is obtained from the aquatic plant that was sacred to the Buddha. The Intha people, “children of the lake”, use ancient techniques passed down across generations to work the fibres into a very fine thread exclusively by hand. In six chapters of photographs, the volume leads the reader through the magic hills of the Shan plateau and among lake pile-dwellings, where the slow rhythm of a timeless existence in total harmony with nature is measured out in the harvesting of the lotus, the catching of fish and the cultivation of fruits and vegetables in floating gardens. Every year during the rainy season, the Intha harvest the stems of the lotus flower and extract the fibres that will be spun into thread, just over a hundred grams in a full day’s work, performed according to the slow rhythm of tradition, which now may become a source of livelihood for future populations as well.
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