Taiwanese embroider Chang Mei-yun
© AFP/File Amber Wang TAINAN, Taiwan (AFP) - In her quest to become the master embroiderer she is today, Chang criss-crossed the globe studying needlework in all its guises, learning some 1,587 stitching techniques along the way.
Her dedication elevated her into the elite ranks of the handful of embroiderers with the expertise needed to restore embroidered antiques.
"I sometimes relied on word of mouth to learn a special technique and often exchanged my skills to learn it," said Chang, director of the embroidery R&D centre at Tainan University of Technology in southern Taiwan.
Slim and bespectacled, Chang says she once even travelled for nearly a day to reach a remote Turkish monastery, which had not received visitors in three decades, to pick up a traditional stitching pattern.
Now 56, Chang started learning needlecraft as a teenager and later honed her skills in Japan, where she became the first and only Taiwanese certified by the Japanese cultural authorities for the restoration of embroidery artifacts.
The experience in Japan led her to join a project in the then-Soviet Union where she stayed on and off for nine years helping restore imperial embroidery in the Kremlin -- despite the lack of diplomatic and civil exchanges between Taipei and Moscow during the Cold War.
Moscow recognises China over Taiwan but has a trade office in Taipei to handle civil and tourism affairs.
"The Russians were very respectful and protective of art items. They welcomed a helping hand from those who shared their concept," Chang said.
"I was very fortunate to see the embroidery artifacts from the Eastern Roman Empire and learned to restore them."
Today Chang's clients include local and foreign museums and private collectors, and has reportedly been asked by the National Museum of American History in Washington to mend a nearly 200-year-old Star Spangled Banner.
A banner stitched with gold thread
© AFP/File Amber WangChang declined to comment on the reports citing client confidentiality, although she did say she plans to visit the US and Italy soon for research.
She sees good potential in embroidery restoration amid growing awareness of cultural and historical conservation.
In Taiwan, for example, some 20,000 antique embroidery items held by museums are pending restoration while private collectors have purchased tens of millions of US dollars worth of vintage embroidery from Europe which also requires attention, Chang said.
China's Cultural Revolution of the 1960s also left a vast amount of embroidered artifacts damaged, she said.
Launched by communist leader Mao Zedong, the Cultural Revolution saw millions of "red guards" destroy objects deemed symbols of feudalism, including artworks and religious relics.
Tainan University's embroidery centre, which Chang heads, was founded in 2000 and currently has 145 students, and she says that applications are steadily increasing as the craft becomes more popular.
The cost of restoring an antique embroidery can go up to several million Taiwan dollars depending on the extent of the damage, Chang said.
"Restoring an antique embroidery is a delicate work of precision as we have to repair it while retaining its ancient look."
The process, including assessing the damage, analysing the materials, treating the threads and mending, takes an average of three to four months.
Chang, a devout Christian, said she had found peace of mind in her embroidery during a long recovery from thyroid cancer almost a decade ago.
"Embroidering helped me find inner peace and faith when doctors almost gave up on me," she said.
©AFP