Bhutan's Economy Land of weaving and textiles The origin of textiles is rather vague Bhutan Information Tourist Destinations in Bhutan Bhutan Videos

Centuries old, vibrant, ongoing, ever changing and popular - textiles are Bhutan's new national emblem. The weaving and textile emblem has today come to symbolize Bhutan in the eyes of the world. People see Bhutan's history, religion, culture, and indeed its entire way of life woven into the warp and weft of its rich, diverse and distinct fabrics. Western textile lovers and experts are even lyrical about the country's textile heritage and weaving tradition. For some, it is "a craft with no equal" in the world. Others think it is "one of the last great Asian textile art traditions". Francoise Pommaret, a French anthropologist who is a Bhutan specialist, says in a paper on Bhutanese textiles that there might not be any country in the world "where weaving has so much relevance to the understanding of a society".

She adds that far from being "a thing of the past", fabrics in Bhutan today have multiple functions. "These functions give to a traditional craft an astonishing dynamism which is lost in most of the countries where ethnic fabrics are manufactured for the tourist trade and have no or little relevance in their own society."

According to Francoise Pommaret, the market for traditional fabrics is created by a combination of mainly three factors: the development of the tourism industry; the emergence of an urbanized bourgeoisie linked to the development of the civil administration and private business; and the government policy promoting Bhutanese cultural identity.

Long ago, as with all early societies, the Bhutanese wove to clad themselves. Much later, in an age of barter, textiles served as a currency. The Bhutanese bought commodities from neighbouring countries using textiles. Bhutan even presented textiles and fabrics as gifts to friendly countries, especially its northern neighbour, Tibet.

Until the 1950s, before the monetised economy, fabrics were paid as tax to the state. A paper by American curator Diana K. Myers, notes that half a dozen kinds of fabrics were used as tax payments. Some were redistributed as state payments to officers and common labourers. Fabrics were also offered to officials in return for favours. Today, panels of cloth are essential gifts at weddings, promotions and other social and official occasions.

Textiles are not only symbols of wealth, but also of social status. The Bhutanese place a high premium on textiles. So much so that people's worth are often assessed based on the clothes they wear. Today there are sesho (silk) ghos and kiras that sell upwards of Nu. 50,000. A young civil servant says: "It is not the gho or kira, but the associations and attributions to it that matter." With philosophies like this, little wonder then that Kezang Lhundrup (one of Bhutan's few men weavers) presently designing a sesho gho, thinks it will easily fetch Nu. 80,000. In the old days, textiles with intricate and elaborate designs were woven for and used or worn only by noble families. The nobility measured their wealth and status based on their textile possessions. They competed with each other to come up with the best designs and patterns and the finest weaves. These were kept as family heirlooms. The trend continues to this day.

Textiles are also looked upon as an investment and treated as disposable assets, like gold or land for instance. Westerners often point out that Bhutanese trade fabrics and dresses like people elsewhere trade stocks. From purely its primary utilitarian purposes in the beginning and domestic and ceremonial uses later, textiles today have become an income-generating industry.

Textile products serve as souvenir items for tourists. Handicraft stores and showrooms have mushroomed all over the country. With the initiation of planned modern development and monetization of the Bhutanese society, new utility and demands for textiles are emerging. The Bhutanese are becoming an increasingly fashion mindful and conscious lot. They want larger, better and more chic wardrobes. The use of traditional fabrics is becoming diversified.

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