On the southern slope of the Ge’Nyen Massif, the Tibetan village of Zeba is located in one of the very few inhabited protected ecological zones of China. In the remote area economic opportunities are sparse and most local families lead a nomadic lifestyle.
Rug and homeware company Chaccra comprises an international team of creatives who design collections that are inspired by ‘Nepalese culture and spiritualism’. For its latest project, which began in 2021, the company started to work with the head of the Zeba village to help local women form a weaving workshop with the goal of providing education and sustainable income for local women and their families.
Another of aim of the project was to preserve cultural heritage of the area so the production of the rugs combines the local Nire weaving technique (used for Tibetan blankets) with flat-weave rug making. The seasonal rhythms of the women in the community dictate the weaving process so as not to interfere with traditional routines.
Ten local women participated in the workshop, which produced the unique Solfeggio Frequency Tibetan Nire handwoven rug using un-dyed natural Himalayan wool. As Sharon Shi from Chaccra explains: ‘the name of the project, Solfeggio Frequency, comes from the rug’s pattern which symbolises the seven solfeggio frequencies that align with the seven chakras’.
The rug design was launched in Shanghai’s French Concession on 16 January 2022, part of a week-long exhibition that aimed to gather funds for materials and machinery to develop the women crafts workshop even further.
