Chiang Mai artisans slow life down

THE DESCRIPTION “craft village” doesn’t do full justice to the community of independent shops in Chiang Mai called Baan Kang Wat, whose owners – artists, designers and other entrepreneurs – share a strong bond in their adherence to a slower, quieter style of living.

More like a friendly rural village in its pace and demeanour, Baan Kang Wat has 11 two-storey wood-and-concrete houses gathered around a communal area with an amphitheatre of grassy tiered steps. There are craft shops, a needlework shop, a ceramics shop, a cafe that doubles as a guesthouse and a library that doubles as a cafe. The owners – many of whom live above their places of business – share the task of maintaining a garden that grows organic vegetables.

The village was established in mid-2014, the brainchild of Nattawut “Big” Ruckprasit, who sells ceramics at the Bookoo Studio. He’d spent three years bringing to fruition his vision of a unique and close-knit community of like-minded retailers in an urban place with a rural ambience. 

Big chose the individual tradesmen with care, based on how unusual and appealing their crafts were and their readiness to participate in community activities. Over the course of the year these have included art and photography exhibitions, film festivals, workshops and art markets, as well as the gardening collective.

Big also runs Ran Khong Chum Baan Kang Wat, though it’s not actually the neighbourhood “grocery” as the name suggests. He sells T-shirts, postcards, canvas tote bags and stationery fashioned from wood by various Chiang Mai-based artisans. He has big wooden tables and chairs from the brand Goo Again along with small items like wooden mugs and dolls and even ear-picks. At Bookoo Studio, Big has lovely tableware in a mix of wood and ceramic.

Bangkok-born Siri-orn “Orn” Saelor, who’s lived in Chiang Mai for 13 years, was studying psychology before deciding that needlework fit closer to her heart. She learned the craft just by doing it and started her own brand seven years ago, selling fabric tote bags and clothes online. Now she has a shop (and a home) at Baan Kang Wat. It’s called Orn the Roses, the name alluding to her passion for floral patterns.

“This is the kind of simple life I’d been yearning for,” says Orn, who teaches yoga as well and appreciates “the meditative qualities” that needlework also offers. “I can live and work here without feeling overwhelmed by the fast pace of life. And living among people with creative minds boosts my own creativity.”

Orn can turn any kind of fabric into beautiful clothes, bags, hats, shoes and dolls. A cast-off brass zip-pull or a tiny ceramic tile might be transformed into an eye-catching pendant. Meanwhile she occasionally holds sewing workshops for a small fee, where like-minded people can forego Facebook for a few hours to exchange tips and techniques.

Next door is Jibberish, run by Nattaporn Duangsri and Nabwong Chuaychuwong. Nattaporn had spent time as a volunteer with the Japanese organisation WWOOF (Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms) and fell in love with the simple life. She also discovered zakka in Japan, which mainly refers to small hand-crafted home-decor items which might be considered kitsch in their countries of origin but fascinate people elsewhere. In their very ordinariness lies a clever charm. 

So that’s what Nattaporn has brought to Baan Kang Wat – rubber stamps and ink pads, enamelled copper pendants, tiny wooden houses, all sorts of ceramic pieces – along with hand-made clothes and fabric bags. She too gave up a job in Bangkok, as a graphic designer at Fine Art magazine, and found a market online for the rubber stamps she made herself. 

Nabwong, also a graphic designer, makes the copper pendants, and Nattaporn’s mother Amporn – who used to have a store in Surin selling silk clothes – adds to the couple’s stock cotton blouses, dresses and bags dyed with natural indigo. 

 

TAKE IT EASY

>>Baan Kang Wat is opposite Wat Ram Poeng on Soi Wat Umong in Chiang Mai. 

>>It’s open daily from 11am to 6pm. Call (095) 691 0888.

>>Find out more on the “Bookoo”, “OrnTheRoses” and “Jibberish” pages on Facebook.