Wichai lailawitmongkhol is a professor at chulalongkorn university in bangkog. he is teaching at the faculty of architecture, in the department of industrial design. In march 2008 designboom visited together with him
a tiny village of silk producers and weavers in north-east thailand.
for the past five years, wichai has been teaching a group of women the techniques of the ancient art of silk making. the village ‘hong hae’ has ca. 60 families living in it. 10 of these families are currently involved in wichai's project. In order to support the community, the men, from december to february, harvest the rice patties. Then most men leave the village to go to bangkok for the better part of the year, where they work as unskilled laborers. To support their families, they leave the village because there are no other jobs available in these area. Wichai realized that revitalizing the crafts of dying and weaving can provide immense value to the inhabitants. By introducing new advanced skills to the woman left behind in the villages, wichai is providing a new means of employment. the extra income earned through the manufacturing of textiles allows the men to stay in the villages for longer periods, helping stabilize their situation.
while the women already have basic weaving and dying skills, wichai is teaching them more intricate and advanced techniques in order to bring their silk works to the attention of a larger and maybe international market. these skilled families now have a more profound knowledge which they can in turn transmit to the others in their village. In the following pages designboom documents the process of traditional silk making and will soon present to our readers a collection of hand-made silk scarves of this village, to support wichai’s work and the community’s welfare. enjoy!
update - you can now help support the community featured in this article
by purhcasing a 'natural silk scarf' from the designboom shop.
Silk cocoons in bamboo tray.
Close-up to silk cocoons.
The dyeing process.
Dyed silk yarn
Weaving on a wooden loom.
Silk scarves in ‘bamboo-green’
50 km from this small village is the largest silk producing conglomerate in the north east region of thailand. The ‘pha toom thong’ company, headed by mrs. saengdeun (pui), located in ‘na pho’, in the province of ‘buri rum’. This image shows wichai and the owner of the company, mrs. pui.
The ‘pha toom thong’ company has been producing silk textiles since two generations and is the official silk supplier to the thai royal family. the company is quite unique because they employ over 300 families all trained in traditional silk making techniques. some work at the company while the rest work from their homes. Wichai is also collaborating with this company because of his exquisite textile design expertise. This image shows birgit lohmann and massimo mini from designboom together with mrs. saengdeun and wichai lailawitmongkhol.
Currently 2 of wichai’s students of the textile design course gain experience in an internship at this company. Both are learning the traditional silk techniques in hopes that one day they too will be able to start their own silk producing companies. this image shows the interns nan (left) and pang (right) together with wichai.
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