The value(s) of Thai craft textiles in the 21st century

The cultural distinctiveness of the Kingdom of Thailand has, in part, been built on the manufacture and consumption of specific woven textiles. Today, the craft weaving of silk and cotton fabrics is promoted by the Thai Royal Family through patronage, encouraged by government bodies and charitable foundations. The resulting products are worn by senior government officials and fashion-conscious urban professionals as well as rural villagers. However, despite the apparent current strength of the sector, the craft weaving industry faces a range of problems that threaten to destabilise or corrode its viability and relevance. These include issues around the cultural transmission of weaving skills and what are acceptable avenues for innovation. In some sense, Thai craft weaving is a classic case of the ‘iron cage of creativity’, as practicing weavers appear to be trapped by a limited repertoire of colour schemes and decorative motifs that are increasingly at odds with the expectations of some of their important groups of consumers, but weavers have little opportunity to challenge the status quo. Through a series of case studies, based on fieldwork conducted over the past five years, the authors will explain the nature of these pressures and how they come to influence or define what true craft woven Thai textiles can or should be. The paper will conclude with some suggestions of how Thai craft weavers can move beyond the current impasse whilst retaining their integrity and importance within Thai society and culture

Booklet

The booklet file for the dissemination in the local communities. The content is the summary of wooden reed making process.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

2019SG07 Guide to the Data - Wooden Reed Making of the Ethnic Lao-Khrang in Thailand

Description of the contents of the project dataset, aims of the project and distribution of assets. THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV

Revealing localised design practice in Thai hand weaving

This research project proposes the formation of “Localised Design Practice” as a new framework for working between Thai designers and Thai hand weavers. The overarching principle is that the disciplinary knowledge of design is localised and evolves according to what has been learnt from the local knowledge. This framework is directed to form long-lasting and mutually beneficial development projects for the designers and the weavers. The research project has emerged from a concern with the politics of knowledge in that the disciplinary knowledge of design is considerably more dominant than the local knowledge of hand weaving in current textiles design development projects in Thailand. This state of affairs poses the risk that local knowledge is suppressed and diminished by the act of design development. This research project was realised through a hybrid methodology utilizing theoretical frameworks of critical ethnography and grounded theory with apprenticeship and making practices. The research activities were divided into two parts. The first part explored apprenticeship and learning Thai hand weaving within its contexts in Thailand. The second part aimed at the integration of the two forms of knowledge, research being conducted both in the UK and Thailand. The research has identified that, although Thai hand weaving and design are fundamentally different, they share many qualities, hence knowledge integration is actually possible. Further research could test this framework to make changes in real settings, and to study the applicability of this framework in other contexts

Transcription

Transcription in Thai and English.THIS DATASET IS ARCHIVED AT DANS/EASY, BUT NOT ACCESSIBLE HERE. TO VIEW A LIST OF FILES AND ACCESS THE FILES IN THIS DATASET CLICK ON THE DOI-LINK ABOV