Green and pink silk with two mandarin ducks beneath a lotus.
A gift about the two of you.
Our dragons speak of what someone achieved and our phoenix of who she is; this is the one drawing we print about a pair. Two mandarin ducks rest beneath an open lotus, the Vietnamese image of two people who stay together, in fresh green and blush pink that feel like a spring morning, knotted at her collar or tied back as a silk head scarf.
This 26-inch square of sixteen momme mulberry silk carries a Ly and Tran Dynasty mandarin duck motif in green and pink, printed by hand and rolled by hand at every edge. She can tie it in two seconds, and it keeps its grace all day.
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 a wedding or an anniversary? 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. Styling leads this page, the gift notes follow, and a delivery-timing note sits under the size chart, because a wedding date does not move.
What green and pink love to meet
Over white or cream The pairing this colorway was made for: against a light ground, green and pink read as spring, lovely in photographs without ever looking styled.
Over navy The unexpected pairing: navy calms the green and lets the pink come forward, so the square glows warmer against dark tailoring than against white.
With denim, any weight Two soft colors set against a third, relaxed and fresh.
As a headband Pink and green balance each other at the hairline, neither too sweet nor too strong, the grace of a two-color ground.
This motif speaks of a couple: two ducks beneath a lotus mean marriage and staying together, so for a gift about a woman herself, Phoenix Dance is the lovelier choice.
Same size, other colorways: Brown & Blue · Brown & Pink
In her hands
Mulberry silk begins as a natural protein spun by the silkworm, every cocoon unwinding as one filament hundreds of yards long.
With two colors, the square changes its mood with its company: beside white the green leads, and beside navy the pink does.
At sixteen momme it falls in one piece and settles where she places it, and a knot holds through a commute, a meeting and a dinner with no need to adjust it.
Three everyday graces
01
Weight in the cloth The silk has body enough for a knot to lock, so the square rests exactly where she tied it until evening.
02
One square, four accessories Hair, neck, bag and wrist, with no clasp or hardware, and at home with everything she wears.
03
Two colors held at equal weight Both colors are printed at the same density, panel after panel on both faces, so the square reads as one harmonious whole with neither color overpowering the other.
A proof inside the gift box
Each box includes a small cutting from the same bolt, set aside so the test never touches the scarf itself.
|
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.
Rather not hold a flame to anything? The silk is tested at the Textile Testing Center, part of the Vietnam Textile Research Institute. Outside lab, outside paperwork.
Add to bag and check it yourself →
The making of a $97 square
A far cheaper square is usually polyester, which can look similar in a photograph and feels nothing like this weighted, gently glowing silk in the hand.
Each step is handwork. The rolled hem takes close to an hour, every color in a drawing of birds, lotus and insects has its own screen and pass, and the motif is redrawn from period architectural fragments in our studio. Made in our own atelier in Hanoi and sent straight to you, it comes to $97, under forty cents a wear if she ties it weekly for five years.
What size silk scarf should I buy?
| 22 in → |
Wrist, bag handle, narrow twilly roll · $75 |
| 26 in |
Headband, ponytail, neck knot this one
|
| 36 in → |
Full head wrap, sleep wrap, all the 26 does · $153 |
| 44 in → |
Shoulder wrap, and the only size the whole composition fits on · $197 |
First one? Take the 26. It is the only square that does hair and neck equally well. For a wedding gift the 36 or 44 reads as more significant - but this is the size she will use most.
Getting it there in time
A wedding date does not move, so this 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 them. 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?
Our motifs hold different wishes, so start with the person and the moment.
Buying for a couple For a wedding, an engagement, an anniversary or Valentine's Day, this is the motif to choose, since the mandarin duck has long stood for devotion. Our guide to the mandarin duck wedding gift gathers the tradition.
Buying for a person, about who she is A mother, a new chapter or a recovery calls for Phoenix Dance, the empress's bird, a wish for grace and renewal.
Buying for an achievement A promotion, a milestone, a leader, a corporate gift: here the dragons speak, Dragon Dreams with four large dragons at the corners like a single painting, and Dragon of Grace with one creature repeated small in center symmetry.
“I love these, but I would never know how to tie one”
Nothing here asks for skill: no pins, no rings, nothing to memorize, and each of these four comes together at a mirror in under a minute. Our guide to which size to choose shows what the larger squares add.
The headband Roll it on the diagonal into a slim band, knot it at the nape and hide the tails beneath.
The ponytail wrap Wind it twice around the elastic, then knot it on top and let the green and pink ends fall.
The neck knot Fold it into a triangle, roll it, wrap once and knot it loosely off center; over a white shirt it is a whole outfit.
The bag roll Roll it narrow and spiral it up the handle to a small bow, its home on the days it is not worn.
The illustrated guide that comes with it holds more than twenty ways to tie it, each drawn clearly.
A wedding or anniversary gift
This is the motif made for exactly this moment. A gift with a specific meaning outshines an expensive one that means nothing in particular, and this one arrives with its meaning already attached, no card required.
It also gives her a story. When someone asks about it, she can say: they are mandarin ducks, and in Vietnam they have long meant a marriage that endures.
For a wedding The gift that is not on the registry and will outlast almost everything that is; green and pink suits a spring or summer wedding, and there is no size to guess.
For an anniversary, any number The early ones or the twenty-fifth: the meaning never changes with the year, which is why it is lovely at both ends.
For Valentine's Day The alternative to flowers that will still be treasured years from now, affectionate without a single word.
When the gift is about her alone For a woman whose gift has nothing to do with a pair, Phoenix Dance is the kinder choice, a motif about her and her new chapter.
Why mandarin ducks crown a roof
A lovely piece of history sits behind the motif.
Craftsmen of the eleventh to fifteenth centuries set terracotta mandarin ducks among the tiles of palace roofs, a pair keeping a blessing over the house.
Why ducks on a palace? In Vietnamese lore a mandarin duck stays with its mate, so a pair above a home carried a wish for lasting marriage and a peaceful household. The lotus beneath them carries the rest of the meaning: in Vietnamese it grows in mud and keeps none of its smell, the old image of keeping one's character when circumstances do not deserve it.
Our studio redraws every motif by hand from archive photographs of the excavated pieces and prints it in Hanoi, one screen per color, panel by panel, a drawing she can tell the story of when asked.
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 them? 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 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 |
Green & Pink |
| 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 |
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 green and pink silk,
made for two people and the love between them.
Green and pink mulberry silk at sixteen momme, printed through both faces with every edge rolled 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
