Be rooted: learning from Aboriginal dyeing and weaving

I am back after two long journeys to India, regional and then remote Australia. I return with a question on my mind: What might Indian and Chinese designers learn about sustainability from Aboriginal natural dyers and weavers? This past June and July as part of the Swinburne's Living Blue Oz project, I co-hosted twelve Chinese, three Indian, and five Melbourne-based designers, including myself, for a two weeks cultural exchange focused on Aboriginal sustainability through natural dyeing and weaving. We now have had the time to reflect on our experiences. Subrata Bhowmick, one of India's most awarded designers, provide the answer to my question in a recent telephone discussion: be rooted! It is the total experience of being rooted. And what was important is the rooted person, who was the medium. She gave us direction but not instruction. So then we could take our own paths.