Over the past two days I have sent my research questions to two experts seeking their views and opinions and I wanted to know if my research questions were a clear indication of the changes I wanted to see and the problems I wanted to solve. These two experts are an embroidery researcher at the Hunan Museum and an owner in the embroidery industry.
Based on the feedback from these two experts, they said it was difficult to catch what I was trying to say when they saw my research questions. Not sure what I was asking.
This researcher indicated that she did not know how to understand that enhancing the value of the craft in China. According to her understanding, creative exploration is equivalent to innovation, but the essence of innovation is to preserve the essence of these traditional crafts before innovating. For example, the essence and characteristics of Hunan embroidery is the Mao stitch, if this characteristic innovation is lost then it will lose its meaning. In other words, it is important to keep the tradition and break the mould.
She says that now in China, many of the younger generation of embroidery inheritors are instead helping to destroy the best part of this traditional craft – the stitich. For example, the flat stitch is the most common stitch in all traditional Chinese embroidery, but many inheritors of Xiang, Su and Sichuan embroidery now use it to represent their own embroidery, which is clearly a loss of the unique character of their own embroidery. How can you talk about innovation when the essence is not captured by the inheritors? How can you say you have inherited it?
Through this exchange I also learnt about innovative ideas for the development of traditional techniques such as embroidery, including the fact that the inheritors of these traditional embroidery have not learnt and understood the essence and nature of embroidery from different regions (stitching) very well.
She also suggested that my research question might contain two issues: firstly, how creative exploration can enhance the status and profile of embroidery craftsmen, and secondly, how their enhanced profile and status can lead to the development of embroidery heritage in China.
However, I took into account the the development of this whole industry, and not singularly to the practitioner. After our exchanges and discussions, my research question was again established: How can the creative exploration in traditional Chinese embroidery help the industry find creative approachs that keeps up with the times and promote the diversification of its traditional craft values in China?
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