Thailand Great Quilt Festival 2014

In addition to the competition quilts, works from Japan and other asian countries were on display.  Anywhere else in the world, we would have had to pay to see all these quilts, but here in Bangkok, it was free!

The following two quilts are from China and have quite a distinctive style to them, which I really liked  The one below is Shanghai Ladies Sewing, by Hongyu Luo.  

Dream of Hometown, by Yan Chen.

Old Furniture Collection, by Jang Mi Sun from Korea.  If you click on the photo, you will see that the centre of each square is embroidered with a piece of furniture.  The white looking sashing is netting and each square is further surrounded by brown netting.

 Another quilt from China, Wealthy Dragon, by Lai Su Mei.

To commemorate Queen Sirikit's 82nd birthday, she featured in quilts throughout the exhibition.  This is a watercolour quilt I think, made up of thousands of tiny squares.

Through the gap is Queen Sirikit by Sasiwimol Sujit.  To the right is part of another Chinese quilt, called Summer Fireworks by Chang Bi En.  I think this is either a kaleidoscope or stack-and-whack quilt (or are those two things the same?).   It is embellished with sequins and crystals.

In the distance is a huge quilt called Our Beloved Queen, by Lakkana Jones.  

One complaint I had with the show was the lighting.  Here is an example of the sort of lighting used in one section, swirling coloured lights, which are far more suited to a fashion show.  It made viewing the quilts quite difficult.  The quilts also seemed to be lit by quite yellow light, which also made photography for me, quite difficult as I didn't know how to offset it.

In January 2013, I went to see an exhibit of Noriko Nozawa's quilts in Bangkok and was absolutely amazed by them.  I was really pleased therefore, to get a chance to see more of her work.  I particularly liked this quilt, Smile Avenue.

 Look at the detail of the quilting.  Each item of clothing was quilted with a different design.

I didn't get the name of the next two quilts, also by Noriko Nozawa.  Although I did not particularly like the subject matter of this quilt, the detail in it was amazing.

This quilt ought to be called something like Many Hands Make Light Work.  Multiple sets of hands creating a quilt.  I loved it!

I hope I am attributing these clothes and the quilt to the right artist, Yoneko Maruya from Japan.  

By far the largest collection of quits (33 in all) were by Japanese quilter Shizuko Kuroha.  If there is one thing that Japanese quilters excel at above everyone else, it is the use of indigo and my goodness, Indigo must have been invented for this artist to work with.

Cosmo II was placed in a blue lit giant booth and the quilt just glowed.

Most of Kuroha's quilts were suspended in a double circle, high above the exhibition floor to give the impression of a blue sky.  The quilts could be viewed from the next floor and it was just a stunning display of artistry.  

 Every quilt was exquisite.

 How could you not admire the beauty of this quilt, what a masterful display of depth.

Of course no quilt show is complete without a marketplace and this one was actually quite big.  Most of the vendors appeared to have come from Japan and the most popular item for sale seemed to be bag kits, bag fabric, their handles etc.  

This stand was run by my favourite Chinatown notions shop on Sampeng Lane, Hong.

I am really impressed with the whole show.  All I can say is well done Wien International, I can't wait for the next one!