The Lotus Flower

Photographs by Bruna Rotunno.

For many centuries, the Intha people have lived in absolute harmony with nature in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, an uncontaminated land mirroring a noble and poetic Asia. On Inle Lake, the Intha have developed an amazing form of water-borne “cultivation,” creating floating fruit and vegetable gardens. These “children of the lake,” immersed in their timeless existence, perpetuate an age-old tradition: they harvest the lotus flower, wich is sacred to Buddhism, being so replete with symbolic and poetic meaning as it is with prodigious medicinal properties. From it they extract an exceptionally fine fiber unequalled in nature, which they use to produce a unique and precious fabric, as soft as silk and even cooler than linen, the wealth and jewel of the Orient.
After chancing upon the exceptional qualities of this fabric, thanks to a gift from a friend, Loro Piana decided to learn more about it by setting off on the long trip to Myanmar. Certain that they had discovered an outstanding raw material with one-of-a-kind characteristics, they set to work to make it known in the Western world. Loro Piana’s intervention, in full collaboration with the “children of the lake” and respectful of the time it takes and traditional techniques used to process the fiber on site, wants to keep this very ancient technique alive, a technique that might otherwise risk extinction as its economic yield is very low and the process is completely carried out by hand.
Through a series of over one hundred stunning photographs, this book tells the story of the land of Myanmar, the life of its people and the ancient technique behind harvesting the lotus flower and spinning its fiber.