I am Chris Buckley, collector of ethnic textiles and Asian art but better known to Beijing residents as the "Tibetan carpet guy".
I am from England and came to China in 1995, having previously lived in Japan, where I acquired a taste for things handmade and an appreciation for texture. I used to work for a multinational company but that is a long time in the past now: these days I spend most of my time on my Tibetan carpet business. I have a workshop near Lhasa making Tibetan carpets the traditional way, with designs that are mostly by me, and that are sold in my stores in Beijing and Shanghai as well as to individual clients and interior designers overseas. You can see more about my Tibetan carpet business on my website www.toranahouse.com . I am also interested in Tibetan crafts generally and in painted furniture in particular, subjects I have written two books about (see note at the end of this section).
Aside from running the carpet business I have also been a collector for many years, and I have been lucky enough to travel widely in China and Asia (and still do). One of my earliest and most memorable trips in China was a cycling trip in Guizhou province through Dong and Miao minority areas. Apart from the rain and the mud the villages were entrancing, and I have been hooked on minority arts ever since.
I would like to acknowledge the help I have received from Pamela Cross's textile forum (www.tribaltextiles.info), including Pamela herself and the forum members. The diversity of textiles in Asia is astounding, and no-one person can identify every piece, but there is usually someone in the forum who has seen a given item before. I heartily recommend this resource to all textile collectors and curators.
Chris Buckley is the author of the book Tibetan Furniture, published by Thames and Hudson, 2005, and of Living Hands: Tibetan Arts and Artisans, published by Torana, 2011.