N.Z. WOOL FAMILIAR; HA VE NOW SEEN SHEEP

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30587, 2 November 1964, Page 2

N.Z. WOOL FAMILIAR; HA VE NOW SEEN SHEEP

Although they have seen New Zealand sheep grazing on their home pastures for the first time recently, two young Chinese women who arrived in Christchurch yesterday have long been familiar with New Zealand wool.

They are both weavers of hand-made carpets in a Hong Kong factory, and New Zealand wool is preferred there for the velvety bloom it imparts in the finished carpets, they said.

Mrs Joan Wong, mother of four young children, and Miss Sandra Wai-Ha-Ma, have been in New Zealand for six weeks so far, giving demonstrations of their art in various centres.

They win spend another two weeks here before leaving for Australia on their way home.

“So far we have woven three rugs, during our demonstrations here,” Mrs Wong said last evening. These had all been rugs featuring classical Chinese designs, she said, but at the Taiping factory, rugs and carpets were made in every kind of design and colouring, to specifications of clients all over the world.

Besides being a weaver, Mrs Wong is also a colour expert and does some designing. “Decorators will give me an idea, and I work them out,” she said. Before becoming a weaver she studied art, and still, in her spare time, she enjoys painting in oils. “I have managed to do two, in the North Island, since we came to New Zealand,” she said. Mrs Wong displayed the “needle” used to insert the

wool tufts into the pile of hand-made carpets. “Handwoven carpets are much heavier than machine woven ones,” she said. Sometimes the pile is up to one inch thick; the various motifs are then “carved” to bring the patterns up into relief. Carpets for such places as Windsor Castle, the Royal Thai Government Palace, the Ritz Hotel, London, and ftther famous places have been made at the factory since it began

operations nine years ago. “Nearly 1000 people work there,” said Miss Wai-Ha-Ma, who has been a maker of handmade carpets for five years, and has previously been on a demonstration tour of Europe. A small rug takes three girls about a week to complete. For a large carpet, several teams may go to work on it One, made for a Thai Palace, took 100 people a month to weave, with the

work continuing day and night All but about 200 workers, at the factory are women but the women are not permitted to work at night It'takes about six months to train a weaver so that her stitches are even, and she is able ot work motifs such as leaves and flowers. Girls in teams of three usually work! on weaving jobs. Carpets are frequently custom made, and after a client has said what he requires, a painting of a suggested design might be sent first for approval. The factory’s art department then enlarges a section of design and a stencil is made from It for printing on to the canvas hacking. Travelling with the women is Mrs Lorna Fraser, of Wellington. The pair have come to New Zealand under the sponsorship of Felt and Textiles (N.Z.) Ltd., who made arrangements with the Hong Kong Carpet Company for them to be released for the tour.

They will visit a carpet factory while in Christchurch, and will give a public demonstration of their skill. Yesterday was a holiday for them and they were taken sightseeing to Arthur’s Pass.