Arts & Crafts

"It was the custom of many of the wealthy families to maintain craftsmen in their own houses. Some were employed as gold and silver smiths, some as jewellers; others were painters and woodcarvers, or workers in lacquer or in mother-of-pearl... the artists belonged to the household, they took pride in their work, they vied with each other in performance, and their children when they grew up entered the occupation and learnt it from their parents."

— Malcolm Smith, A Physician at the Court of Siam (1957)

Silver and gold containers and footed trays, crafted for royalty.

Thailand has a rich tradition of crafts, handed down over generations since the earliest days of the kingdom. Some, like the lustrous silks of the northeast, have become internationally renowned, while others, like celadon stoneware and finely wrought nielloware bowls, occasionally rise to the lofty heights of fine art. And countless more continue to be made and serve practical needs in the obscurity of rural villages, little known to the sophisticated world outside.

Baskets, for example, are deftly woven from thin strips of bamboo and other native plants, and special ones have evolved for almost every purpose. There are a number of different kinds of traps to catch fish and containers to protect them on the journey home. The multi-purpose grajad is used for carrying rice and other produce, and another kind of basket is especially made to store glutinous rice, the staple food of the north and northeast. Still others are made for winnowing rice, for measuring coconuts, for rearing silkworms and for storing clothes-in fact, for just about every conceivable need that might arise in the course of everyday rural existence.

Details of a panel decorated with lacquer paintings, in late 18th-century Ayutthaya style; the art was perfected in Ayutthaya and also continued in the early Bangkok period to adorn doors, windows and manuscript cabinets.

Numerous commonplace items are given an elegance of line or design that makes them more than merely functional. Coconut scrapers, for instance, often take the form of beautifully carved animals-rabbits, pigs, cats and elephants-with a scraping device extending from the mouth; the worker can thus use the animal as a convenient seat while husking the nuts. Simple pottery is made throughout the country, each region having certain distinctive designs of its own, while supple mats, made by plaiting reeds or strips of palm leaf, often have intricate colored designs and are used on the floors of almost every rural house.

One highly perishable category of crafts consists of floral decorations used in countless ceremonies. These are not "arrangements" in the Western sense of the term; the Thai aim, instead, is to turn flowers into objects of beauty that have no counterpart in nature but that proudly proclaim the artistic skills of man.

Among the traditional styles, the most commonly seen are malai, or garlands. These play a prominent part in Thai social and religious life. Fragrant jasmine buds are the basis for most of these, but numerous other flowers may be used. Malai range from reasonably simple creations, like those sold on street corners and outside every shrine, to large and complex wreaths, requiring hours of work and costing hundreds of baht. Another kind is jad paan, or bowl arrangements, in which the flowers are embedded in a mound of damp clay or sawdust and then placed in a low, footed bowl; the results resemble exquisite, multi-colored pieces of porcelain.

Banana leaves can also be turned by skillful hands into many lovely objects. One group, known as bai sri, are complicated creations consisting of folded leaves, flowers and sometimes food. These are offered to a spirit house or displayed during a number of ceremonies. A classic bai sri is the little lotus-shaped float called the krathong, which is set adrift with lighted candles as part of the Loy Krathong festival.

Undoubtedly, the greatest concentration of Thai handicrafts today is found in the north, particularly in and around Chiang Mai. The various artisans used to live outside the old city walls, each group in a special village specializing in a particular craft. Over the years, these communities became absorbed into the growing city and so lost their identity; but even today, their ancestors often continue to live in the same areas and to produce the same sorts of objects.

A craftsman demonstrating the lacquer-ware technique of lai rod nam or "design from washing", whereby gold leaf is revealed on a stark black lacquered background.

Classic Thai decorations at Wat Phra Keo, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

No northern ritual, now or in the distant past, would be complete without a silver bowl, usually one adorned with elaborate repoussé decorations made by patiently tapping out the design on sheets of silver on a wooden mould. Lacquerware is another classic Chiang Mai craft, produced by giving a base of woven bamboo up to 15 coats of gummy resin to create a shiny surface; since each coat can take as long as two weeks to dry in damp weather, a simple bowl may take several months to make. Many Thai lacquer objects are further embellished-and sometimes elevated to the status of high art-by a process called lai rod nam, in which they are adorned with bright gold decorations against the glossy black background.

Woodcarving is a justly famous northern art. Temples of the region are lavishly decorated with ornate pediments, cornices, lintels and roofends, and the skill is also evident in countless domestic items. Today, when a new restaurant in Bangkok or a hotel in distant Phuket requires high-quality carving, Chiang Mai artisans are frequently brought all the way down to execute the work on the spot.

In the village of Bor Sang, outside the provincial capital, nearly the entire population is engaged in the production of elegant parasols. Locally made paper is stretched over a bamboo frame and then strikingly decorated with paintings of flowers, dragons, scenic views and other patterns.

Inlaid mother-of-pearl decorations.

Contemporary Bencharong porcelain bowls, embellished with a garland of jasmine flowers.

Finely-wrought gold containers in traditional styles.

A woodcarver at work in Chiang Mai; such products created by northern artisans not only adorn temples and houses but also many luxury hotels.

The latest of northern handicrafts, at least as far as popularity in the outside world is concerned, are those made by tribal people living along the borders of Burma and Laos. Nearly all are gifted silversmiths, for the very practical reason that heavy jewellry is an easy way to carry their wealth on their nomadic wanderings. Fine embroidery is also a traditional hill-tribe art, with the Hmong and Yao people being particularly skilled at creating bold, geometric designs in cotton.

On the international market, certainly the best-known Thai product is silk, the shimmering fabric now regarded as a standard luxury item by decorators and designers all over the world. The skill is an ancient one, already practised in the first Thai capital of Sukhothai and perhaps even earlier. Eventually, during the Bangkok period, the industry became largely concentrated in the northeast, where mulberry trees grow plentifully and silk-weaving served as a way of earning extra income between rice harvests.

Silk designs in the old days denoted rank, and it was part of every ceremonial costume. In the early years of the present century, however, production declined because of changing fashions and a flood of cheaper, mass-produced textiles from abroad. It was a remarkable American named Jim Thompson who revived the industry just after the Second World War. He persuaded weavers to start making longer lengths of the cloth, introduced color-fast chemical dyes and built up a thriving export industry When Thai silk was used for the costumes in the popular musical "The King and I," it became an international sensation.

Despite all the changes, silk-making in Thailand remains basically a cottage industry, and the techniques of sericulture are more or less the same as they were centuries ago. Newly hatched silk-worms are carefully tended in large, shallow trays and regularly fed with tender mulberry leaves. After about 30 days, the worms abruptly stop eating and hold up their heads, a signal that they are ready to start spinning their cocoons. This takes another three days, after which the cocoons are either sold to factories or reeled by the family who raised the worms.

The line between handicraft and fine art becomes blurred in many traditional Thai products, especially those made for royal or religious use. Lacquer inlaid with intricate designs of mother-of-pearl shell resulted in magnificent works during the Ayutthaya and early Bangkok periods, when temple doors and windows, manuscript boxes and betel nut sets were splendidly decorated by the painstaking process the Thais call krueng mook.

Celadon has been produced in the country since the Sukhothai period, and certainly many of the ancient pieces rank high in the world of great Asian ceramics; after centuries of decline, the art was revived in Chiang Mai, using the same techniques that produced the classic specimens. Nielloware, or krueng torn, came from either China or Persia-scholars differ on the precise origin-but it became one of the major crafts of southern Thailand and is still produced there today. Using either silver or gold, artisans etch traditional designs which stand out against the sharp black, gleaming metal background of the completed object, be it a bowl, a tea pot or a royal throne.

Detail from a carved and gilded temple decoration showing a Thai divinity standing on the back of an earth-eating ogre, surrounded by traditional motifs.

Dyed thread is reeled, one of the steps in silk weaving.

A craftswoman demonstrates the technique of knotting or binding the threads on an ikat textile loom. This produces an elaborate design in the weave, a characteristic of these woven textiles.

Woodcarving, too, often achieves the level of fine art. Temple decorations and items such as seats made for senior priests to use while delivering sermons, and non-religious articles like classical Thai musical instruments are lovingly carved and crafted. The earliest musical instruments were fairly simple and often named after the sound they made-chap, ching, khong and klong, for instance-but in time they became far more complex. Among these were the xylophone-like ranat ek and ranat thum, as well as the three-stringed so sam sai, which produces tunes of haunting poignancy.

From simple baskets to a refined musical instrument or a piece of palace goldwork may seem a broad step indeed; all, however, derive from the same innate sense of delicate craftsmanship that is one of the indisputible glories of Thailand's diverse culture.

Thais in traditional skirts and shoulder cloths for a ceremony, carrying handmade umbrellas.

Dyeing materials used to weave baskets, a craft found in almost every Thai household.

Umbrellas, composed of handmade paper stretched over a bamboo frame; in Bor Sang, a village near Chiang Mai, all the inhabitants earn a living from this craft.

Thailand is a paradise for shoppers! Some of the items available include (top left) a Bencharong tea set in Chinese style, (top right) contemporary hand-fired celadon pots, (bottom left) masks made for traditional dance-drama and (bottom right) silk cushion covers from the Jim Thompson range.

(Top left) shows some of the delightful hand-woven baskets available, (top right) showcases photo-frames, boxes and bags in Jim Thompson silk, (bottom left) a selection of lacquerware receptacles and (bottom right) sparkling, gem-studded Thai jewellery.

Khon, the classical dance-drama, draws its story from the Ramakien, the Thai version of the Indian Ramayana epic. Major characters wear papier-mache masks and convey emotions through stylized gestures.

Nongyoi, the shadow play, is thought to have come to Thailand from Indonesia; large figures made of cowhide are held behind a lighted screen and moved to the accompaniment of music and choral singing.

A unique set of miniature hun lek puppets; featuring extremely intricate costumes and masks, this type of puppet show is seen rarely. From a set at Bangkok's National Museum.