Spring Dawn

This design is inspired on the beautiful poem ‘Spring Dawn’ (Chūnxiǎo), by the Chinese poet Mèng Hàorán of the Tang dynasty:

How suddenly the morning comes in Spring
On every side you hear the sweet birds sing
Last night amidst the storm - Ah, who can tell
With wind and rain, how many blossoms fell?

The fabric has been created by hand-dying silk chiffon fabric golden yellow—a traditional color of imperial China—and then ‘felting’ it with merino wool, bamboo fibers, mulberry silk fibers, and sari silk. The different colours of the soft merino wool and fibers remind us of spring: yellows and greens, with small touches of red, pink, blue and orange. The combination of these wool fibers with the bamboo and mulberry fibers and sari silk, give the fabric a special luminosity, creating the illusion of a field of flowers, on which the sun's rays reflect after a storm. The many ruffles on the dress create movement in the piece, reminding us of the spring wind blowing on the leaves and flowers.