Product Story

Hmong batik is one of the oldest textile art forms in the world.

Over a thousand years ago, the Hmong woman started painting with hot melting wax on the fabric before putting them in indigo dye and removing the wax afterward. This wax-resist dyeing technique offers immense possibilities for artistic freedom as patterns are applied by actual drawing.

Hmong people do not have their own written language. In the centuries of solitude and illiteracy, the Hmong expressed their way of living, emotions, feelings, legends, and history through their textile art. It became a kind of visual art that can be read, and such poetic visual language blurred the traditional boundaries between literature and art.

Pattern Description

The octagram worship of Hmong originates from the "High Temple" culture, where it is the seal of Chiyou, the legendary ancestor of the Hmong.
The crosses, dividing the picture in grids, come from city blocks while filled by connected curly grass symbolizing peace and unity.

Who Made Your Product

We are proud to present to you our artisans: they are the best painters as well as wonderful, inspiring women, farmers, and humans. They deserve to have their stories told.

Yaogou, 46

"Hahaha..."

"Financial independence" is not what Yaogou or most Hmong women are after, but the school fees for her three children and the tiles to fix the roof, all come from her batik works. Sadly, they are very often the provider AND the housekeeper. But it's barely enough.

Last winter in 2020, Yaogou came to me in private and asked if I had any orders for her: she needed to buy rice and oil. At that moment, I realized that WOTOWOW's mission is not an empty phrase on a scrap of paper.

She never went to school and can't speak Mandarin, but the communication and connection between us is simple: sincere and very loud laughter.

Product Details

• Size:   45cm × 45cm | 18“ × 18“
• Fiber: 100% cotton
• Dyes:  Indigo
• Made by: Yaogou
• Due to the nature of handcrafted goods, slight variations are embraced