The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Royal Textile Academy (RTA) and the Textile Museum under the Department of Culture collaborated to organize an exhibition on trima, discontinuous weft pattern which is a highly sophisticated technique required to produce an extremely intricate and elaborate motifs while weaving.
Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuk officially inaugurated the event on 31st August Thursday and the exhibition will be open to the public for next nine months at the Royal Textile Academy.
Karma Deki Tshering, who is a curator at the academy, explained that trima literally means coiling the warp. “Trima pattern is unique to Bhutan and has often drawn the attention of textile enthusiasts and connoisseurs across the world, but it is often mistaken for embroidery,” said Karma Deki. She also added that the main objective of the exhibition is to preserve and promote the age-old tradition of weaving and to celebrate the intricate technique of weaving the trima designs.
The exhibition displays some of the well recognized works from the annual National Design Competition organized by the academy in collaboration with the Textile Museum and aims to celebrate the works on trima by the academy’s highly skilled modern weavers. The exhibition this year is defined by four themes on the unique Bhutanese textile, namely Kushung, Kushuthara, Ngosham and Pesar.
A description placard at the exhibition centre provides an insight on the origination of weaving culture in Bhutan. “According to oral traditions, it is believed that the Chinese Princess Wencheng, popularly known as Ashi Jyazum is said to have introduced the art of weaving on a back-strap loom in Bhutan during the seventh century,” it reads.
“The exhibition on trima, which is one of the complicated motifs of the Bhutanese textile and well known to the many skilled weavers, is especially being exhibited to promote such designs in the country. Since the trima designs are very difficult and time consuming, most of the weavers tend to go for the easier motifs and we have a fear that in the long run such designs might vanish, so it is basically to revitalize their importance and celebrate such distinctive its distinctiveness.
One of the weavers at the academy said that the trima patterns consumes a lot of time to complete because unlike the other patterns, trima is a discontinuous weft pattern where weft yarns are needed to be entwined around the warp yarns separately time and again.
The Royal Textile Academy and the Textile Museum are under the Royal Patronage of Her Majesty Gyalyum Sangay Choden Wangchuk.
