Li women design the textile patterns using only their imagination and knowledge of traditional styles.

UNESCO: Culture

And lastly, I asked Georgia Howe, an interior designer and co-founder of the furniture design and textile company Carolina George.

WSJ: Annette Tapert on Nan Kempner, Josephine Premice and More: Always Dress to Impress

Her inaugural exhibition featured the Italian design duo Formafantasma, who presented a textile series called Colony, an assemblage of mohair and mixed-media blankets meant as a critique of Italian imperialism in Africa.

WSJ: Libby Sellers Knows the Art of Design

In 1995 she set up own company, Zeynep Fadillioglu, which now employs a design team including architects, interior designers, landscape designers, textile and colour experts, industrial designers and graphic artists.

BBC: Profile: Zeynep Fadillioglu