Threads from the Mountains of Southwest China

China is home to many ethnic groups. In the southwest, one of them has carried its culture through many centuries and kept it alive to this day. We came to this place by chance, and what we found there changed the way we think about jewelry.

A History Told in Thread

I lived here for a year, hoping to understand how the Miao people live and what they hold dear. I searched through their history, but written accounts are surprisingly brief. Instead, I found that their story lives elsewhere: in songs, in festivals, in customs, and above all in embroidery. Patterns stitched onto cloth carry memories of nature, family and community from one generation to the next.

Homes Shaped by the Mountains

The Miao people of Guizhou live in a land of steep mountains, frequent rain and high humidity. Their traditional villages show how closely life here follows nature. Timber houses stand on mountain slopes, often raised on stilts, with wooden frames and tiled roofs. Entire villages are laid out to suit the hillsides and river valleys.

The Grandmothers Who Embroider

Living there, I discovered something truly special. Each morning, once the grandmothers have washed and finished their household tasks, they sit down to embroider.

China has many embroidery traditions, and Suzhou embroidery, for example, is celebrated for its fine detail. What stayed with me about Miao embroidery is the women who make it. For them, embroidery is both a skill and a job, and they love it. Every time I visited, they had new patterns to show me. They blend designs passed down through generations with what they see around them today, so each pattern is a conversation between past and present.

Why We Began

Every piece we make is our way of carrying those stitches, and the people behind them, a little further.