In Their Hands: TextileSeekers x Caroline Issa Exhibition, London
There aren’t many reasons why I’d brave heading onto Oxford Street on a spectacularly wet and blustery Saturday - on Black Friday weekend, no less. However, the chance to get up-close-and-personal with a beautiful array of Vietnamese handicrafts, created by artisans from tribal communities in one of the most visually and culturally fascinating corners of the world, is an opportunity that simply couldn’t be overlooked.
Immersive, transportative, significant.
In Their Hands is the latest iteration of a travelling exhibition curated by Thao Phuong, visionary fashion designer and founder of TextileSeekers - a company that invites designers and artists to gain a unique insight into traditional tribal handicrafts and creative processes at their source in Vietnam and elsewhere around the globe. In collaboration with Caroline Issa (Tank Magazine), In Their Hands brings together creators and artisans through objects shaped by intention and human touch; it is a celebration of the slow, meticulous and heartfelt process behind items imbued with cultural, spiritual and traditional significance, and it’s a beautiful meditation on the act of creation and the ancestral connections behind that which is created.
Thao has long been on a mission to highlight the importance of these processes and showcase the precious - and often endangered - work produced by tribal communities in Vietnam, demonstrating how much there is to learn from acknowledging the roots and cultural ties to disparate and often displaced communities. In Their Hands achieves all this and more with no shortage of style; in the stark white interior of the Tank Magazine Gallery Space (and against the backdrop of the rain-drenched Great Portland Street), the delicate lacquer bowls, assorted items of jewellery and photographs on display provide a window into a world where symbolism retains its potency, generations of skill inspire stillness and a sense of awe, and pieces such as combs crafted from shell and bone offer up stories of identity, evolution and the nature of faith.
East meets West in Thao and Caroline’s signature brooch
Central to the exhibition is the unveiling of a brooch, created specifically to not only encapsulate the ‘In Their Hands’ philosophy but also to signify the meeting point between Thao and Caroline’s vision. Handmade from 925 silver, the brooch features beads made from buffalo horn (an icon of perseverance against adversity) and a single shell bead. Symbolising strength and protection, as well as the stories we all hold close to our body, the brooch is presented in a beautiful lacquer box, carved from wood and produced by artisans in a painstaking and gradual process, by which layer upon layer is applied with intent in the pursuit of a flawless finish.
The exhibition also invites visitors to consider the specific Vietnamese childhood ritual of Toi Noi, in which a child within his or her tribe is presented with an array of items and objects on their first birthday to explore and ultimately select. The chosen item - be it a string of beads, a bowl, a comb or other objects connected to the tribe’s heritage and infused with symbolic meaning - acts as a totem of sorts, offering clues or direction for the child’s individual destiny. Toi Noi at In Their Hands is brought to Central London by way of a series of stunningly realised photographs, each representing an object found in such ceremonies, laid out on the floor of the exhibition space. By gazing over these images, by looking back through one’s life and wondering which we would have been drawn to in our earliest years, we gain a more profound insight and understanding of the significance of such handcrafted items within the communities that hold them dear.
As is typical of Thao’s work, nothing at In Their Hands is out of place, accidental or positioned and included without purpose and meaning. Items are displayed on beds of dried rice - a sustainable choice to draw moisture from delicately-finished objects - and the lacquer boxes in which the brooches are stored are bound in silk woven by villagers in communities outside of Hanoi, visited in person by Thao in October to strengthen her connection with its creation and creators.
Toi Noi, reimagined. Photo credits to Anouk Nitsche
From the linen on the tables to the trays and other display elements at the exhibition, everything within the space were brought back personally from Vietnam and have their own stories to tell of longstanding tradition, craftsmanship and cultural importance. By ensuring everything alongside the objects on display arises from the same craft context, Thao ensures that the objects and the environment of their making cannot truly be separated from one another.
Thao’s work - indeed, her mission - is rooted in the belief that cultural preservation is a vital aspect of the world we inhabit, and in an age of fast fashion and disposable lifestyles, it’s something we should all be striving to address. By ensuring artisans maintain their crafts, their visual idioms and the skills handed down through families for centuries, their stories can remain visible and part of the tapestry of human experience.
TextileSeekers next six-day retreats include Vietnam March 9th 2026 and September 21st 2026, and will focus on textile preservation, dyeing, and material culture. More information can be found here.
