Following the patterns of history
A thread that binds generations of Suzhou craftswomen continues to weave ever beautiful designs, Deng Zhangyu reports.
The usual subjects of Su embroidery include landscapes, calligraphy, flowers, birds and insects, cats, and Buddhist deities. Fu, born in a village in a mountainous area, where flowers can be seen all year round, is good at creating flower-themed works.
To produce vivid flowers, Fu goes outside to observe her subject closely, but most of her time is spent at her studio, where she can sit down and stitch for hours, sometimes getting so engrossed she forgets to eat and sleep.
To re-create the colors of the flowers, she must stitch the key parts of her pictures during the day, because natural light is important for creating Su embroidery due to the abundant colors. For a single color, like blue, Fu has to dye dozens of shades of blue. Different parts of a flower also need threads of various thickness.
"Behind the beauty of Su embroidery are lots of intricate processes. The charm of the art is its highly flexible and innovative use of stitching techniques," says Fu.
Thanks to the development of the craft, the number of Su embroidery techniques has risen from about 10 initially, to dozens today.
Fu says her work cannot be replaced by machines or AI, because of creativity and innovation it requires. The charm of Su embroidery is the trace of a human touch.
