TAMMACHAT Natural Textiles Travel Blog

Visit our new blog!

2010-04-28T02:45:00.000+07:00

We've put all our Travel Blog entries from 2007 through April 2010 into one new blog at http://tammachatnaturaltextiles.blogspot.com/. Please drop by.

Thoughts on fair trade from Alleson

2008-04-25T23:07:00.002+07:00

We've been back in Canada one month now. We've had a booth at 2 local shows and are planning 2 large textile events in Halifax and Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia to coincide with World Fair Trade Weeks (May 1-15, 2008). We've had a chance to reflect and I want to share some of my thoughts with you about some of the challenges of this work.

Most challenging is the wide variety of producers, locations and conditions associated with the pieces. Classification or certification, whether for fair trade, organic or Canada Customs, always involves standardization; and the artisans we meet and the textiles we trade defy standardization.

There are so many steps involved in handmade textile products that a dozen or more farmers and craftspeople are usually involved in making a single item. Take, for example, a baby’s sunhat. There are a number of people involved with the production:

the farmer who grew the cotton, organically but without certification
the group of grandmothers who fluffed and spun the yarn by hand
their neighbour and or daughter who wove the cloth
the artist who designed the hat and made the pattern
the tailor who cut the cloth and sewed the machine stitching
the natural dyers who dyed the cloth for decoration
the embroiderers who made and assembled the appliqué detail

And, to make matters more complicated, these people don’t all live in the same province well enough village, few of them speak English nor know how to effectively market their work internationally and few are online.

So, first of all there are the logistical problems of all those people working together. Luckily we’ve met some incredibly connected and dedicated Thai community development workers who do knit these production “chains” together. With patience, flexibility and a lot of lead time, those challenges can and have been met.

But whether these complex production networks can be examined, analyzed and certified is another matter. Very likely their way of working doesn’t fit any of the existing models. Perhaps to do so, one would have to sacrifice the conditions and traditions that created the product.

Consequently, we prefer to meet the producers and, when possible, visit the villages where they live and work. That’s the best part of this work but also the most unpredictable.

We have sometimes travelled all day, introduced ourselves in our halting Thai and explained our intentions to incredulous villagers, who of course want us to buy their work, regardless of whether it meets our criteria. When it doesn’t, we usually buy a few pieces anyway to soften their disappointment and, more importantly, to avoid their loss of face, which in Southeast Asian cultures is something always to keep in mind.

We’ve also had crazy situations, like when our rented motorcycle, fully laden with us and our overflowing shopping bags, gasped to a halt as sunset approached. We were nowhere close to a bus, well enough a hotel, and we ended up hitching a ride in the back of a truck.

These challenges are worth overcoming though – especially as we begin to build stronger relationships both with the women artisans we buy from and with women here in Canada (and elsewhere) who also love and appreciate textiles like these and who like what we're doing. It's a good direction for us.

Alleson

Peace, women and Lao silk

2008-02-24T13:46:00.006+07:00

Laos, a small, impoverished and thinly populated country land-locked between China, Thailand, Vietnam and Burma, is renowned for its silk. In recent years, however, a flood of low-quality silk threads and finished weavings from China and Vietnam have overwhelmed the Lao marketplace, resulting in a mishmash of qualities of 'silk' textiles available in Laos and Thailand.

So we were excited to find the not-for-profit Lao Sericulture Co. -- a source of high quality, organic, naturally dyed silk textiles, sold under the name Mulberries.

In 2006, Mulberries was certified by IFAT, the global network of fair trade organizations, a designation earned for its fair trade and poverty alleviation practices.

We're equally excited that Lao Sericulture uses no chemicals anywhere in their cycle of textile production; they (and we) can rightly assert that their silk is 100% organic!

When we were in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, we had the great honour to meet with the founder of Lao Sericulture Co., Kommaly Chantavong, who was a nominee for "1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005." A quiet, dignified woman, Kommaly is well described on the Peacewomen Across the Globe website:

Kommaly was 11 years old when her village was destroyed by US bombers attacking the Ho Chi Minh Trail. She walked for a month to Vientiane, the capital, bringing with her silk weaving skills that her family has been engaged in for generations. “I learned to weave from my mother when I was six years old, and I loved it”, she recollects.

Kommaly studied nursing, but then she found the goal of her life: “I met many desperately poor families displaced from rural areas without any marketable skills,” she explains, “so I started to teach the women how to weave silk...Our goal is to strengthen the position of women by giving them a dependable income and thus improve the chances of their children,” says Kommaly with a gentle but radiant smile.

Lao Sericulture has a production and residential training facility on a farm in Xieng Khouang province, which employs 60 people who:
- raise mulberry trees and the animals that produce the manure to fertilize them;
- raise silkworms and produce silk threads;
- grow the materials they use to naturally dye the silk threads;
- and weave high quality textiles.

Understandably, more than 17 people might be involved in the production of 1 scarf!

Not all of Mulberries' producers are at the farm; more than 2,000 people benefit from their involvement. Lao Sericulture provides silkworm eggs to weavers in numerous villages in several provinces. Women in each village bring a different set of skills to the production cycle: some raise silkworms and produce threads, some are expert with dyes and others specialize in one of the many types of weaving evident in Mulberries' products.

Lao Sericulture also plays an important role in training: there are 40 looms at the farm where village women train free of charge for 3-12 months before returning to their villages to train other women. Because they work with villagers in different provinces, they are able to offer designs that are specialties of each region: ikat (mutmii) from the South, supplementary weft from the central region and discontinuous supplementary weft from the North. (This information is probably of most interest to the weavers among you!)

We bought dozens of 100% organic, naturally dyed scarves and shawls in deep magenta, soft amethyst, vibrant copper, subtle latte, buttery beeswax and more! We are delighted to bring these beautiful textiles to Canada, along with the story and the spirit of Lao Sericulture.

If you'd like to learn more about Kommaly and the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 Campaign, visit the PeaceWomen Across the Globe site.

Ellen (Luk Nok)
and
Alleson (Pii Tem)

Panmai Group: silk art!

2008-02-03T21:07:00.001+07:00

Our next visit was to Panmai Group, another women's weaving group in Isaan (Northeast Thailand) that has been organized for almost 20 years. Like Prae Pan Group, it was started to help women earn income so they could stay in their villages, continue traditional work that they learned from their mothers and grandmothers, and supplement their income from rice farming.

Panmai has members in villages spread throughout 3 provinces in Northeast Thailand, close to the border of Cambodia: Roi Et, Surin and Si Saket. We arrived at their office tucked away in a small market town of Roi Et province and settled in for 3 days of work together.

Our goal: to learn what Panmai needs from us to be able to receive orders from us in Canada, and to help them build their capacity to handle international orders, such as ours, by learning how to ship to Canada. (Each country has its own requirements and we are their first Canadian wholesale customer.) Our training included how to fill in the appropriate forms needed by Canadian postal and customs authorities. We did this training, amidst much laughter and language exchanges, with the help of a new staff person who has been hired to work with international customers. At the same time, they taught us how to order in ways that make it most beneficial to the group: we learned the minimum and maximum numbers of scarves to order, for example, which will allow a weaver to most efficiently "warp" the loom (i.e., string the lengthwise threads onto the loom) so that she might make the ideal number of pieces.

We also learned more about the group and its work. We knew they were respected, even renowned, for both their subtle and dynamic natural dyeing of silk, but we also learned that:
- all the silk they use is hand-reeled in member villages (or in other villages in Surin province if Panmai members cannot produce enough at a particular time)
- all mulberry leaves fed to the silkworms are organic and all natural dye materials are organic, so all the Panmai silk is 100% organic!
- members (250 at present) weave 11 months of the year, but are unable to continue the work during the heaviest of the rainy season months
- about 100 members weave in silk and about 50 members raise silkworms and hand-reel the silk, a process called sericulture; they are hoping to expand their capacity to do sericulture in future
- an annual dividend is paid to all members

Most exciting was a new product that we developed with the help of staff and members of Panmai: silk squares for art quilters!

With their help and artistic advice, we developed an attractive package of silk squares in 4 colour combinations, each package containing 4 solid colours and 1 mutmii square (mutmii is a traditional technique involving tie-dying thread to create a beautiful pattern that appears during weaving). We hope that this new product -- which we describe as "100% SILK. 100% ART." -- will be perfect for art quilters who want to incorporate these unique, hand-reeled, naturally dyed, handwoven pieces of silk into their quilts.

Because quilting is not a traditional form of handwork in this part of Thailand, we initially had some trouble explaining what the squares were for. Following the adage that a "picture is worth a thousand words," we went online and introduced the staff to the work of 2 internationally known quilters from our area in Nova Scotia, Canada -- Laurie Swim and Valerie Hearder. The Thai staff members were fascinated by the quilts that we showed them, which we described as "painting with silk," as this was a new art form that they had never seen before.

We plan to return next year with reports on how these pieces of 'silk art' were received by art quilters in Canada, after their debut this June at the 2008 Quilt Canada conference to be held in St. John's, Newfoundland.

Although Panmai also creates beautiful handwoven cottons, our visit with them was a silk extravaganza! Our time together ended with the packing of several boxes of silk squares, scarves, shawls and fabric in the gray-blues of a flower called anchan, magentas and pinks from krang (an insect resin), greens from (lemongrass), oranges and golds from the wood of kanoon (jack fruit trees) and more.

It was an enriching visit for all of us, and we hope that introducing their art to Canada will be as well!

Ellen (Luk Nok)
Alleson (Pii Tem)

Eri silk: new in Thailand

2008-02-03T20:35:00.007+07:00

Thai silk is famous throughout the world for its beauty and texture. Most of this silk is created by a variety of silkworm that eats only mulberry leaves. Eri silk -- produced by the Eri silkworm, which feeds on different foods than the Mulberry silkworms -- has its origins in Assam province in India and is relatively new to Thailand. Eri silk combines the elegance of silk with the comfort of cotton and the warmth of wool. Eri silk can be spun evenly or unevenly into fine threads or coarse yarns, making it a perfect fibre to create interesting textures.

Eri silk was introduced in Thailand by researchers at Kasetsart University in Nakhon Prathom (in Central Thailand), but the Fai Gaem Mai (Cotton and Silk) Program of Chiang Mai University's Institute for Science and Technology Research and Development (IST) is largely responsible for helping spread Eri silk production to villages in the North and Central regions of the country.

The Eri silk project, one of a number of projects run by Fai Gaem Mai, involves several villages in four changwats (provinces). We were invited to visit Ban Panasawan, "Forest of Paradise," one village where all the steps of production take place: raising Eri silkworms, safeguarding cocoons, releasing pupae, boiling empty cocoons, fluffing, spinning, dyeing and weaving the yarn into beautiful textiles.

In Ban Panasawan, there are 20 households participating in the production of Eri silk:
- 25 women raise worms;
- many women are becoming adept at spinning silk yarn;
- group members together dye the spun yarns when required; and
- 4 women weave.

The women in the village already had Mulberry silk skills -- passed from mothers to daughters for generations -- including skills in natural dyeing, so it was a good fit for the Eri silk project. They continue to create Mulberry silk and now work with Eri silk to create a textile with a new and exciting future.

While Mulberry silkworms eat only mulberry leaves, Eri silkworms are content to munch on the byproduct of one of Thailand's most important agricultural products: cassava (also called tapioca). The production of the root, used principally as an edible starch, occupies more than 1.5 million hectares in Thailand. That leaves a lot of leaves for Eri silkworms, giving cassava farmers new opportunities to bring in additional income from the production of Eri silk textiles.

Residents of Ban Panasawan, like other villages chosen for this project, have been successfully growing cassava for many years. They have reached a level of production that is able to sustain most community members; this has reduced migration to urban areas. However, as cassava is a low value/high volume commodity, the additional employment and income to be derived from Eri silk production appeals to the many women who choose to join the group. Not needing to plant a special crop of multerry, they could use the cassava leaves to feed the hungry Eri silkworms, then top off their diet at the end of the growing cycle with castor leaves (used in some regions as the exclusive food for Eri silkworms). This helps the Eri silkworm produce a bigger cocoon, richer in silk content.

The Fai Gaem Mai project provides training on caring for Eri silkworms, coordinates the stages of production that often involves several villages and helps with marketing. Fai Gaem Mai is also working with international designers to bring a wider range of products and techniques to these village women. The objective is to interest a wider range of consumers, both within Thailand's urban centres and internationally. These days, daughters are attending school longer to reach higher educational levels, so a school program has begun to teach them about the history and cultural role of silk in Thai society, with the aim of interesting more young people to pursue these production skills.

The eggs for the project were initially provided by Kasetsart University, which does sericulture research, but now the entire cycle from eggs through to moths is undertaken in the village. We learned that:

1. Eri silkworms are larger (and uglier, in the opinion of many Thai women who raise Mulberry silkworms!).
2. They are hardier than Mulberry silkworms, and are easier and less expensive to raise.
3. The Eri cocoons are larger than the Mulberry cocoons and are white in colour, in contrast to the native Mulberry cocoons, which are bright yellow. This offers a white yarn for weaving and dyeing.
4. Like the native Mulberry silkworms, the Eri silkworms can produce generation after generation; this is in contrast to the hybrid and foreign varieties of Mulberry silkworms, which can only reproduce for 2 generations. This makes the Eri silkworms ideal for self-sufficiency, as they can reproduce for multiple generations.

We were taken to different homes in the village to observe the various stages of production. We learned that Eri silkworms have a 45-60 day cycle: the worm eats for 25 days, during which it goes through five stages of growth, molting at the end of each stage, where it sheds its skin; it then spins its cocoon, made up of triangular protein segments, where it spends 15 days, transforming from a worm into a pupa before it emerges from the cocoon as a moth. After 3 days the moth will lays eggs, which, after 10 days, hatch into worms -- and the process begins all over again.

The Eri cocoon is quite different in another way from the Mulberry cocoon. The Mulberry silkworm cocoon completely surrounds the silkworm. It is made up of up to 300 metres of continuous protein filament that is "reeled" into a long thread. In contrast, the Eri silkworm makes its cocoon with short segments of protein, so it must be spun, like cotton or wool, into a long yarn, ready for dyeing and weaving. The Mulberry cocoon must be boiled to remove its filament; the Eri cocoon, open at one end, can be left intact so the moth can emerge through its open end, without damaging the cocoon, to lay more eggs.

Because the pupa (which later develops into the egg-laying moth) is not killed to remove its cocoon, Eri silk is sometimes referred to as "peace silk" or "vegan silk." In this village, as in many others, only some of the pupae are left to develop into moths; the rest are easily removed from the cocoon, and only later are boiled or fried for food. As well as providing an important source of protein to supplement villagers' diets, removing the pupae leaves a cleaner cocoon, made up of 100% silk, as none of the dry chrysalis and final stage of the worm's molted skin remain inside the cocoon. For those who prefer silk that is not produced by silkworms that must be killed in order to create the silk, Eri silk is an excellent choice.

Last but not least, the leaves upon which the worms eat, live and excrete are an important part of the sustainable cycle of production. Worm excrement is used as a fertilizer for vegetable gardens, and the waste leaves and stems of cassava are collected and composted, also for village gardens.

During our visit, we were able to observe all parts of this production process.

Eri silk spinning was of special interest to us because up until this visit we had only observed the production of hand-reeled Mulberry silk. The spinning machines introduced by Fai Gaem Mai for Eri silk production are made for this project by one manufacturer in Lamphun province in Thailand, but are based on a design developed in India by an appropriate technology NGO. The appropriate technology design uses bicycle rims and other common machine parts that are easy to replace when worn, and is pedal powered -- avoiding the need for expensive electricity, as well as leaving both hands free for spinning.

Currently, spinning is done in only one village, which limits the production of yarn. During our visit, five women were gathered at spinning wheels in the home of the village's project trainer. The women spun together and talked about ideas for the work -- a creative time for them, which they greatly enjoy. They told us that they want to further develop their spinning techniques so that they can spin yarns with varying thicknesses and textures.

Right now, the average production of yarn per person is about 200 grams per day; 1 kg of yarn can make 6-8 finished pieces (50 x 180 cm). The project is working to address this bottleneck in the production process.

As with the other groups we visited, participants in this project only use natural dyes. They plant dye materials and also collect them wild from the field. They asked us to remind our customers in Canada that natural colours will vary with location, season and even weather, so colours will always be unique!

The day we visited, these women were dyeing with tamarind bark. They told us that they've been taught by extension workers to remove only a section of bark so they don't kill the tree. The bark has been boiled for one hour before the silk is immersed, which is then boiled for about 30 minutes. One portion is rinsed in soda ash water to make the colour brighter (resulting in a shrimp paste pink), and the other in alum to make it more beige coloured. We were told that had they used iron phosphate as a mordant, the colour would have changed to gray.

Before returning to the van we arrived in, we had the opportunity to purchase a few finished scarves and table-runners as samples. We have since made an order for scarves and table runners, made from a mix of Eri and Mulberry silk, for sale in Canada -- most probably the first Thai Eri silk in our country!

Alleson and Ellen (Luk Nok)

Prae Pan Group: carrying on tradition

2008-01-12T21:12:00.000+07:00

At the end of December 2007, we visited Prae Pan Group in the Thailand's Northeast. Two long-standing board members joined us at the Khon Kaen shop and office, assisting with translation, deepening our understanding of the group and helping us train staff to fill orders and ship to Canada, building the group's marketing capacity.

Last year we had the good fortune (and great help of one of their board members who we met again this year) to visit four of the villages where Prae Pan members live and work. Those of you who have attended one of our slide presentations will remember the photos I took of natural dyeing experiments and weaving at traditional looms.

[Note: These photos are part of a 45-minute presentation that tells the story of our visits to women's weaving co-ops in Northeast Thailand. Learn about natural dyeing, the cycle of silk production, fair trade and the benefits of membership for village women. Contact us at ask@tammachat.com if you are interested in this presentation for your group.]

This year we presented a gift of these photos to the group, as well as a hardcover book to tell the visual story of their work (with additional English descriptions of each activity written by Alleson.) Our idea was that this book can be used by the group to give Prae Pan customers a glimpse into the work behind each piece -- especially helpful if they can't speak Thai. As well, we presented them with a 6 minute self-running digital slideshow called Social Fabric which the group can also use to tell their story. Both promotional aids were received with enthusiasm!

A few of the things we learned on this visit:

1. The 18-year-old group has revolving credit pools, pension and medical benefits and an educational fund.
2. The number of members has varied over this period; currently there are about 120 members living in 7 villages in the province.
3. Although the group began with help from the Appropriate Technology Association of Thailand, it met its goal of being self-sufficient more than 10 years ago. This member-run community business now owns its own shop, and staffs it full-time, in the main city in the province. It is able to provide its members a regular income, sufficient for daily consumption, that supplements most members' principal income from rice farming.
4. Staff and members are villagers who have learned a range of new skills and gained confidence over the years through their involvement with the group. They are very proud of their accomplishments.
5. A village-based co-operative brings benefits to weavers' families and other non-members in the communities.
6. One of the biggest challenges the group faces is how to interest the next generation in carrying on the traditions and skills of their mothers. It's important to the leaders of the group to inspire the new generation to preserve and build on artistic, creative cultural traditions and create new ones. By buying from them, we hope to contribute to the sustainability of this group so that younger women will know they can make money at this work and will want to continue it.

We were invited to return to Khon Kaen in early January to attend a monthly committee meeting. We eagerly agreed and joined the 18-person committee for a delicious, Isaan breakfast feast, then we presented our business, the Prae Pan book and digital slideshow CD to board members and village representatives, again to an enthusiastic reception.

As well, we spoke about our offer to help Prae Pan (as volunteers) develop a new, more marketing-focused website with help from American and Thai community development students at Khon Kaen University. On the following day, we attended an initial meeting at KKU, along with 2 Prae Pan staff members and 1 board member, to explore how we can work together on this project. What started a year ago as an offer from us has now moved into its next phase.

And before we left, we placed a large silk order, shipped cotton fabric and table linens home to Canada, and chose samples for a possible new TAMMACHAT customer. Our fair trade relationship with Prae Pan continues to grow.

Ellen/Luk Nok

Bangkok fair

2008-01-12T13:31:00.000+07:00

The week before Christmas, we headed for the OTOP fair at a huge trade and convention centre on the outskirts of Bangkok. OTOP -- One Tambon, One Product -- was a program started by a previous government many years ago. It gives star ratings to products that range from foods, to handicrafts to superb textiles, designating products considered outstanding in each district.

OTOP fairs feature products from all over the country, so we thought a visit to the largest one would be a good place to find more weaving groups that use natural dyes with whom we might form ongoing fair trade relationships. We were especially interested in village groups from the Northeast, which has an ancestral artistic tradition of silkworm cultivation, elaborate mutmii patterning and natural indigo dyeing.

We spent 3 very long days at the fair; each evening we returned overwhelmed, laden with bags bursting with organic cottons and sumptuous silks, both in finished pieces as well as yardage for the many sewers who requested "more fabric this time." We also responded to Nova Scotians' apparent preference for blues by selecting a large range cotton products dyed with natural indigo.

Highlights and lessons from the OTOP fair:

1. NATURAL COLOURS:
At the OTOP fair, and since, we have been able to source a wide variety of naturally dyed textiles. We have found brown dyes so deep that they appear black (made from ebony fruit), pale pinks to deep magentas created with lac (an insect resin), and greens from the leaves of lemongrass. As well as these wearable pieces of art, we have expanded our lines to include cotton table runners and tablecloths. We have also included many pieces in the natural creams and butter yellows of undyed, hand-reeled silk.

2. INDIGO:
The palette of soft greens to rich blues created by natural indigo proved so popular at our fall sale in Mahone Bay that we were happy to find some groups that specialize in this form of natural dyeing. Dyeing with natural indigo is a difficult skill to master because mordants cannot be used to make it adhere to the fabric. Instead, a chemical reaction must occur when the fermenting indigo leaf mixture meets the air which causes the dye to bond to the fabric -- if done properly. To create deeper and deeper shades, fabric is dyed repeatedly or "overdyed." This results in some of the dye washing out on the first few washings, but if the dyer uses proper techniques, the indigo dye will not continue to shed upon repeated washings. To check for this, we carefully felt each piece to see if our fingers turned blue!

We bought indigo fabric -- plain and with mutmii tie-dyed patterns; organic whenever we could find it; and handspun, which gives a lovely texture to the cloth. We also bought dozens of scarves and shawls, mostly 100% cotton (but some with rayon warp threads, which make the piece particularly soft), in various shades of indigo blue, soft greens (also from indigo) and a pale apricot colour made from mango. Designs include dynamic, contemporary patterns as well as traditional ones.

We bought several lovely natural colour, 100% organic cotton scarves from a project in the Northeast that creates income for women living along the Lao border. The foundation that facilitates this project has involved a number of communities that each specialize in one part of the production. They seek to preserve their local culture and to preserve traditions in dyeing and weaving that are at risk of being lost as the younger generation migrates to urban centres to find work. We hope to visit them later this trip.

3. ORGANIC COTTON:
Another group that we found works in a cooler area of Thailand between the North and Northeast. A designer who has been working with this group for 18 years has helped villages develop skills of growing white, tan and brown cotton organically. The nubbly scarves we bought are rich in an array of browns (made from praduu, a bark of Burmese ebony), with accents of natural tan cotton and blues from hom, a leaf that produces a blue similar to indigo. We plan, on a future trip, to accept the invitation to visit the Weaving Natural Dye Group to learn more about their work.

While we were able to find a number of producers working with organic cotton, particularly along the cooler banks of the Mekong River, we learned that there is more demand for organic cotton weaving than can be supplied at this time. There is a small, but growing, market within Thailand for organic cotton. As well, there is a Japanese market and many European Union countries also want cotton that is grown organically.

We think Canadians, with our growing interest in responsible consumption, will be interested in these eco-textiles that are produced in ways that protect both the health of the producer and their environment.

4. BATIK:
We were pleased also to find a natural dyeing and weaving group from the South of Thailand that specializes in natural dyes using batik and tie dyeing of 100% cotton. After meeting Dim and Ari (who kindly picked a large grasshopper off my shoulder where it appeared from nowhere!), we are hoping in future to add a visit to this community to learn more about their dyeing and weaving work.

The OTOP fair was one place for us to meet village-based weaving groups, but we found mostly for-profit businesses that buy from village weavers. Since attending this fair, we've met a number of women who have worked for decades with weaving groups, such as Prae Pan Group and Panmai (see the Artisans page on our site) -- they have generously helped put us in touch with a number of other groups with whom we can build a fair trade relationship. But we're also discovering that it's difficult to apply the fair trade principles that have been developed for commodities like coffee, sugar and chocolate to the complex production of textiles. More on this in a future blog entry.

Ellen/Luk Nok

Chiang Mai's wealth of weaving

2007-12-31T13:12:00.002+07:00

Happy New Year's Eve! We've been here less than a month and have already bought more than 600 pieces! We're focussing this trip on deepening our relationships with the 2 main groups that we have bought naturally dyed silk and cotton textiles from on past trips: Prae Pan Group in Khon Kaen province and Panmai in Surin, Si Saket and Roi Et provinces -- all in Isaan, the Northeast of Thailand. As well, we are seeking out new producer groups with whom we could establish fair trade relationships. (See our page on Fair Trade in the main part of our website for more info on this.) This has proven to be an interesting task. Before we left Canada, we did as much research as possible to help us plan our trip. One stop that we knew would be important for us was to go to the OTOP CITY fair in mid-December in a huge convention/trade centre in Bangkok.

First, let me tell you more about our experiences in Chiang Mai. As well as meeting Fai Gaem Mai (see the first post), we learned about a group of weavers whose families were dealing with HIV/AIDS. We went to find them at the annual Gift Fair 2007 in Chiang Mai. This large event was filled with food, crafts and textiles. The textiles were grouped in several large, open tent areas, perhaps 200 hundred stalls in all. After half a day of wandering (and buying from a couple of other vendors, including a woman with a family business that produces lovely batik hemp table runners), we finally found the Information Desk, as our efforts to find this particular group of weavers were not working. In spite of Alleson's ability to speak some Thai, we were not able to locate them by name or phone number on the pages-long list of vendors we found at the Information Desk. This proved to be the beginning of challenges we continue to face when trying to find specific groups. We finally left the Gift Fair with some , but none from the group we were looking for.Our next search was to the weekly Chiang Mai Sunday Walking Market, a very fun, long-standing outdoor market held each Sunday afternoon and on into the evening. It covers blocks and blocks, and people sell anything from textiles to T-shirts, crafts to paintings. Some are made by local artisans; much has been bought elsewhere. We were looking for a woman we met last year who, with her family, weaves 100% cotton, naturally dyed scarves. The scarves we purchased some from her last year sold quickly so we wanted to find her and talk more with her about who makes the scarves.

The Klong Jing weaving group is a village-based family business, made up of 20 extended family members. They weave from December to February when not busy with rice farming, their main occupation, and again in August during rainy season. They use only natural dyes made from barks and leaves, and weave in 100% cotton (which is a much cheaper investment for the weaver than silk). It takes a day to weave a table runner, but 3-4 loose weave scarves can be woven in a day. We bought many of these scarves, lovely for casual wearing -- they'll look great with jeans!Does this group of weavers fit the standard definition of "fair trade" groups with whom we want to trade? Are we able to learn enough about the ways they set payment for the work to those who produce it and under what conditions? What can we learn about how they work in ways that protect their health and their local environments? We are discovering that there is no single way that weavers organize themselves. Unlike coffee farmers, who have been in the forefront of the fair trade movement, organizing themselves in a farmer-run, co-operative model, we are encountering many types of groups in Thailand.

We have been fortunate to meet a number of women who are part of a strong network of rural women's development workers. They are helping us learn which groups most benefit the members and therefore with which we want to develop long-term trading relationships. As we continue to build our network, we will be working more often with these women to help us make these decisions. We feel very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with these highly skilled, dedicated and fun women.

Our next stop in Chiang Mai was to visit a beautiful centre for the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Techniques (known as SUPPORT). From the Mahidol University website:

"SUPPORT was established in 1976 under Her Majesty's royal patronage, partly through funds supplied by Her Majesty and partly with public donations. SUPPORT's primary objective is to set up women's groups and provide rural Thai women with equipment, materials, and training in cottage industries. The latter include some 18 traditional crafts which Her Majesty felt were worthy of being promoted on both local and world markets..."Although we weren't buying from a weaving co-op directly, we liked the approach and bought many naturally dyed, loosely woven, cotton scarves, along with a wonderful array of reverse applique pieces. I am particularly drawn to the tiny stitches and interesting, often geometric shapes used in this work. Although not naturally dyed, I know that many quilters and sewers will appreciate and find uses for these beautiful pieces.

Delving deeper into the opportunities Chiang Mai has to offer, we were delighted to discover and attend His Majesty the King's Doi Kham Royal Projects Fair, where we bought many scarves produced by village groups in the North of Thailand. Again, we didn't buy directly from the weavers, but as we weren't able to visit these weavers directly, we wanted to support their work and found some lovely textiles. The King's Royal Projects have helped hilltribe groups in the North replace opium crops with other income-producing crops and crafts. You can learn more here, if you're interested: http://www.royalprojectthailand.com/general/english/index.html.

Our next stop: 3 days at the OTOP CITY fair in Bangkok. Alleson will post her entry about the Eri silk group visit soon and we'll take you to Khon Kaen on our 3-day visit and training with Prae Pan Group. Drop by again for these and other postings.

Ellen/Luk Nok

Eri silk

2007-12-26T21:00:00.000+07:00

Greetings from Northeast Thailand! We are well into what has already turned out to be a very busy trip and finally have found a bit of time to recount some of our adventures and learnings.

Thailand has twice the population of Canada, yet would fit into a space the size of Atlantic Canada. Like we find at home, however, it's a "small world"-- and as we travel, we continue to hear of and meet up with now familiar names of people who work with weaving groups in community development here.

Nancy Peters, a Nova Scotian who has worked in Thailand for periods over the last 18 years, is one such person. She has been extremely helpful to us, introducing us (on our second day in the country!) to the Cotton and Silk Project, "Fai Gaem Mai," a project that has been running out of Chiang Mai University's Institute for Science and Technology Research and Development (IST) since 2001. Their most recent initiative, in partnership with the EU-Thailand Economic Co-operation Small Projects Facility, is to develop and market eco-friendly Thai textiles for the home in European Union countries to EU standards. This fits in nicely with Tammachat's priorities, so we are thrilled to be able to make this connection.

We met with FGM staff on day 4 of our trip -- and after a whirlwind of meetings and buying sessions -- we have only had our first few days off since arriving 3 weeks ago. We'll tell you more about these in future blog postings.

FGM works with 17 weaving networks in Northern Thailand -- 190 village-based groups in all. Creating the products in the Thai Home Textiles line -- table runners, placemats, napkins, cushions and more -- often involves more than 1 group. For example, 1 group may produce organic cotton thread; another may dye it with natural dyes made from locally grown or foraged, chemical-free dye materials; a third may weave the cloth; and a fourth may sew it into a finished product -- thus bringing income to a large number of people.

FGM co-ordinates this process, as well as running trainings for network groups members, and has provided us with prices and timelines for ordering. So we're expanding into home textiles to build on the lines we already offer -- handwoven, naturally dyed scarves, shawls and fabrics.

We were kindly given a copy of FGM's excellent video about the Thai Home Textile project which we will be able to show in Canada. And we learned about a new, 1-year-old project to create a new kind of silk in Thailand called Eri silk. Eri silk is not only beautiful (as we soon were to see for ourselves), but is as "warm as wool," we were told. Perfect for the Canadian climate.

Traditionally, Thai silk has been made from a variety of silkworm that eats mulberry leaves. As those of you who attended 1 of our slideshow presentations last fall may remember, village-based groups use a traditional variety of this kind of silkworm. Eri silkworms, on the other hand, eat cassava (tapioca) leaves, which are grown year-round for their roots. This gives the potential for a longer season than mulberry sericulture -- the cycle of raising silkworms and "reeling" the silk off cocoons boiling in water to produce fine silk threads. Since these women derive their income first from farming, it remains to be seen how this new kind of sericulture will fit into their existing work cycle. It does, however, have the potential to be done year-round. And some of our internet research is showing that Eri silk is "set to take the fashion world by storm"!

At our meeting with FGM in Chiang Mai, we showed them the book that we made for Prae Pan Group, the weaving co-operative in Khon Kaen province. We created this book as a gift for Prae Pan to use to show their customers, at fairs and in their shop in the city of Khon Kaen, a glimpse "behind the scenes" of how they create their beautiful textiles, with a focus on natural dyeing and weaving. The book's photographs (taken by me during our visits last year to 4 of the 7 villages involved with Prae Pan Group) are accompanied by text (written by Alleson) that describes not only how the textiles are made, but also talks about the benefits for members of belonging to a weaving co-operative.

After seeing this book, FGM invited us to create one about Eri silk to help them market it, so a visit was quickly set up for us to go to a village in Nakhon Sawan province in Central Thailand, where we could learn about and photograph all steps in the creation of Eri silk weavings. We jumped on this opportunity and 2 weeks after we arrived in Thailand, we made the visit.

More on this visit soon from Alleson.

- Ellen (otherwise known as Luk nok, my Thai nickname, which means "baby bird," a name I have just been given by my Thai friend Pim)

Off to Thailand Dec. 3, 2007

2007-11-04T19:12:00.000+07:00

We'll be up early to catch our flight to Bangkok. It will be a long trip -- more than 26 hours. Once we're settled and have started our visits to weaving co-operatives, we'll post again. Stay tuned!

Ellen