How the Hani Embroider Daily Life

In the misty mountains of southern Yunnan, the Hani have shaped a world where water, soil, and spirit move in quiet rhythm. For generations, they have carved thousands of cascading terraces into slopes rising above 1500 meters—what they call kuzhel, “fields embedded into the body of the mountain.”

With their hands, they shape the land; with their beliefs, they protect its rhythms.

Hani women wear their world in thread. Their traditional garments, often rendered in deep black, are detailed with intricate yet orderly patterns—each a living memory of ancestors, land, and daily life.

They favor symmetrical, geometric compositions: the "huiwen" spiral motif, echoing the sun and cycles of time, embodies return and renewal. The "niuga" horn-shaped motif reflects wishes for harvest, strength, and harmony with the earth.

To this day, Hani culture is regarded by UNESCO as a model of human coexistence with nature—laboring between sky and soil, and singing between cloud and season.

A Dialogue with Tradition

In YarnGi's Terrace Loop collection, we draw from both the rhythm of terraced landscapes and the structural elegance of Hani embroidery. Through bold geometry and tactile depth, we reinterpret the essence of “symmetry” and “layering”—not as motifs alone, but as a visual echo of cultivated hillsides and stitched histories.

The patterns are simplified from huiwen and niuga forms, while the palette draws directly from the Hani wardrobe: black, crimson, sapphire, and ivory. Each line of thread echoes a ridge, a waterway—stitching the rhythm of the hills into everyday life.

Explore the Terrace Loop Collection —where mountain rhythms become motifs, and tradition finds form in every stitch.