13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES

GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES

15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

From Local Handicraft to Creative Art and Design: A Case Study of Palm Waving in
Kay Noi Village, Mae Taeng District, Chiang Mai Province”
Ms. Wanthida Wongreun 1Dr. Worrasit Tantinipankul 2 Mr. Bavornsak Petcharanonda3
1,3 Royal Project Foundation and King’s Recommended Project Supporting Center, King
Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi
2 School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi

Abstract

Kai Noi Village in Mueang Kai, Mae Taeng District, Chiang Mai is a predominantly
Khmu highland community situated near the Center for the Royal Project Foundation
in Mon Ngor. Agriculture is the major occupation of the community, and the primary
crops are fermented tea leaves for chewing and variety of modern cash crops to supply
the Royal Project Foundation. One of the village’s unique forms of heritage is a woven
craft made from the bark of branches of a local palm (Livistona speciosa) called “
Khor.” With the help of local agencies, a weaving craft group was created to produce
sticky rice boxes and trays made of Khor bark. However, the weaving group could not
meet the high volume of orders, since only a few villagers were willing to join the
group to produce these crafts. This research studied the problem of the village’s
weaving crafts by undertaking in-depth interviews with local members to analyze all
aspects of the weaving process, including time required for production and
expenditures involved in making the products. The researchers learned that the sale
of traditional weaving crafts failed to provide enough revenue and investment return
so it was not attractive for villagers to join the group. The research team analyzed the
situation and provided 3 solutions as follows: 1) to redesign more modern weaving
products, 2) to develop weaving skills for products with a higher value, and 3) to reduce
the cost of raw materials, such as changing materials to bamboo for some products.
As a result, more villagers joined the group, increasing from 5 to 12 members. With
higher standards and more modern designs, the weaving products of Kai Noi Village
were presented at both international and national art and crafts events.

Introduction
The Meaning and Value of Craft
The meaning of craft has changed significantly throughout history. During the
medieval period in Europe, for instance, craft referred to a broad range of skilled trades
which required an amalgamation of intelligence, skill and strength (MacDonald, 2005,
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15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

34). Moreover, before the 18th century, there was no clear separation between “crafts”
and “art,” and in fact, the Latin term ‘ars’ denoted a particular skill or craft. However,
during the era of the Enlightenment, the meaning began to change, and handicraft was
degraded as it was based on technical skill for financial benefit in oppose to fine art
of genius and free spirit according to Kant’s Critique of the Power of Judgement.
Painting, sculpture, architecture, music and poetry became highly recognized as fine
arts (Beaux Arts), thus separated from the common crafts and decorative arts
(Kristeller,1990, 165).

Ideas about craft shifted again in the mid-19th century, as the crafts and decorative arts
were recognized as being as valuable as fine arts by a renowned British art critic, John
Ruskin (1819-1900) and the designer, William Morris. John Ruskin argued that any great
art, including paintings and sculptures in famous churches and palaces, could be
considered as a part of the decorative arts.1 William Morris also maintained that the
“lesser arts,” which included “the crafts of house-building, painting, joinery and
carpentry, smiths’ work, pottery and glass-making, weaving, and many others,” should
not be detached from the higher arts of painting, sculpture and architecture.2 Their
strong argument to value crafts on par with the fine arts inspired the Arts and Crafts
movement in England, which flourished in Europe and North America from 1880 to
1910.3 William Morris also established a firm, Morris & Co., to bring artists, designers
and architects with complementary skills to work on decorative art projects. Morris &
Co. became a highly successful craft business bringing craft production to the level of
art. However, by 1850, the industrial revolution had transformed the British economy
and spread throughout the world. The domestic utilitarian goods produced by
craftsmen were replaced by mass produced commodities (MacDonald, 2005, 36,37).
Once again, the crafts declined when the avant-garde and modern movement
replaced the Arts and Crafts movement by the 1930s. While modern and avant-garde
art became a mirror of contemporary issues and social and political trends, handicrafts
became a symbol of nostalgia and romantic ruralism. Whereas modern artists used
technology, chance, spontaneous assemblage and originality in their work, the crafts
became a separate domain associated with the continuity of traditions and materials

1 John Ruskin, “Modern Manufacture and Design” in The Two Paths: Being Lectures on Arts, and its Application

to Decoration and Manufacture, (New York: John Wiley and Son Publisher, 1872), 79,80.
2 William Morris “The lesser Art” in hopes and Fears for Art (London: Strangeway&Son,1882) 3.
3 Oscar Lovell Triggs, Chapters in the History of the Arts and Crafts Movement (Charleston: BiblioBazaar, 2009)
 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES
GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES
15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

of craft practice.4 Moreover, beginning in the 20th century, there were various scholars
working on historical, critical and theoretical studies of modern art, while there were
few critical studies on the development of craft. It was not until 1971 that a Crafts
Advisory Committee was created in United Kingdom, to provide grants, loans,
exhibition and education about craft, thus stimulating critical discourses on
contemporary crafts instead of fixed ideas of tradition and nostalgia. Finally, a Crafts
Magazine launched in 1973 to promote critical thinking on contemporary crafts and
provide an area for academic debate.

Handicraft in Thailand
In general terms, according to Cohen (2000:8), the crafts in Thailand can be
categorized into two overlapping spheres of ‘court arts’ and ‘folk crafts’ by the detail
of craftsmanship, distribution methods and major patrons or users. The court arts were
mostly produced by highly skilled crafts people for royal ceremonial and ritual
purposes at the palaces or temples, including gold and silversmithing, nielloware,
lacquerware, silk and brocade weaving. On the other hand, the folk crafts were made
of local materials for common purposes in everyday life such as basketry, mat-making,
woodwork, bamboo work, ironsmith, stone cutting and many types of vegetable fiber
weaving.

Crafts in Thailand have a different history and meaning from that of Europe. In
contrast to the craft guilds of Europe, within the traditional context of the “mandala
galactic polity” in Southeast Asia (Tambiah 1976:102-131), most of the royal crafts
were produced by war captive slaves from neighboring kingdoms who were resettled
around the capital (Cohen, 2000:7). Therefore, the early arts and crafts of Thailand
developed by borrowing and adapting from Cham, Khmer and Chinese sources (Warren
& Tettoni, 1994). Pensiri (2013) has argued that Thai handicrafts became a symbol of
the civilization of the country in its struggle against colonialism, and in that context,
the ruling elite sought to display and exhibit Thai craftsmanship internationally, such
as at the exhibit at the court of Versailles in 1686 (Galois, 1971).

During the 1960s and 1970s, tourism boomed as a result of the US involvement
in Vietnam War, and handicrafts were also promoted further and became a symbol of
the identity of Thai culture. In addition, the Cold War context and communist threat

4 Susan Rowley, ‘Craft, Creativity and Critical Practice’ in Reinventing Textiles: Tradition and Innovation (London,

2000) 2

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also prompted the Thai government to stimulate new development and the market
economy in the countryside. State authorities were also very active in promoting
development in the hill tribe areas of northern Thailand during this period, in order to
stem the illegal opium cultivation.

Economic and infrastructural development also brought western, industrialized

products to villages. Western goods entered the countryside since the turn of the 20th
century. As Thailand rapidly transformed from an agricultural into an industrially-based
economy in the 1980s and early 1990s, foreign investment poured into central
Thailand to produce export goods (Pasuk, 1996:143-170). Industrialization and major
road expansion since this period led to the introduction of industrially produced good
and products into the rural areas. As happened in Europe one hundred years before,
in Thailand everyday goods produced with craft skills were threatened by cheap, mass-
produced goods. The decline of crafts was more severe in the central plain Thailand
near Bangkok than in the north, northeast and the south of Thailand (Cohen, 2000: 9-
10).

While in England, the Arts and Crafts Movement and Crafts Advisory Committee
was established to support crafts, in Thailand, the Foundation For the Promotion of
Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques under the Royal Patronage of
Her Majesty the Queen (SUPPORT) was founded in 1976, in order to develop
handicrafts as supplementary income for poor farmers in remote areas. One of the
missions of the foundation is to prevent the decline and disappearance of Thai
handicrafts.5

Handicrafts in Northern Thailand

In the northern Thai context, crafts people in the royal court of the Lanna
Kingdom (years) were also from ethnic minorities villages brought to the region of
Chiang Mai as war captives in the 19th century (Bowie, 1993:148). With its unique
mountainous geography, handicrafts of the northern Thai region can be divided into
two broad geographical categories of highland and lowland crafts. According to the
Tribal Research Institute, the hill tribes are comprised of 9 groups, namely: Karen,
Hmong, Mien (Yao), Lahu (Muser), Lisu, Akha Htin, Khamu and Lawa (Lua) (Kunstadter
1983, Lewis and Lewis 1984). Historically, the hill tribes mostly maintained their

5 [Link]
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isolation from lowland society but, as a result of Cold War politics, problems with
refugees, the communist insurgency and the practice of opium cultivation, Thai state
authorities began to govern and intervene in the hill tribe areas from the 1960s
onwards and sought to incorporate hill tribes into Thai society (Cohen, 2000:12).
Although hill tribes began to lose their cultural identity as a result of these policies,
the northern mountainous area became a popular attraction for foreigners searching
for ‘primitive’ culture. Hill tribe crafts became commercialized by both tourism
businesses and non-governmental organizations involved with some tribal groups who
were refugees from neighboring countries, particularly Laos. Lowland crafts, in contrast,
gradually grew in the area surrounding Chiang Mai, the capital city of Lanna Kingdom,
to be well-known craft villages such as Bo Sang for paper umbrellas, San Kamphaeng
for silk and Wualai for silversmithing, but they either faced urbanization or became
modernized with a greater variety of products in response to high demand from tourists
(Cohen 2000:15).

In the local context of two craft communities producing basketry and

woodwork in Chiang Mai, Cohen (2000: 275-294) found four major factors leading to
decline in village basket crafts. The first was changing patterns of livelihood that used
craft products as tools in the field. Secondly, the industrial and urban development in
drew young generations to industrial employment instead of practicing the crafts
learned from an older generation. Thirdly, the cost of raw materials escalated or were
harder to find in the area but the value of products remained low. Finally, crafts people
were unable to adapt and develop skills to meet new demands and changing markets
such as exports and souvenirs for tourists.

This research paper focuses on the development of basketry made from

special palm bark and bamboo crafts in one of the hill tribe villages in Chiang Mai
Province that is still relatively isolated and not yet impacted by tourism and market
penetration. However, livelihood patterns and practices have been altered by state
authorities and non-governmental organizations associated with the Royal Project
Foundation since the 1960s, as cash crop cultivation and fruit orchard production was
introduced. Modern agriculture gradually expanded and the traditional tea plantations
declined. The handwoven baskets used in everyday life for tea cultivation was
replaced by industrial produced baskets, and there is still no demand for woven
products for export or tourist products.
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The research mainly has explored how academic institutions, communities of

artists and designers can engage with local craft producers to enrich their skills and
products in the context of northern Thailand. The research describes the development
of woven crafts into creative design installations exhibited internationally. The research
asks how local craft makers of Kai Noi village can benefit over the medium to long
term from collaborating with designers and artists in art installation projects and
international art exhibitions, apart from gaining a position in contemporary art world?
Moreover, in which direction should the group of crafts producers develop to further
adapt to the new market and demand in modern society?

Research Approach

King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) and Rajamangaka

University of Technology Lanna (RMUTL) have a shared mission of integrating exellence
of research, academic service and teaching advancement in order to serve marginal
communities, and as such, our research approach followed a “Socially Engaged
Scholarship” approach. This research for sociial engagement reverses the normative
pattern of academic research that starts from basic research to applied research and
translational research that can be developed into final product. Basic research creates
academic impact first and has only secondary interest in public impact. By contrast,
this research study sought to collaborate with community at the start, in order to
develop a research project aimed at problem-solving, creating user impact first and
academic impact afterwards.

Research methodology and process

In this study, we employed participatory action research with members of the

weaving group and all stakeholders involved in this handicraft project. We conducted
the research focusing on engagement with community in 3 stages. At the first stage,
fieldwork was undertaken in order to understand the broader community context, in
part by interviews with all the key stakeholders and community members. Moreover,
we tried to understand the meaning of crafts as well as the process of production in
this village, and therefore analyzed all stages and costs of production including the
payment for skilled labor. The fieldwork created trust between our researchers and
the villagers.
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In the second stage, weaving group members and researchers jointly created
the process to solve the problems, pinpoint the location of difficulties and develop
weaving products systematically. These discussions led to the realization that weavers
of Kai Noi village in fact needed to develop new designs that could fit with a new
market, increase value and bring more profit to the crafts community. The skill of crafts
people also needed to be enhanced for crafting various finishings and forms. Another
issue that arose was related to the availability of “Khor ” palm branch bark was
available only during the rainy season. Given this limited availability of raw material,
costs associated with weaving were higher in the dry season thus there was less
opportunity for villagers to practice. The villagers agreed with us to shift materials to
bamboo strips, which is more abundant and cheaper.

The final stage of research had to do with managing the organization of the
weaving group to make sure that part of profit was redistributed to community social
welfare. Our research found that it was necessary to control and improve the quality
of weaving products as part of the group’s self-assessment and to maintain well-being
of members of the group. With quality control, the group has greater confidence to
pursue the new suitable market segments that generate more income for the weaving
craft group.

Weaving Products at Kai Noi Village

The location of this research study is the highland village of Kai Noi, Mueang
Kai, Mae Taeng District in the north of Chiang Mai Province on the major route to Pai
District of Mae Hongson Province. The research team from RMUTL-KMUTT
Collaborative Center for Royal Project Foundation and Academic Activities was asked
to visit Kai Noi village by the Mon Ngor Royal Project Development Center to assist the
village’s basketry weaving group. Kai Noi community is a settlement of multi-ethnic
groups, but the Khamu were the first to settle down in this region as logging labor for
Bombay Burmah Company who received a concession from Thai government. Soon,
Lua, Karen, Hmong and Shan tribes as well as Thais from lowland areas moved to
settle in the area. In 2011, the Kai Noi River flooded and mudslides following a
depression storm wiped out the entire village. Fifteen houses disappeared and there
were ten casualties. With the assistance of state authorities, the village relocated into
the National Reserve area under the aegis of Mon Ngor Royal Project Development
Center and currently repopulated to 60 households with 144 members.
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The resettlement was hard as most community members had to set up a new
farming system with new kind of crops. They faced a period of income shortage before
harvesting time. The young and middle-aged population left the village to work in
another province or the city of Chiang Mai. The elderly with weaving skills were left in
the village, and comprised 41 percent of the population. The advantage of the new
settlement is its unique lanscape vegetation. Eighty percent of the new village territory
was covered with a special kind of palm tree locally called Khor. The local palm
(Livistona speciosa) leaves are utilized as unique roofing materials in the vernacular
architecture of this region.

The supplementary income from selling Khor leaves as roofing averages around
800,000-1,000,000 Baht for the entire village or around 20,000 baht per household.
Local government agencies and business such as resorts and stores in the region of
Chiang Mai, Lamphun, and Maehongson annually order Khor leaves to replace the old
roofings during the rainy season in order to prepare for special winter festivities. Kai
Noi community became a hub of distributing Khor leaves in the upper Northern region
of Thailand. Moreover, Khor is also a versatile plant in that every part can be used in
everyday life of community members.

For example, the trunk of Khor can be used as firewood for cooking and
steaming tea leaves. Its bark can be boiled as herbal medicine for diarrhea. Its shoots
can be cooked as a curry which is popular for local festivities and important
ceremonies. Cooking with Khor shoot signifies the highest level of important events
such as weddings, funerals and community meritmaking ceremonies, since it is
necessary to cut the whole plant down for getting its shoot. Khor curry therefore is the
symbol of the community’s unity and community participation. Khor curry cooked and
served for guests also demonstrates the community’s great honor to visitors. Khor fruit
also can be lightly boiled for a snack. The leaves of 30 cm by 120 cm are usually
stitched together with bamboo sticks and used for roofing.

As previously discussed regarding the supplementary income, we found that

the price of one leaf is 10 baht. So it means that around 80,000 to 100,000 Khor leaves
were cut annually and it means the same amount of Khor branches were cut. However,
only 3,000 barks from branches were used as strips for weaving basketry while the rest
got moldy and decomposed. If these 77,000 barks could be peeled to approximately
770,000 strips, it could be woven for producing more basketry and possibly earn more
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income. Usually, the local community would not cut Khor branches in summer or
winter since there was no order for Khor leaves, and this would waste the leaves.

The core of the Khor branch can be used as hardwood and the bark can be
peeled to make traditional household kitchen utensils such as trays, sticky rice boxes,
mats, bowls and various forms of containers. With its aesthetic quality of naturally-
polished texture and elasticity, the community was asked to supply 700 large trays to
the Office of Highland Research and Development Institute for the price of 100 baht
each within the period of 3 months. With the assistance of Mon Ngor Royal Project
Development Center, Kai Noi weaving group was created and 17 members were
recruited. However, the group failed to deliver the products on time since 12 members
left the group. Only 4 elderly and 1 adult committed to work. The major reason was
the low payment which was insufficient for their labor and time. Moreover, they also
failed to find enough materials to make strips for weaving.

Kai Noi as a project-based classroom

With KMUTT’s research approach of “Social Lab”, the first workshop was
launched as a short-term operation to bring the team of 32 students from various
faculties of KMUTT under the Gifted Education Office (GEO) to the area. They
brainstormed with Kai Noi craftspeople to seek a solution to major problems of
insufficient materials, and in spite of the short period of a 2-day visit, they were able
to arrive at some feasible suggestions and solutions. One had to do with preservation
of Khor barks. The students proposed that Khor barks should be preserved and
protected from mold by two different processes and approaches: first, a dry heating
process and second, a chemical coating process. However, both solutions need long-
term research and precise testing from both RMUTL’s laboratory in food development
and KMUTT’s chemical engineering department. The dry heating process needed to
build an oven and test for its temperature that Khor strips could be dried but still
durable for weaving. The chemical coating process needed to explore the right
chemical substance that could protect Khor strips from mold and preserve the quality
of Khor.

After the workshop, another KMUTT “Social lab” classroom was launched to
exchange knowledge among the craft group of Kai Noi community, students, lecturers
in Industrial Design Program of School of Architecture and Design, KMUTT, and the
faculty of Industrial Design Program of Faculty of Art and Architecture RMUTL. The
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group of 8 students and 2 lecturers from School of Architecture and Design of KMUTT
visited the community to learn the local contexts and problems of the crafts group
and weaving process as a part of KMUTT’s crafts design course. The class also
consulted with Associate Professor Vassana Saima of RMUTL who has a long history
of working with several craft communities in Chiang Mai.6 The workshop was organized
to exchange knowledge between younger generations of urban students and the
village elderly. The students learnt techniques how to form the product from strips
made of bamboo or “Khor” palm leaves while the elderly craftsmen learned new
design from young students. The result of the short-term activities initiated a mid-term
operation for design research and development. After students understood the local
context and problem of Kai Noi community, they created new designs and processes
of weaving craft in order to generate new products that could bring higher income. In
this stage, students and lecturers also brought new products to discuss with craft
groups and the community also suggested some techniques of weaving for new
designs.

From the “Social lab” classroom and workshop that brought students to
understand the problems and context of the area, students not only created new
products or solutions for problems but found the methods and tools for improving
the weaving process, which is a medium-term project as well. A KMUTT Industrial
Design student who designed a new bamboo backpack from an old basket for
collecting tea as a part of her 2-month internship project found that the size and
proportion of baskets were slightly different since each craft maker has different
weaving skill and aptitude. She proposed to develop the mold for assisting the weaving
process as her final exit project. The mold was designed to help each craft maker to
weave the object in the same proportion and reduce the time of weaving product.
The mold can be detached and composed in diverse shapes enable craft maker to
standardize different forms of baskets. The final exit project of KMUTT Industrial Design
student reduced the production time and increased the standard of the weaving
product.

6 The course was operated by Assistant Prof. Woranooch Chuenruedeemol and Assistant Prof. Nanthana Boonla-

or of School of Architecture and Design, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. Associate Prof.
Vassana Saima is currently the head of Industrial Design Department of Faculty of Art and Architecture at RMUTL.
Prof. Vassana is also renounced designer using bamboo strips to formulate very distinctive designed chandeliers
and other products. Her works were highly appreciated in international arena.
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The field-based activities with academic institutions for skills development led
to a greater variety of products than the traditional sticky rice boxes and trays.
Moreover, KMUTT students developed methods for quality control by using a mold
for forming the weaving product. Surprisingly, as a result of these innovations, the
younger generation and teenagers expressed interest in joining the group to learn more
about weaving baskets. With more members, the group started to use bamboo ribbon
strips as a main material to practice making the product since the price of bamboo is
lower and more abundant in the area. The woven bamboo products were sold and
created more jobs in the community and thus the number of members in the weaving
group increased from 5 to 12 and the products from community of Kai Noi were
exhibited at international and national exhibitions. The group of crafts makers in
community are now eager to produce the new merchandise and develop new skills.
However, they still faced the problem that the expenditure was still high and there is
an unclear market demand.

Kai Noi craft and the international art exhibition

Through a network of international designers teaching at KMUTT, the craft

group from Kai Noi Village, along with other 30 Thai craftspeople, were selected to
demonstrate basketry weaving at the Thai Factory Exhibition of Setoushi Triannal
2016—a famous art event at Takamatsu Port on Shikoku Island, Japan. From
exchanging ideas with Japanese visitors and other crafts producers at the exhibition in
Japan, the craft group leader became more confident to create new products. For
instance, the bamboo chicken coop was adapted to be plates and a cover for serving
dessert at formal meetings at the local government head office.

The experience at Setouchi Triannal 2016 also became the village crafts
group’s reference for designers and customers in Thailand and abroad. Through the
network of KMUTT and RMUTL alumni and lecturers, the bamboo work and skill of Kai
Noi village was brought to the attention of young designers of the SUPPORT Arts and
Crafts International Center of Thailand (SACICT) which is a public organization aiming
to support crafts development in Thailand. Kai Noi crafts group began to collaborate
with SACICT for displaying indigenous weaving work at various international art shows.

The first exhibition event for which Kai Noi craft group collaborated with SACICT
was the Chiang Mai’s Design Week 2016, which took place from 3rd to 11th December.
Kai Noi Craft group produced 100 bamboo boxes for Mr. Piboon Amornjiraporn, an
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exhibition designer of SACICT, composed them together with specific lighting as an

installation art project called “Realm Pavilion.” This art installation was displayed at
the Three King Monument, the main entrance to this event. Moreover, the bamboo
chicken coop was redesigned to be the lamps at Setoushi Triannal 2016 and bamboo
boxes at Chiang Mai’s Design Week exhibitions created an attractive lighting
atmosphere. As a result, the craft community received several orders for making
bamboo lamps from resort business owners who experienced the exhibition. The
community needed to order more bamboo strips for the production of lamps and
found that the cost of bamboo including labor cost was lower than Khor palm bark
while they were sold at the same price of about 100 Baht. The Khor palm also was
available only short period of rainy season and got moldy easily.

The 5,000 barb fish trap made of bamboo from Kai Noi craft group was also
composed as a part of intallation art at the main stage of the biggest music and art
festival in Thailand, the Wonder Fruit Festival Pattaya, which ran the music event from
16th to 19th February, 2017. The installation art called “ Whale: the Cross-Cultural
Craft Collaboration” was designed by four artists: Vassana Saima and Piboon
Amornjiraporn, Saruta Kiatparkpoom, and Naomi McIntoch. The art project was
supported by The British Council of Thailand. The festival drew many celebrities who
posted themselves with Kai Noi’s art installation images on social medias. This event
boosted strong confidence on craft products in the community. The younger
generation of Kai Noi felt inspired to learn more weaving technique with their parents
and elderly.

Through the connection of SACICT, Kai Noi craft group participated in the
International Innovative Craft Fair 2017. The original baskets made from Khor bark from
Kai Noi Village were displayed among handicrafts from other parts of Thailand and
other countries. Moreover in this event, Kai Noi craft group was one of the 4 groups
that supported bamboo crafts for Mr. Marvin Saima, a young artist, to compose an art
installation titled “Theepa Malee” for the Innovative Craft Award 2017 (ICA) in SACICT
Craft Trend Gallery 2018 Exhibition. The work received 4th Prize from 220 competitors.

Conclusion
The aim of this research was to explore the right process and methods to
support local community handicrafts. The work started with identifying methods to
preserve the unique material of Khor bark for making strips for weaving. However, while
the research about Khor as a material was time-consuming, village crafts needed to be
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developed both in terms of the skills of artisans and product design. The crafts group
and researchers agreed to adopt bamboo as a material for continuing to explore new
methods and to practice weaving skills and establish their reputation. Furthermore, it
was agreed that only the premium and high quality products would be made from
Khor bark, which was harder to prepare and seasonally limited. Bamboo production
activities helped with exploring new designs, functions and developing technical skills
of weaving, thus generating income and attracting younger generations to join weaving
group. The key of this study is the consideration for not only preserving the indigenous
handicrafts but also enhancing the ability of all involving parties in thinking about crafts
as open to adaptation and change according to new markets and demands. Academic
activities and workshops also boosted confidence, developed processes of production,
and enhanced skills and quality control. The participation in international art
exhibitions and festivities opened opportunities to practice with similar groups of
professional interest, explored the potential for craft forms with contemporary lifestyle
and, most importantly, generated diverse thinking for new design and markets among
crafts makers. The Kai Noi craft group has developed from producing traditional
handicrafts to creating integral forms and structures for modern designs and
contemporary art installations. However, Kai Noi community still needs to demonstrate
its capability to adapt to changing markets and real demand that constantly require
new products for modern lifestyles.

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 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES
GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES
15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

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 13TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THAI STUDIES
GLOBALIZED THAILAND? CONNECTIVITY, CONFLICT AND CONUNDRUMS OF THAI STUDIES
15-18 JULY 2017, CHIANG MAI, THAILAND

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