TEXTILES FOR THIS WORLD AND BEYOND

This sumptuous book, published to accompany the exhibition at the Textile Museum, Washington DC in Spring 2005, presents a fascinating overview of the use of cloth, its function in society and the messages contained within colour, pattern and technique. Encompassing Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Indonesian and Malaysian societies, it describes how each share a common heritage by their extraordinary sense of the power of cloth. Before cloth and cloth patterning became solely an aspect of commercial transactions, these societies gave textiles a significance that empowered them to enter all aspects of life, whether as a sign of benevolence from the gods to a ruler, a supreme honour to the dead, symbols of contractual alliances and obligation or as items of beauty and conceit. Within the South East Asian continent, the fine details of textile construction and usage weave an historical record of these societies and this beautifully designed and informative book reveals this legacy in a succinct and fascinating way.