From Farmers’s Essential to Fashion Statement
Gaji bags (“茄芷袋”), the quintessential Taiwanese market bags, have now been featured in fashion magazines such as Marie Claire and are must-buy items for Japanese visitors. Various iterations of the bag based on designs by young designers can now be found in boutiques and stores throughout Taiwan, but the story of the original Gaji bag is quite humble and parallels stages ofTaiwanese history.
These colorful bags originated during the Japanese Colonial Period (1865-1945) when rice farmers in the deep rural village of Jing Liao in the Houbi District of Tainan County started weaving large bags for supplemental income. Although agricultural life was already difficult, Taiwanese grit prevailed and the entire family would lay down their farming implements to transition to bag weaving after the sun set.
The original bags were made from Soft Rush that could be found in the nearby marshes. Children as young as ten years of age would start learning how to weave while the hardier among them would help grind the dried Soft Rush with large stones to soften and smooth them out. It was the weaving technique that gave rise to the Gaji bag’s curious name, which is derived from a transliteration of a Japanese term for bag weaving, かぎ編み (kagiami).
Along with Taiwan’s wave of industrialization during the 1960s, the Gaji bag also transitioned from being hand woven with Soft Rush to being machine sewn with green, red and blue woven nylon mesh. Although the key material changed, the people whose nimble hands stitched the bags one by one remained the inhabitants of the same farming community of Jing Liao village. To this day the original Gaji bags are still made by hand in the same community and they have even formed a cooperative called the Gaji Grandmas Workshop (“茄芷阿嬤工作坊”).
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Because of their durability, easy maintenance and accessible price point, Gaji bags became a staple in many Taiwanese households and a ubiquitous sight, from the bustling market streets of Taipei to the dusty roads of Tainan county. Mothers and grandmothers would carry them to the market to purchase produce for that day’s meals; farmers would use them during harvest time to gather all the ripe fruits and vegetables or to transport their farming implements from the home to the field.
As Taiwan’s economy boomed during the 1980s and individual spending power increased, Gaji bags were mostly shunned by more youthful and fashionable consumers due to its modest origins and utilitarian associations. It wasn’t until the early-mid 2000s when the release of a documentary called Wu Mi Le (“無米樂”), which celebrated the simple yet profound philosophical backbone of the farmers in Jing Liao village, and a famous singer’s use of the bag as a logo for his concert helped spur the resurgence of the Gaji bag’s popularity. Since then numerous spin off products have been made using the now iconic colorful nylon mesh of the Gaji bag and even the bag itself is now available in various different color combinations.
When you walk through the streets of Taiwan’s capital these days you can see stylish young women wearing designer sneakers paired with a Gaji bag with their iPhones glowing through the weave as an old granny hustles by toting her own Gaji bag filled with a cornucopia of the day’s market haul. It’s amusing how the fortunes of a modest bag can shift through time but the story of the Gaji bag is mostly one of perseverance, determination and reinvention, which certainly makes it a fabula formosa.
Remember to get a Gaji bag of your own by going to our Shop!
Sources:
https://www.facebook.com/無米樂社區茄芷工坊-231161490956809/
https://www.marieclaire.com.tw/lifestyle/whats-hot/51932?atcr=c568e3
https://whitecherry2019.com/archives/2666
https://www.merit-times.com/NewsPage.aspx?unid=440104
