Artisans of Northern Thailand

The Kingdom of Thailand is located in tropical Southeast Asia, bordering Laos, Cambodia, the Gulf of Thailand, Malaysia, the Andaman Sea and Burma. Our grandparents still knew the country as Siam. As an unneeded clarification, the country is not in any way related to China or Taiwan.

Before we get to know a bit more about our Artisans and AsiaCreations itself, its quite useful to give some details about the places where we live and work. So, in this article we start with a general description and then get down to details... Like, what's the daily minimum wage in northern Thailand?

Population and Economy
The densely populated area of Bangkok is highly commercialised, industrialised and relatively fast paced. The areas known as the South, the Northeast and the North are largely agriculture based - and economically less fortunate. Major cities in these areas are Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Nakhon Sawan, Nakhon Ratchasima, Surat Thani, Phuket and Hat Yai.

Constitutional Monarchy
Thailand is one of 44 countries across the northern Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East, Pacific and the Commonwealth with a constitutional monarchy (1). Thailand's monarchy is the longest known and Thailand greatly reveres its royal house (2).

Tourism
With oceans, abundant beaches, intense capital city life, a large agricultural countryside and lush forested mountain areas, Thailand is a favourite tourist destination. Bangkok city, Pattaya in the east, Phuket in the south and Chiang Mai in the north are frequent travel destinations, each known for their own attractions. The quiet and agricultural northeast remains relatively unknown as an area to enjoy peaceful rural relaxation.

Environmental Issues
Some of the environmental issues the country faces are air pollution from vehicles in the cities, notably the Bangkok metro area; seasonal burning of fields and slash & burn land clearing, prevalent in all agricultural areas; this includes the Chiang Mai valley where pollutants conglomerate, especially in the dry, pre-planting season; water pollution from organic and factory wastes; deforestation; wildlife populations threatened by illegal hunting; soil erosion; flooding due to deforestation, climate change and water mismanagement (3).

Thailand's carbon footprint is rising, albeit slowly. On the positive side, Thailand's carbon and climate change contribution per individual person is less than half than that of the UK and less than a quarter of average individual contribution in the US (4). At the same time, we understand that this is no consolation, given our planet's circumstances.

Northern Thailand
For a quick description, northern Thailand is the upper northern corner on Thailand's map. The entire area of border here with Burma and Laos is know as the Golden Triangle. A term that still now conjures up memories of drug production, private armies, refugees and rainforest - especially on the Burmese side of the Triangle. In the meantime the drug trade has been brought down very significantly and normal trade has replaced it.

Northern Thailand's provinces are Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Kamphaeng Phet, Lampang, Lamphun, Mae Hong Son, Nan, Pha Yao, Phetchabun, Phichit, Phitsanulok, Phrae, Sukhothai, Tak, Uttaradit.

Historical Lanna Kingdom
In early times, the current northern-most area comprising Lampang, Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai was settled by the Tai Yuan people. Here the Lanna Kingdom emerged, administering the area for about 500 years, from the 13th to 18th centuries. During this time it changed allegiances several times. At some time it rivalled the Ayutthaya kingdom (Siam) on its own, then it was subjugated to Burmese rulers for quite a long time. It rid itself of Burmese occupation by aligning itself with Ayutthaya (4) and becoming part of Siam. Needless to say that all of this was accompanied by bloody battles, death and destruction. In addition to formal history accounts, there is a series of high quality animated movies (i.e. "Kan Kluay") that tell parts of this history for children, from the point of view of an elephant family. Elephants were highly respected in those days (they still are), and also served as what in these seemingly modern days we call "tanks" and "armoured personnel carriers" in battles. The term Lanna is still used informally today; it also refers to the Lanna language. which is a different character set from Thai.

Creativity
Whereas the Bangkok metro area is known for its industry and modern life, the northeast plateau (Isaan) for farming, hard work and good spirit, the north of the country is known for forests, agriculture and creativity (5).

The north is where you encounter an urban and rural culture that includes artists, artisans and skilled craftswomen and -men turning the prerequisites of basic natural materials, innovative creativity and practised skills into attractive and practical handmade products. One of the reasons for the high degree of creativity may very well be found in the diversity of ethnic groups and cultures of the Golden Triangle - Shan, Tai, Kayah (Karen), Pa-O, Wa, Lisu, Lahu, Lieu, Meo, Yao, Akha, and many others (6,7).

Natural Materials, Plus
Some of the more widely used natural base materials for hand crafted products are bamboo, clay, coconut, cotton, gold, gemstone, jade, mulberry bark, palm leaves, natural resin, rush, silk, silver, soap, tree sap, wax, fruit tree wood, hardwood. Other materials include bronze, metal, nylon, rayon, plastics and manmade resin (8).

Artisan Skills
Northern Thai artisans exhibit a wide range of skills, predominantly based on the materials that are traditionally available. These skills include bamboo working, carving, constructing, designing, embroidering, goldsmithing, jewellery making, metal working, pottery, painting, shoe-making, silversmithing, tailoring, weaving, woodworking and cabinet making, paper making (9).

Products
An impressive list of handmade products results from the combination of Thai artisans creativity, materials and long-practised skills: amulets, boxes, candles, candle holders, ceramic ware, clothing, fashion accessories, furniture, garments, greeting cards, handbags, handmade paper and its products, hats, jewellery, lacquerware, lamps, mats, miniature models, sandals, silverware, statues, textiles, toys and games, paintings, tableware, umbrellas, vases, wall fans... Many of these products find their origins in traditional, self-sufficient practical applications and the design variety of the Golden Triangle's many ethnic cultures (10).

Small-scale Family Workshops
With some exceptions, most artisan products are manufactured in small-scale, family-owned workshops. In some cases a single artisan or family internally produces all items from start to finish. An example of this is soap carving, where one couple carves, paints and assembles the finished soap flowers.

In other cases, individual artisans or artisan families form supply-chains with intricate sub-contracting dependencies. For certain products, this helps to specialise and produce more efficiently. A good example for this kind of supply-chain production is umbrella making, where bamboo harvesting, wood turning, frame carving, frame assembly, covering, finishing are often separated into distinctive sub-contracting steps. With many artisan actors involved in variegated supply chains, we also speak of a cluster, in this example the Bo Sang umbrella cluster.

The small-scale, self-employed approach has benefits and risks. Artisans remain independent entrepreneurs, can decide to take on orders or not, and have some leverage in arranging their schedule - for example caring for kids an elderly, making meals and taking care of their fields. The main risk is that income may vary. In many cases, this is alleviated in rural household sufficiency economics - meaning families additionally have a rice or other crop field and grow vegetables and herbs, while individuals may have lesser cravings for the latest iPad. The alternative is work in a factory. That brings stability, but loss of flexibility and likely less self-sufficiency and independence (11).

In Thailand, 99.6% of all registered businesses are categorised as small and medium. These SMEs contribute 28% of the country's exports and generate more than 80 percent of all jobs (12/13/14). The the minimum daily wage in northern Thailand for unskilled labour, as of 1 April 2012 is 252 Thai baht (approx. 8.40 USD).

AsiaCreations Artisans
All the products you see here on AsiaCreations are made by our partner artisans. With that we mean that they are our long-term, and personally close AsiaCreations suppliers, most since our beginning in 2002. We work closely together in ensuring product quality and timely delivery. We regularly meet, eat and drink together. We believe a good personal relationship enhances your, our and our partners experience. Business is important, but the doing business as a positive experience for all, has the highest priority.

AsiaCreations Workshop
A number of our products are made in our sister workshop. Here AsiaCreations team members produce branded, high quality umbrellas and carry bags, and for larger orders, work together with partner artisans in producing traditional umbrellas and hand fans. We also do research and development, and design of new, innovative products here. The workshop counts 16 persons.

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Footnotes:
1. Constitutional monarchy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Government_constitutional_monarchy.svg
2. Kanchanapisek http://kanchanapisek.or.th/index.en.html
3. Langley, Virgina (needs update) https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/th.html, our own observations
4. Lanna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanna
4. Per country co2 emissions per capita (needs update)
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_carbon_dioxide_emissio...
- http://www.miller-mccune.com/science-environment/tracking-climate-change...
5. Creative ChiangMai http://www.creativechiangmai.com/en/
6. Lao, Myanmar, Thai ethnic groups http://www.stimson.org/programs/myanmar-map/
7. Thai ethnic groups http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/thailand_1974_ethnic...
8. JediConsult /JEDI International, Ltd., unpublished survey results
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. GTZ Summary Evaluation Paper http://www.gtz.de/en/dokumente/Thailand_Brief-Report-KMU_Ex-post-Evaluat... (PDF 50 kB)
13. SME's as foundation for Thailand's creative economy http://thailand.prd.go.th/view_inside.php?id=5583
14. OSMEP http://www.bangkokpost.com/tech/gadget/276875/google-helps-smes-online

Others:
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/thailand.html

Artisans of Northern Thailand
by our team, January 2012

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