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As martial arts practitioners for many years, we were fortunate
to have the opportunity to participate in many seminars taught
by skilled "Masters" or "Sifus". Often at those sessions the
students would receive a special shirt commemorating the event.
Those shirts always had a special meaning the Master wanted
to impart to his students, written in Chinese calligraphy.
They were, however, typically made with low cost materials
and therefore would not last long. This was unfortunate since
they were irreplaceable. But from those experiences, we got
the idea of offering readily obtainable, high quality workout
apparel that would also communicate the profound principles
of the martial arts. We invested what precious time and money
we could spare and slowly began the development of Chiworks
and the designs you see today. Along our journey, we met Betty
Antonio the artist responsible for many of our unique designs.
Betty, a Navajo Indian, studied Chinese Brush painting under
the guidance of a Chinese Master of the art at a Buddhist
temple in Mexicali. During her years of study, Betty often
observed the other masters doing their Tai Chi forms. Although
she inquired about learning Tai Chi, she was encouraged to
concentrate on her brush painting at that time. It was her
interest and subsequent study of the discipline, which led
her to the understanding of Tai Chi philosophy that is so
richly embodied in our beautiful artwork. Each shirt design
is truly a unique work of art.
It takes time to evolve our designs. They do not just happen
overnight but rather are born out of a lengthy and dedicated
process. First, from our research of the Taoist literature
and philosophy we pick a particular principle or philosophy
that we want to convey. We do our best to properly translate
the original ideals and beliefs. With this information we
work with Betty, and may produce several artwork iterations
before creating the image we feel best conveys that message.
After we settle on the image that meets our design intent,
the artwork is given to our screen printers and embroiderers.
This is also a time-consuming iterative process before we
get a screen-printed or digitized embroidery rendition that
is faithful reproduction of the beautiful original brushstroke
paintings. Only after a sample has met the expectations of
our collective review and scrutiny do we authorize production
of the new design. We also use the best 100% preshrunk cotton
clothing available for our products. It is this careful, methodical
and dedicated process which allows us to provide you with
the beautiful, durable and unique clothing you have come to
expect from Chi Works.
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