We are delighted to invite you to a talk and presentation by Carol Cassidy, acclaimed weaver, silk expert and founder of Lao Textiles, a social enterprise in Vientiane, Laos.

Carol has an extraordinary CV living a creative, dynamic, cross-cultural life as well as founding and managing an ethical business employing skilled artisans. An outstanding textile artist in her own right, she has been living in Laos since 1989 and working with weavers in Vientiane and beyond. Lao Textiles has collaborated with retail spaces, galleries and fashion houses around the world and also creates for architectural projects. Carol is currently working on the first ever Laos National Textile Exhibition, being undertaken for ASEAN.

Carol is a warm and engaging person, a great raconteur with many fabulous stories who has been living in a fascinating part of the textile world. Happily for us, Carol's daughter has been studying at CDU so she's visiting our neck of the woods in late September and we locked her in for a talk. She will be bringing samples.

It's an absolute privilege to be able to host this event.

Event details

Songlines is open from 10 am on Saturday.

Come earlier if you'd like to browse/chat with other textile aficionados. A

3.30 - nibbles and mingling

4 - talk begins

fter the presentation there will be plenty of time for questions with Carol.

As usual - please bring a cushion or chair if you'd like a bit more comfort. We only have bench seats.

Ticket proceeds will go to support Lao Textiles.

Carol Cassidy

American Carol Cassidy has been weaving since she was 17 years old. Having worked in virtually every continent from America to Africa, she arrived in Laos in 1989, as a textile expert with the United Nations Development Programme. In Laos Carol discovered a "weaver's paradise": a country with a rich history of weaving and an elaborate vocabulary of design motifs. A year later, she started Lao Textiles, among the first commercial weaving workshops in Laos.

Carol and Mr Aout 1990 — Lao Textiles studio, Vientiane. 1990. Still weaving and designing with Mr Aout 34 years later!

The workshop, studio and gallery creates woven art. Specialising in 100 percent hand-woven silk, Carol and the 40 Lao artisans she employs produce exquisitely crafted wall hangings, scarves, shawls and custom furnishing fabrics. Carol's pieces are displayed in galleries and museums throughout the Unites States: The Textile Museum in Washington, DC, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and The Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. The workshop also works with renowned fashion designers on bespoke projects.

Carol in Pakse — Carol with woven sticky rice basket Pakse/Champasak

Lao Textiles is located in a refurbished French colonial mansion three blocks from the Mekong River in downtown Vientiane, the capital of Laos.

There, Carol blends her own artistry with ancient local techniques and traditions to create contemporary woven art. The team of predominantly female weavers use hybrid looms, which Carol designed herself, to produce intricate brocade, ikat and tapestry textiles. The hand-crafted pieces are labours of love. Wall hangings often take four months to complete; on the most complex designs only two centimeters are woven per day.

Lao Textiles Video