maaEmoo — Mothers of the Plateau

"maaEmoo" derives from an elegant Tibetan term for women, meaning "Mother of the Earth". In 2013, in Medrong Town, Yushu, Qinghai, 13 Tibetan women established the “Namgyal Sekar” Cooperative in the Lancang River source area at 3700 meters altitude. They fought for their rights with their hands, supporting “half the sky” with their skills.

The children who once played here have gone to school, but still return to accompany their mothers in making handicrafts. The craft takes root in their bloodline, and maternal resilience is passed down through needle and thread. With support from the Three-River-Source Designer Alliance over years, the women's felt skills and products have been refined. In 2024, the brand maaEmoo was born.

Azong

51 years old, serves as the cooperative's director. Like a family matriarch, she manages the workshop with the patience of combing wool fibers. Over thirteen years, she has gradually nurtured it into a big close-knit family, allowing a group of women to rely on each other tightly and walk through the years together.

Palmo

40 years old, married into Medrong from Chamdo and once felt rootless and adrift. After making felt, she found renewed purpose and became the only woman in the village to obtain a driver's license. The steering wheel and needlework have become her two languages for engaging with the world. Now, she has taken root in the warmth of the workshop, often bringing her daughter along, watching the child falling asleep peacefully on felt blankets.

Tsultrim Sangmo

56 years old, raised her child alone after her husband left to pursue monastic life shortly after the child's birth, enduring significant hardships. After joining the workshop, the dark yak down caught her life steadily. She says the workshop gives her a sense of "home" and views her child's distant journey with the broad-mindedness of a "soaring bird".

Pema Tsetso

54 years old, serves as the workshop's accountant. Illiterate, she uses WeChat voice messages for bookkeeping, which her husband transcribes each night. This unique system, built on trust, has operated for twelve years. She is meticulous in separating public from private matters and often uses family funds to support the workshop's turnover.

Sokyi

51 years old, is a hotel owner but insists on traveling between the hotel and the workshop, drawn by the sense of gathering with her sisters. This insistence was initially misunderstood but now has her family's full support. For her, touching the wool fibers is a moment of stripping her external identity and be her true self.

Drolma

46 years old, is the quietest sister in the workshop. She loves flowers, replanting them in the courtyard year after year. This patience cultivated through interaction with nature subtly infuses her felt creations. Her family supports her work; the flowers in the courtyard mirror her own quiet yet vigorous heart.

Phuntsok Drolkar

45 years old, has a wall full of certificates of honor at home, yet she cares more about the lamb's wool in her hands that requires constant carding. She believes that daily, diligent work nourishes the soul more than accolades do. The workshop serves as a breathing space amidst her family caregiving duties.

Yeshi Lhamo

30 years old, returned to her hometown after university and is now a mother of two. She balances family responsibilities, a printing store, and the daily operations of the workshop. In the workshop, she and her mother-in-law are both colleagues and mentor-apprentice, learning to work with elders in a more peaceful way.

Felt, once the warmth that swaddled infants on nomadic journeys, now reawakens this vastness, resilience, and tenderness through maaEmoo, witnessing the powerful, motherly strength of women from the river source.