Attracting young people with its art forms and a series of vivid and engaging experiential activities, the GenZ ZènG weaving project – From Weaving Threads to Digital Traces – by a group of GenZ students majoring in multimedia communication management at FPT University Ho Chi Minh City, combines the patterns on traditional Ta Oi brocade fabrics woven in Zèng with modern design aesthetics, implemented on a bitmap and pixel art platform.
"Weaving" zèng on a digital platform.
Digitizing cultural heritage is a growing trend among young people to spread the beauty of national culture. Regarding the selection of patterns and motifs from the Ta Oi ethnic group's zeng fabric for digitization, project leader Dao Khanh Linh shared: "As young people, we see that our peers are increasingly integrating into modern life while forgetting traditional values."
Therefore, my friends Lai Thi Dieu Thuy, Dang Thi Thanh Hoa, and Nguyen Tran Thien Thanh, along with me, are applying technology to bring culture closer to young people. With this project, we hope to erase the invisible boundary between the traditional zèng weaving patterns and modern design, as well as the spatial distance, spreading each stitch to our peers and helping the beautiful values of zèng weaving become more prevalent in the digital age.
Furthermore, it is hoped that the GenZ ZènG weaving project will contribute to raising awareness among young people about heritage preservation, and encourage the younger generation to learn and research the brocade weaving culture of the Ta Oi people in particular and Vietnamese culture in general.”
After numerous field trips to A Ngo and A Dot communes in A Luoi district, meeting with Ta Oi women who still weave zèng fabric, the young team received enthusiastic support from the local people. Touching, seeing, and being captivated by the eye-catching colors, patterns, and delicate weaving techniques of the zèng fabric, the project team gained a deeper understanding of this centuries-old craft. Each story about zèng is a testament to authentic life, deeply rooted in culture, reflected in every bead and every soft thread.
Zèng weaving is one of the unique traditional weaving techniques in the Vietnamese brocade weaving system, requiring high skill, meticulousness, and precision. To weave a zèng fabric, the weaver must simultaneously weave the pattern, insert beads, and thread the yarn without any prior design.
During their field trips, the team observed and documented the weaving process, exploring how colors were combined to create patterns from warp and weft threads, as well as the logic behind the art of weaving. Achoa Pâl Luuch is the oldest thread pattern, used to separate bead patterns and boasting the most beautiful color palette.
The Mat Ku Boal pattern, with its majestic beauty, is believed to represent the eyes of the gods worshipped by the Ta Oi people, who hope for their protection and guidance. During the analysis, research, and digitization process, the team chose a bitmap style to transform the pattern into a grid of small square pixels, which works well on monochrome bead patterns and is easily applicable in contemporary media publications.
Creating culture the "Gen Z" way.
During their fieldwork, the project team observed that many young Ta Oi people had left their hometowns to work in big cities. Therefore, when the villagers saw the student group carrying out the project, they were very excited because they understood the project's goals. They enthusiastically helped the team learn about the craft, and also expressed their hope that the young people would help spread the values of the Zèng craft more widely.
Mr. Ra Pat Ngoc Ha, from A Dot village, Lam Dot commune, A Luoi district, said that young people are the ones who will inherit and contribute to the development of the weaving craft, so he hopes that the craft will spread widely to young people. Ms. A Ko Pi Nghe, a Ta Oi woman and member of the Ethnicity group, a pioneering community project in digitizing traditional brocade patterns, who supports and advises the GenZ group on ZènG weaving, shared: “Zèng weaving is a part of the life of the Ta Oi people, so I want to bring the pride of my ethnic group, the unique characteristics of our traditional culture, to connect with young people to share and promote this unique brocade.”
Acting as a bridge between culture and digital technology, the website and fanpage of the "GenZ Weaving ZènG" project have actively shared information about the traditional brocade weaving culture of the Ta Oi people. To increase awareness and attract the attention of young people, the posts are interspersed with trending, interesting, and engaging content, without losing the value of cultural identity.
The series of stories "Once Upon a Time" and "GenZ Describing ZènG, from A to Z" provides information gathered from field trips to A Lưới district, stories about the people and land, beliefs, customs, etc., so that people can explore the weaving craft through digital platforms. Once the patterns are successfully digitized, the group uploads the original digitized patterns and images of the "woven" patterns to the GenZ ZènG weaving digital library. This is a treasure trove of diverse digitized information about Zèng patterns and designs.
In the future, contemporary designers will launch products featuring digitized Zèng brocade patterns and develop modern designs, aiming to convey messages through their products and spread the traditional beauty of Vietnam's intangible cultural heritage.
To highlight the practical application of digitized patterns and convey the project's message more effectively, the group will release a music video titled "Weaving the Path for You to Return" in rap style combined with vocals, a genre currently popular with Gen Z; and organize a workshop called "Zèng Digital Traces" to help young people better understand the process of digitizing ethnic patterns through interactive activities and hands-on experiences.
Furthermore, the digital exhibition "Exploring Zèng Patterns" through the lens of digital technology showcases digitized Zèng weaving patterns, developed and incorporated into illustrative products in various forms. To further spread awareness and promote the preservation of Zèng weaving culture, the project continues with an online Digital Creative Camp and the completion of a documentary film chronicling the journey of young people in preserving and spreading the Zèng weaving craft.
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