The cloth that |made the country

AN OPEN HOUSE at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles tomorrow through Monday offers a fascinating glimpse of the collections that usually stay out of sight, in storage, and a chance to see how fabrics are restored and preserved in the conservation lab.
There is no admission charge over the weekend. Every visit begins instead with the charm of traditional Thai dancing – from all four regions of the country – being performed in the entrance hall.
Founded by Her Majesty the Queen to preserve treasured Thai textiles and the weaving techniques that have become virtually endangered as interest declines in modern times, the museum is intended as a learning and research centre too, says Thanpuying Charungjit Teekara, deputy private secretary to the Queen.
It covers the entire history of Thai people’s attire, from village hut to royal palace, and the evolution of the associated weaving and ornamentation techniques.
His Majesty the King in 2003 granted Her Majesty permission to transform a vacant building on the grounds of the Grand Palace into the museum. Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn agreed to serve as chief consultant, and the facility was officially opened on May 9, 2012. It’s proved to be a popular auxiliary attraction among visitors to the palace and Wat Phra Kaew, the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
The QSMT Festival Open House is designed to make even more people – both Thais and foreigners – aware of its efforts and the Queen’s role in Thai textile conservation and the Royal Farms Project. The museum is there to support and promote craftsmanship as an esteemed part of the culture.
“Over the past two years there have been lots of foreigners visiting our museum,” says Thanpuying Charungjit. “We’re proud of our textile collection, made by local villagers. It’s a matter of our country’s pride to preserve such a cultural treasure.”
The Queen’s Support Foundation, the Royal Vocational College for Women, the Royal Craftsmen School and many well-known designers and artists are helping the Museum with its open house. Planned activities include tours, demonstrations, seminars, workshops and performances.
“Visitors can join in any of these activities,” says museum chief Piyavara Teekara Natenoi. “They can witness in detail how our exhibits are prepared and displayed and learn about the behind-the-scenes work at the museum, such as how the fabrics are preserved, which is one of the museum’s main missions.
“The museum has a fully equipped conservation laboratory, which is responsible for the treatment and mounting of all the textiles and costumes in the galleries. It’s very special, too, that this time visitors will be able to see some of the collection from the early Rattanakosin Era, which we otherwise have to keep in storage. People usually only see these clothes in black-and-white photos.”
Piyavara says members of the Support Foundation will demonstrate the venerable arts of silk reeling and tie-dyeing and how mudmee silk of woven. Visitors will be able to see fabric being embroidered in the classical Thai style and in the beetle-wing and royal khon manner.
The Royal Craftsmen School will show how khon masks and lacquerware are fashioned and the subtle craft of thaeng yuak – carving banana-tree stalks. They’ll see mother-of-pearl being inlaid and the gilding of black lacquer, an art called lai rod naam. And the Royal Vocational College for Women will demonstrate garland-making and royal culinary arts.
Khunpensri Keawmeesuan, director of the college, says her students will actually cook royal dishes that are rarely made available these days. These include kang kao puek (deep-fried taro), cheep tua nok (steamed dough stuffed with sweet minced fish and moulded into the shape of a bird) and khanom bu-lun-dun-mek (blue dough stuffed with sweet bean paste).
The Support Foundation and Royal Farm Project will have items on sale, such as spicy minced Ealing duck, dried Jinhua pork and sangyod rice, which Thanpuying Charungjit notes is of a nutritious value that is all but lost nowadays. The Queen went out of her way to preserve this form of rice after seeing it grown in Phatthalung province.
Textile collectors, academics, artists, designers, fashion experts and stylists will be on hand for three seminars each day.
Tomorrow Dr Anucha Thirakanont, Akadet Nakkabunlang and Prapassorn Posrithong will discuss the museum itself and its collection. On Saturday Paothong Thongchua and Saengduan Channuan will examine “The Art of Thai Textiles” and Saengduan will conduct a silk-painting workshop.
On Sunday Kullawit Laosuksri and designers Yuthapong, Milin, Wannasiri Kongman of Boyy Bag, Siriorn Tienprasit of Painkiller and Ek Thongprasert, and Art Araya will talk about Thai silk clothing and accessories from the Support Foundation.
Advance registration is advised for these Thai-language events because seating is limited.
 FABULOUS FABRICS
- The QSMT Festival Open House is tomorrow through Sunday, from 9 to 6 daily, at the Queen Sirikit Museum of Textiles in the Ratsadakorn-bhibhathana Building near the main entrance to the Grand Palace.
- Register for seminar seats by calling (02) 225 7420, (02) 225 7430, extension 0 or 245.
- For more details, check www.QSMTThailand.org and www.Facebook.com/qsmtthailand.