Handicraft Capital of Thailand

Chiang Mai is known for several arts and crafts that have been passed on from generation to generation and have survived and thrived, even after the golden age of the Lanna Kingdom withered.

This is evident everywhere you go in Chiang Mai, but concentrated along San Kamphaeng Road, dubbed as the “handicraft highway.” Here, you will see stores and workshops showcasing a mix of artistic traditions – wood carving, umbrella-making, silk weaving, lacquerware, and Celadon pottery making, among others.

We spent one afternoon visiting several craft centres that lined that highway.

The first one was woodcarving shop where we watched talented craftsmen pieces of wood into fine works of art. With their mallets, chisels, and pure imagination and creativity, they transformed a plain tree trunk into a fine sculpture. Most of the products were constructed from teakwood and rosewood, considered to be the most precious gifts of the forest.

These craftsmen specialize in the bas relief technique (as well as high-reliefs and round-reliefs) in which figures or designs are raised slightly from a flat, two-dimensional background, thus creating subtle depth without significant undercutting. I was amazed by the intricate designs carved on the smallest table décors to the bigger furniture pieces. But over and beyond their beauty, you would appreciate how they depict their culture and traditions by showcasing events from rural and religious life – farmers ploughing the rice fields with their water buffalos, elephants logging wood, monks in prayer – and featuring people and objects that are important to them, such as spirit houses, Buddha statues, coconut trees, local flowers, and many more. Their products go to people’s homes, nearby temples, and even shipped abroad.

Next, we went to an umbrella factory, where they make hand-made parasols with natural materials – bamboo for the frame, sa paper from mulberry bark pulp for the canopy, and fermented persimmon oil for its sealing agent. Then they are hand-painted with floral or animal motifs in different color schemes. These are not for decoration. They are actually used by locals as protection from the heat during the summer months, and the torrential downpours during the rainy season.

The leftover sa paper doesn’t go to waste. It is used to make fans (often matching with the umbrellas), bags, lanterns, notebooks, stationery, or wrapping paper.

Across the street was a silk-weaving workshop owned by the same family. The artisans showed us how silk is processed and how silk thread is manually woven into silk fabric. The demonstration helped me understand why silk is one of the most expensive fabrics in the market. Aside from its natural sheen and durable quality, producing it is a long and labour-intensive process that involves several intricate steps that require a high-level of skill. Silk weaving has also traditionally been a family craft passed down from mother to daughter, a testament to the generational knowledge of the art. Additionally, silk is a highly-valued fabric in Thailand as its history is intertwined with its use in religious and royal settings – from a monk’s ceremonial garb to the Royal Family member’s wardrobe.

The most fun part was “meeting” the silk worms. I even had my photo taken with these worms crawling around my fingers. We learned about their cultivation, watched them munch on mulberry leaves, examined their shiny cocoons, and observed the workers as they carefully harvested and boiled these cocoons to loosen the fibers.

In another section, we saw how the fibers were dyed, hand-reeled, wound onto spools, and finally woven using a traditional handloom. Each step was treated with utmost care, patience. Skill, and talent. The finished product, with colours, patterns, and designs representing their region and symbolizing Thai values truly embody the Chiang Mai identity and spirit.

That night, we shopped at the Chiang Mai Night Bazaar, which was just a stone’s throw away from our hotel. I got to practice my haggling skills and I thought I was pretty good. I bought for myself a set of navy-blue hand-woven cotton Mon Hom full-sleeved blouse paired with a slim, angle-length skirt called Pha Zin. Both were decorated with intricate gold embroidery. I also purchased a matching hand-woven purse and a scarf made of Thai silk.

And I paid less than half of the original price quoted by the vendors! I was so proud of myself and I could tell the vendors were almost as proud. I was even certain that they enjoyed our short business exchange. I guess, it’s a talent that most Asians possess and it’s a game that most Asians indulge in when in the marketplace.

At one end of the market, I spotted a hill tribe woman with a straw basket vending some jewelry. The hill tribes in northern Thailand, particularly the Karens (not the same as the American “Karens” we feature in social media posts…hahaha), are known for quality hand-made silver jewelry and beads. Each piece is unique because it is fashioned by their silversmiths in the traditional tribal method with the use of primitive tools.

I approached her to take a look at her goods. My female tour mates followed me. As we were huddled together examining the wares, we were suddenly swarmed by a throng of tribal ladies, each trying to get our attention and convincing us that she could give the best deal. Oh wow…we didn’t expect that! Where did they all come from? We managed to crawl away from the herd but not without our acquisitions. I got two pieces of bracelet with charms – one for myself, and one for my cousin. I did not haggle too much, this time, because I wanted the Karen woman to make a decent profit.

All that shopping tired us out. Some went back to the hotel to sleep early, while some ran off on a quest to find stores that sold other unique souvenirs that we did not get to check out at the “handicraft highway,” such as Celadon ceramics and gold-leaf lacquerware.

Celadon ceramics are pottery products made from black clay found in the area and then baked in wood-fired kilns at very high-temperature before being glazed with wood ashes from a local tree. The unique process and the use of indigenous resources give them their characteristic blue-green colour and cracked texture.

Lacquerware, on the other hand, refers to various kinds of household containers and kitchen tools coated with rak (shiny black goo that result from the dried sap of a local tree) and decorated with gold leaves.

Other tour mates wanted to look for the brand-name designer goods, both genuine and fake. I must say the imitation ones from Thailand are of surprisingly good quality. But as I did in China, I skipped over these products.

Since my shopping spree was over, all I wanted to do was eat something light and quick before heading back to the hotel. A tour mate agreed to join me in exploring the food market. We found a stall in the corner selling some interesting-looking grilled meatballs on sticks. We tried a few of them and after quelling our late-night hunger pangs, we called it a night.