© Penelope Gan – All Rights Reserved – Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre (TRSHC), Darjeeling, INDIA
In Tibet, tailoring is a fine art and often divided into four areas: appliqué, fashion design, tent making and accessories and toys.
The finest tailoring would be that done by the appliqué artists is the making of silk thangkas. Constructed with hundreds of hand-cut pieces of silk and brocade, and embroidered with thread and hairs from a horse’s tail, these elaborate creations may take months of work depending on the intricacy and size that ranges from the standard two feet to the sixteen storey kyigus which were hung down the front of monastery buildings during religious festivals.
Stuffed toys on the other hand are crafted for the fun of children and the enjoyment of collectors, often taking the forms of yaks, black and brown bears, marmots, and the famous and much loved dogs: the Apso and the Tibetan mastiff. These toys are often dressed in traditional Tibetan costumes, representing aristocratic bears and nomadic yaks.
However when stitches is resorted to at the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre, it centers around practical needs: the production of apparels and tents, with the latter mostly taking on the form of functional door curtains to keep the cold and draft out.
Some artisans are found making shoes, both for sale and use, as well as stuffed toys for sale in the modest tourist shop at the Tibetan Refugee Self Help Centre.