ຜ້າດຳ ໄທດຳ (Pha Dam Tai Dam)
Tai Dam (Black Tai) textile weaving is the silk and cotton weaving tradition of the Tai Dam people — one of several Tai sub-groups who settled in the highland valleys of northern Laos and northwestern Vietnam. The Tai Dam tradition is distinguished by its all-black ground cloth (achieved through repeated indigo overdyeing and iron mud mordanting) and its supplementary weft (jok) pattern in white, red, or gold thread that produces geometric diamond and chevron patterns against the black ground. The black ground is the defining identity textile of the Tai Dam — it gives them their name (Dam = black) — and the overdyeing process to achieve the dense, flat black is the most technically demanding element: the cloth must be dipped in indigo 10–20 times, then treated with iron-rich mud from specific stream beds, then re-dipped in indigo — and this cycle repeated until the target black is achieved.
Risk level: Endangered · Not separately inscribed
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