How One Tibetan Workshop Is Reviving a Village Economy and Reimagining Tradition

"With half-frozen fingers, I googled "Do vultures attack humans?" on my phone. I was alone on a grassy hilltop in central China's Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture when the birds, large as foxes and with beaks curved like meat hooks, appeared out of nowhere. Though this region isn't part of modern-day Tibet, Tibetan culture is prevalent, and sky burials (in which bodies are left to be eaten by vultures) are still practiced."

"Two hours earlier, I had left my room at Norlha Housein the small village of Zorgey Ritoma to ramble in the highlands of Gannan. Once the village's gold-roofed Ritoma Monastery and the last of its yak herds had disappeared into the distance, all I could see was the undulating steppe. For every ridge I crossed, another one, just as barren, emerged behind it. The closest large city, Chengdu, home to more than 20 million residents, was 400 miles away."

"Zorgey Ritoma is not a place where you'd expect to find a boutique selling $800 shirts and $2,000 bedspreads, but that's exactly what I had come to find. Norlha-an atelier where artisans take khullu, or yak down, sourced from herders around the Tibetan Plateau and make it into velvet-soft clothes and home goods-was founded in 2007 by Tibetan-American entrepreneur Deien Yeshi and her mother, Kim."

An observer in Gannan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture encountered large vultures on a frigid November hilltop, noting their size and harmlessness to living humans. The observer had left Norlha House in the village of Zorgey Ritoma to walk the highlands, passing ridges and undulating steppe far from major cities. Zorgey Ritoma hosts Norlha, an atelier that turns khullu (yak down) sourced from Plateau herders into soft clothing and home goods. Norlha was founded in 2007 by Tibetan-American entrepreneur Deien Yeshi and her mother, Kim. The brand sells in high-end boutiques internationally and the atelier sits beside Norlha House, where looms and spinning wheels produce textiles.

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