tassel – Morrison Polkinghorne

dried lotus, silk embellishments & hand forged nails

There are myriad reasons why I find a special of joy in living and working in Battambang, a city known for its creativity, musicians, artists and craftsmen. Here are some examples:

Dried Lotus:

Everyday we go to the market and buy a bunch of closed lotus flowers. We then fold the pedals back to reveal the flower, and when they die we just let them dry and hang them in our Boutique. Their colours become a subdued ashes to rose hue. We’re slowly instructing our staff to appreciate the exquisite beauty of natural transition.

Silk Embellishment:

For many years Passementeries (R) has been making similar embellishments, from hi-grade mercerised cotton, available in hundreds of colours. These are then attached to the sides of tassels, or spaced along bullion fringe. I’m excited by this development, and seeking a quality Khmer or Thai silk suppler, instead of relying on Chinese imports. This is the first embellishment made from silk threads.

Hand Forged Nails:

I commissioned these artisanal nails, the originals fossicked a few years back at a small northern Vietnamese market along the Sino border. They were reminiscent of Medieval European studs, and my Sydney designer clients almost immediately bought out my original supply. Depleted, but we wanted to decoratively hang paintings in our new home in Battambang. We worked with our local black smith to recreate these nails. Now we have a large supply, and in three lengths. Custom sizes are also available.

Massive Jute Tassels for Rangoon

I have always loved natural fibres such as jute, linen, sisal, cottons and silks and when I started making tassels three decades ago they were orignally made from these same rustic materials. My latest overseas commission project is for over-sized tassels, ropes and large light shades for a faithfully restored Edwardian commercial building in downtown Rangoon,Yangon. Can’t wait to see the actual installation going in next week!

I was designing a new tassel, first by commissioning a local blacksmith to make the metal head of the tassel. But the design needs to be oversized, plus painted red and white to incorporate the logo colours of the client. The rope was exhausting to make.

Thankfully I had a new staff member, Mr Channa, who was a god-send. I taught him how to make rope using by Captain Cook rope twister installed on our roof, and he excelled in twisting the threads.

When I teach a workshop, I have people make a thin simple cord about a few millimetres thick (fraction of an inch) and that takes just a few minutes to make. By contrast, this 14 metre/18 yard rope weighs in at 20kg, is about 10 cm/4 inch diameter and took 4 hours to pull out all the threads and an entire day to complete one rope. We needed to make four ropes for the job.

Here, Miss Channa (no relation) is carefully trimming the tassels, while painstakingly attaching decorative embellished cable cords.

Now they are all completed and hanging in Bric-à-Brac Battambang, waiting to be installed next week in Myanmar. So for 2 days only, we’re having our own art installation hanging from our 3 storey atrium.