The butterfly in the picture below was embroidered by a Chinese woman named Liang Zhongmei. She lost the use of one of her arms when using a sugar mill at the age of seven. Liang didn't give up, instead spending ten years learning embroidery with her mother in her hometown, Guizhou. 

Zhongmei's hard work paid off when the founder of the Eve Fashion group, Xia Hua, visited Guizhou 15 years ago. The head of the multi-million dollar fashion label was collecting folk designs when she witnessed local embroiderers like Zhongmei having to sell fruit or leave the province to survive. 

It wasn't Xia Hua's first trip to Guizhou, the poorest region in China, and she had not forgotten the expertise of the locals who were able to make shoe pads and clothes for themselves and their families. The traditional Chinese craftsmanship inspired Xia Hua to create a business that would allow the world to benefit from their skills and change the fortunes of the embroiderers.

"We brought all the embroidery ladies together and let them learn to make the products." Liu Wenling, Executive Director of Eve Group says. 

Professional designers have created products for the embroiderers to make, under the brand Deep Mountain Bazaar, that have already proved to be successful on the market. 

"We call this 'make to order' ... the embroidery ladies got their payment from the customers which also maintains the traditional culture inheritance”says Chen.

The modern business model has enabled the ancient mountain village embroidery craft to find new markets in the biggest cities in China, and beyond. It means embroiderers like Liang Zhongmei can support her family while working. 

Liu Wenling told CGTN Europe "We have collected information of more than 13000 embroidery ladies which include their age, address, contact number, their length of experience in embroidery, their specialties in embroidery and whether their families have got any traditional totems (Chinese designs) or patterns.

"All this information could be reached by international designers who could take this as a database to collaborate with Chinese craftmanship" said Liu Wenling. 

The company brings these products to the best shopping malls in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing and now London. 

The Executive Director of the Eve Group went on to say "We are confident that we could build the deep Mountain Bazaar into a big platform for Chinese traditional handicrafts, just like another Alibaba for handicrafts.

"Therefore, we need more international platforms that could bring handicraft culture... out of China to let the world know more about the charm of Chinese traditional culture."  

The designs have appeared on the catwalk at Shanghai Fashion week and now are impressing international visitors at the 15th World Chinese Entrepreneurs Convention. The Deep Mountain Bazaar booth has been packed with hundreds of visitors, and many foreign investors have shown interest in the project while the Bazaar itself plans to expand its operation worldwide.