A brown and blue silk bandana, tied through a ponytail on a busy morning.
Thirty seconds, and she looks ready for anything.
On the mornings with no time to spare, this small square rescues the look: wound around a ponytail or rolled into a slim band, it takes about thirty seconds and reads as a considered choice. Warm brown and soft blue sit together like old wood beside river water, and at dinner the silk catches the lamplight with a low, gentle sheen.
A 22-inch square of mulberry silk in brown and blue at sixteen momme, printed by hand with a Ly and Tran Dynasty motif of mandarin ducks and lotus. It tucks into a bag with ease and comes out looking like a treasure.
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. She needs no size, and the square belongs to every season.
Where it slips into her day
The ponytail, on a rushed morning Wind it twice around the elastic, knot it on top and let the ends fall, and in thirty seconds the rush of the morning disappears from view.
The wrist, the rest of the day Wrapped twice and knotted between a watch and a sleeve, where it stays close at hand and never ends up in a drawer.
The bag handle Roll it narrow, wind it up the handle and finish with a small bow; brown and blue against black or tan leather looks quietly deliberate.
The small neck knot Folded to a triangle, rolled thin and tied close at the throat, a fine detail at the collar.
Every square below 44 inches holds a portion of one drawing, and at twenty-two inches you carry a lovely passage of it more than the whole pair; for someone who will want to hold it up and admire the full picture, begin at 26 inches.
Same size, other colorways: Green and Pink · Brown and Pink
Soft in the hand
It begins with the fiber: mulberry silk, a natural protein from the silkworm, each cocoon wound from a single filament hundreds of yards long.
Then there is the touch. Tied through a ponytail, the silk slides smoothly into place and lies neat.
And there is more cloth in the hand than a small square suggests: sixteen momme at 22 inches has real presence, enough for a knot to hold through a day of being pushed up and pulled down.
Three small graces
01
A knot that stays Heavier silk locks a knot in place, so the square stays exactly where she tied it all day.
02
Held by the knot alone It stays by knot and weight, with no clips or pins at all.
03
An edge finished by hand A 22-inch square carries proportionally more edge than any other size, and at the wrist that edge sits close to the eye. Rolled by hand, the hem turns into a soft, rounded cord where a machine would leave a flat band, a difference anyone can see from across a small table.
A proof tucked inside
Your box holds a cutting from the bolt your square came from, so the test is made on that small piece and the square stays perfect.
|
Mulberry silk |
Polyester |
| Held to a flame |
Burns |
Melts |
| The smell |
Singed hair |
Acrid, like plastic |
| What is left |
Soft ash, 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 →
The care inside $75
Every inch of the edge is rolled and stitched by hand, and a small square has more edge for its size than a large one, so the finishing alone still asks close to an hour.
Both faces are printed, so the cloth passes through the press twice, and the brown is mixed with care so it stays warm and true beside the blue. The motif is redrawn from period architectural fragments, work that costs as much for a 22-inch square as for a 44, and because we make every square in our own atelier in Hanoi and send it straight to you, it comes to $75.
What size silk scarf should I buy?
| 22 in |
Ponytail, wrist, bag handle this one
|
| 26 in → |
Headband, ponytail, neck knot · $97 |
| 36 in → |
Full head wrap, sleep wrap, all the 26 does · $153 |
| 44 in → |
Pillow cover, shoulder wrap, everyday layer · $197 |
The honest split by what you want it for: hair off the face in a hurry, this one. Hair covered completely, the 36. Brown and blue is printed in all four.
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?
Each of our motifs carries its own meaning, and this brief guide helps you choose.
Buying for a couple An engagement, a wedding, an anniversary: this is the motif, worn quietly in this colorway, for mandarin ducks have long meant faithfulness and a peaceful home. Our guide to the mandarin duck wedding gift tells the story behind the pair.
Buying for a person, about who she is For a mother, a recovery or a new beginning, Phoenix Dance offers the phoenix, the empress's bird of rebirth.
Buying for an achievement A promotion, a milestone, a leader, a corporate gift: choose a dragon. Dragon Dreams sets large dragons at the corners like a painting, and Dragon of Grace repeats one small creature in center symmetry, the graceful choice at this size because it stays lovely when rolled.
What do you actually do with a 22-inch square?
Many people hesitate at twenty-two inches, then find it slipping into every day. It is a little small to wrap the head and made for the ponytail, the wrist and the bag, with nothing to pin and nothing to learn. Our guide to which size to choose lays it beside the larger squares.
The ponytail wrap Wind it round the elastic twice and knot it on top, the brown and blue tails trailing free.
The rolled headband Fold it corner to corner, roll it into a band and tie it at the nape with the tails tucked, lifting the hair away from the face.
The wrist Wrapped twice and knotted, with a bracelet or on its own, the blue keeping lovely company with silver.
The bag handle A narrow roll, spiraled up the handle and tied in a bow, happy to stay for months.
An illustrated guide in the box shows more than twenty other ways to wear it.
A gift to have ready
It is the gift to buy before you need it. At under eighty dollars, boxed and needing no size, it can wait in a drawer until the right day comes along.
It also gives her a story. When someone admires it, she can say: they are mandarin ducks, a Vietnamese wish for a marriage that lasts.
For someone who has never worn a scarf An easy introduction to silk, asking nothing of her but a knot, and if it wins her over, a larger square can follow.
When you are still getting to know her Brown and blue is the gentlest combination here, and $75 is a sum that feels thoughtful without asking to be explained.
For a colleague, or a team Under a hundred dollars and boxed, with no size to choose and no taste to second-guess.
When the moment is a big one For a wedding, a milestone or a fiftieth birthday, choose the 36 inch square, which carries more ceremony and will see the most wear.
The mandarin ducks on the palace roof
A small detail tells the whole story of the motif.
On the roofs of palaces from the eleventh to the fifteenth century, craftsmen set terracotta mandarin ducks among the tiles, a pair wishing the household well.
Why ducks on a palace? Mandarin ducks pair for life in Vietnamese lore, so a pair on a roof was a wish more than an ornament, for a marriage that holds and a household at peace. The lotus beneath them carries the other half of the meaning, for in Vietnamese it is said to grow in mud and keep none of its smell.
Our studio redraws every motif by hand from archive photographs of the excavated pieces and cuts a separate screen for each color, printing panel by panel in Hanoi.
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. Cold water, shampoo or body wash rather than laundry detergent. Squeeze, never wring. Dry in shade, never in sun, and keep it away from perfume and hair product sprayed after it is on. Iron on the lowest silk setting while still faintly damp.
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 |
Brown and Blue |
| Motif |
Uyen Uong Lien Ha · Lotus Serenade · Ly and Tran Dynasty |
| Source |
Mandarin duck ridge-tile figures, Thang Long and Hoa Lu |
| Weight |
16 momme |
| Size |
22 × 22 in · 55 × 55 cm |
| Print |
Hand screen-printed, double-sided |
| Edges |
Hand-rolled, hand-stitched · 220 cm |
| Testing |
Textile Testing Center, Vietnam Textile Research Institute |
| Made in |
Hanoi, Vietnam |
One small square of brown and blue silk,
and every rushed morning looks chosen.
Brown and blue mulberry silk at sixteen momme, both faces printed, hemmed by hand in Hanoi. It arrives gift boxed with a cutting you are welcome to set on fire.
Add to bag · $75
Free US shipping from $90 No customs fees 30-day returns
