Black and orange silk for a wardrobe that loves black.
A lotus from Hanoi, glowing at the collar.
Black is where most wardrobes live, and it is where this square feels most at home: the black ground belongs to the outfit, and the orange lotus glows through it like embers, so the look reads as finished more than accessorized. Knot it at the neck of a black coat, or tie it back as a silk head scarf on a gray morning, and the whole outfit warms.
Twenty-six inches of mulberry silk at sixteen momme, printed by hand in Hanoi with a lotus drawn from the stonework of the imperial citadel, every edge rolled by hand.
16 Momme
5A Grade
2 Sides printed
We pay the import duty, not you.
Nothing owed on arrival, nothing added at checkout. Shipping is $20, free from $90. Sent from Hanoi, most US orders land in 9 to 15 business days.
Buying this for someone else? Two things before you read any further: it ships from Hanoi, so allow 9 to 15 business days to a US address, and it arrives gift boxed with your note written by hand and no price anywhere in the parcel.
Four ways she will wear it
The neck knot Fold it to a triangle, roll it, wrap once and slide a loose knot off center; over black or charcoal it completes the outfit, and it is the fold this colorway was made for.
The headband Folded corner to corner, rolled into a band and tied at the nape with the tails tucked away, it lifts the hair back in about thirty seconds.
The ponytail wrap Wind it twice around the elastic and knot it on top, the orange tips left loose down her back.
The bag handle A narrow roll spiraled up to a small bow: a ribbon of orange on black leather that catches the eye from far away.
Of the three colorways, this is the boldest; for a woman who likes her scarf to speak softly, Pink and Green carries the same lotus in a gentler voice.
Same size, other colorways: Pink and Green · Dark Red
In the hand
Lift it from the tissue and the fiber tells its story. Silk is a protein spun by the Bombyx mori silkworm, and each cocoon unwinds as a single filament that runs for hundreds of yards.
Then it moves. Sixteen momme falls in one piece and settles where she places it, and a knot stays put through the commute, the meeting and the dinner that follows.
Three everyday pleasures
01
A knot that sits easy Lighter silk must be pulled tight before it will hold; at sixteen momme this holds by its own weight, so it can sit softly.
02
One square, four accessories Neck, hair, bag and wrist, with no clasp or hardware and no size to get wrong; our guide to which size to choose shows where this square sits among the four.
03
Handsome at the knot A neck knot turns the cloth over exactly where the eye falls, and on a dark ground a pale reverse would show at once. Both faces here carry the same ink, so the knot looks as rich whichever way it lands.
The proof comes with it
A cutting from the bolt your square came from travels in every box, kept for the test so the square itself stays pristine.
|
Mulberry silk |
Polyester |
| Held to a flame |
Burns |
Melts |
| The smell |
Like burning hair |
Acrid, like plastic |
| What is left |
Soft ash that crushes between your fingers |
Hard bead, sticks |
If you try it: over a sink, clear of anything that can catch, not with children in the room. A corner is enough. It is a home check, not lab proof.
The silk is tested at the Textile Testing Center, part of the Vietnam Textile Research Institute, an independent body, not our own lab.
Add to bag and check it yourself →
Inside the $97
The $18 one is polyester, a different fiber that resembles this in a photograph and nowhere else, as the burn test above shows at once.
Every edge is rolled and stitched by hand, close to an hour for the 260 centimeters that frame this square, and both faces are printed, sending the cloth through the press twice, one screen for each color. The lotus is studied from period architectural fragments and redrawn by hand in our studio, and since each square is made in our own atelier in Hanoi and sent directly to you, it comes to $97.
What size silk scarf should I buy?
| 22 in → |
Ponytail, wrist, bag handle · $75 |
| 26 in |
Neck knot, headband, ponytail this one
|
| 36 in → |
Full head wrap, sleep wrap · $153 |
| 44 in → |
Shoulder wrap, everyday layer, pillow cover · $197 |
If the reason you are here is the neck, this is the size and nothing larger is needed. If it is hair covered completely or slept in, the 36. Black and orange is printed in all four sizes.
Getting it there in time
If there is a date attached to this, it is worth reading before you order.
Nine to fifteen business days to a US address, counted from the day it leaves Hanoi.
For Christmas delivery in the US, we recommend ordering by November 27.
Ship it straight to her. Sending it to yourself first and forwarding it adds a week you do not need to spend. We write your note by hand and there is no price anywhere in the parcel.
If the date is fixed, write to us at Folkformint@gmail.com before you order.
Which motif should I be looking at?
Every motif we print carries a different meaning, and this short map leads to hers.
Buying for someone who kept her dignity through something A teacher, a retirement, a long recovery: this is the motif. The lotus, the Vietnamese say, grows in mud and keeps none of its smell, and that image holds its whole meaning.
Buying for a person, about who she is A mother, a new chapter, a fresh start: Phoenix Dance, the empress's bird, a wish for grace, renewal and a life in bloom.
Buying for an achievement A promotion, a milestone, a corporate gift: those belong to our two dragons. Dragon Dreams places large dragons at the corners, a composition that reads as a picture, while Dragon of Grace repeats the creature small in center symmetry, a finely worked surface.
Buying for a couple A wedding, an engagement or an anniversary has its own lotus: in Lotus Serenade, two mandarin ducks rest together beneath a single bloom.
“I love these, but I would never know how to tie one”
Every one of these is easy: no pins, no rings, nothing to memorize, and at a mirror each takes less than a minute to learn.
The neck knot Fold, roll and wrap once, then let a loose knot settle to one side.
The headband Fold it corner to corner, roll it slim and tie it at the nape, tails tucked beneath.
The ponytail wrap Two loose turns around the elastic, a knot above, and the ends set free.
The bag roll A slim roll wound up the handle and finished with a bow.
More than twenty further ways fill the illustrated guide that comes in her box.
A gift for a dark wardrobe
This is the colorway for a woman whose wardrobe you know well, the one who lives in black, gray and navy. It arrives boxed, it needs no size, and its meaning comes with it on the story card.
It also gives her something to say. When someone admires it, she can answer: it is a lotus from the old citadel in Hanoi, and in Vietnamese it means keeping your character in circumstances that do not deserve it.
For a teacher, or someone retiring The meaning is specific, and that is the reason to choose it: it tells them you saw what the years asked of them, without a speech and without a card.
For a mother, on no occasion at all A gift with a real meaning, given on an ordinary Wednesday, lands more deeply than the same gift on a date she was already expecting.
For a woman who wears a lot of black Orange against black is the bright note her wardrobe has been waiting for, and it asks her to change nothing else.
If the gift is for a couple For a wedding or an anniversary, choose Lotus Serenade, where two mandarin ducks meet under the same flower. And if you have not seen her wardrobe, Pink and Green is the gentler choice.
The lotus that held up a palace
In Hanoi the lotus was more than an emblem; it was carved into the very bones of the palace.
Archaeologists working at Hoang Thanh Thang Long, the imperial citadel begun in 1010, found stone column bases carved with lotus petals, and those bases carried the weight of the palace roof, the flower cut into the stone that held the building up.
The flower returns throughout that eleventh to fifteenth century layer, in the ponds inside the citadel walls, in sculpture, and in the glazes of the court ceramics, pale green celadon and blue-glazed ware alike.
In Vietnamese the lotus is said to grow in mud and keep none of its smell, the classic image of keeping your character in circumstances that do not deserve it.
Our studio redraws the motif by hand from archive photographs of the excavated pieces and separates it into screens, each color laid down in its own pass, panel by panel, in Hanoi. Our guide to what the Imperial Lotus motif means holds the full story.
The box, the care, and the returns
In the box A rigid gift box and matching bag · the square folded in tissue · a story card naming the motif and its dynasty · an illustrated styling guide · a care card · the silk cutting. Nothing left for you to wrap. Sending it straight to her? We write your note by hand and keep the price out of the parcel.
Washing Easier than people fear, and less often. Silk sheds dust on its own, so every three to five wears is plenty, and a deep ground goes about twice as long as a pale one. Cold water, shampoo or body wash rather than laundry detergent. Squeeze, never wring. Dry in shade, never in sun. Iron on the lowest silk setting while still faintly damp. Dark grounds hold their depth for years treated this way.
Returns Thirty days from delivery, unused and unwashed, in the original box. If the fault is ours, a flaw in the silk, a print error, a seam that failed, postage goes both ways on us and you get a replacement or a full refund. Changed your mind? Thirty days, return postage yours, and if you take store credit instead of a refund we add fifteen percent. One condition: it comes back unused, unwashed and unworn, in its original box.
Specifications
| Material |
100% Grade 5A mulberry silk |
| Color |
Black and Orange |
| Motif |
Co Do Lien Hoa · Imperial Lotus · Ly and Tran Dynasty |
| Source |
Lotus in Thang Long palace architecture, 11th to 15th century |
| Weight |
16 momme |
| Size |
26 × 26 in · 65 × 65 cm |
| Print |
Hand screen-printed, double-sided |
| Edges |
Hand-rolled, hand-stitched · 260 cm |
| Testing |
Textile Testing Center, Vietnam Textile Research Institute |
| Made in |
Hanoi, Vietnam |
One square of black and orange silk,
made for the wardrobe she already loves.
Mulberry silk in black and orange at sixteen momme, printed on both faces and hemmed by hand in Hanoi. It arrives gift boxed with a cutting you are welcome to set on fire.
Add to bag · $97
Free US shipping from $90 No customs fees 30-day returns
