The presidential flag (heart) is hand embroidered.
Carolyn Gutman for NPR
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Carolyn Gutman for NPR
The presidential flag (heart) is hand embroidered.
Carolyn Gutman for NPR
Philadelphia – Metropolis of concord, cradle of American democracy. The one place on this planet the place presidential flags are made.
The motion takes place in a small house northeast of Philadelphia, on a army base with planes parked outdoors. It is known as the Protection Logistics Company Power Help Room. Inside, a staff of 13 individuals spend months embroidering the flag bearing the well-known presidential seal, with an eagle holding an olive department in a single talon and arrows within the different.
Nearly all staff members are ladies, and most are immigrants.
Left: Helen Hoa Nguyen embroiders a design on the flag. Proper: Nancy Chim, 54, a stitching machine operator, works at her embroidery desk.
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“It is the world to me,” says Nancy Chem, who got here to america from Cambodia 30 years in the past and is aware of no English. I labored on the staff for 15 years.
“It made me so proud to be right here, particularly to make the presidential flag,” she says.
The room was largely quiet apart from the light sounds of needle and thread. Dong Lam, who discovered to stitch as a toddler in Vietnam, works diligently on an eagle’s tail feather, stitching small diagonal threads of white and gray. She says it could actually take a day and a half to stitch a single feather.
“It is actually arduous. Your eyes must focus for 8 to 10 hours,” she says.
An embroidery machine within the Protection Logistics Company’s troop help room.
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An embroidery machine within the Protection Logistics Company’s troop help room.
Carolyn Gutman for NPR
Along with the presidential and vice presidential flags, embroiderers additionally hand-stitch flags for every army department. It could possibly take as much as six months to finish the complete course, and it is rather aggressive to get a job right here. Candidates can wait years for a job opening or till somebody retires.
This demonstrates the distinctive nature of their work, says Adam Fahlstrom, Science Room Supervisor.
“That is the one staff on this planet that makes the presidential flags that go to the White Home,” he says. “That is one thing that has been carried out this manner for over 170 years right here in Philadelphia. That is an extremely gorgeous product if you see it in particular person. It has a vibrancy and life that you just simply cannot get with machine expertise.”
Left: Dwenavio Santi Johnson, 51, embroiders a design on the flag. Proper: Spools of thread used for flags.
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These ladies see themselves as Twenty first-century Betsy Ross, after the well-known upholsterer who made flags through the American Revolution, Fahlstrom says.
“There shall be a novel type coming from every particular person artist,” he says. “Each a type of tens of millions of stitches, you get a really distinctive and private piece.”
The character of Doinavo emerges as Santi Johnson, who eagerly volunteers different ladies to speak about their craft, and who has studied hand embroidery everywhere in the world: England, France, and South Korea. She and her colleagues think about themselves artists, and use embroidery as their software. Even with a pre-determined flag design, particular person type leaves its mark.
“For those who truly take a look at this, you will see that every particular person truly has a unique type of how they sew. Our stitches are identical to calligraphy—nothing is expounded to the opposite particular person,” she says.
A framed machine-embroidered tapestry depicting historic flag embroidery is on show within the room.
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A framed machine-embroidered tapestry depicting historic flag embroidery is on show within the room.
Carolyn Gutman for NPR
For Johnson, the work is extra than simply creative expression, it is a option to join along with her roots.
“I used to be born at Vandenberg Air Power Base, which is now a House Power base. So it is a circle as a result of we made the primary House Power flag right here,” she says. “I felt like I used to be capable of join my household to the language I follow — and it exists in my life — in order that they’ll perceive the worth of creative follow.”
Artwork that Johnson and different embroiderers create to final a lifetime.
“We need to be certain these final for at the least 100 years,” she says.