Northern Thailand’s dense forests are home to a huge variety of trees, including teak, bamboo, rattan, mango wood and rosewood. Consequently, wood has always been a popular material for construction and furniture, but traditionally has also been used for religious, recreational, and folk purposes. Nowadays, highly sought after wooden furniture, boxes, vases and lamps now make use of a greater range of timber varieties as opposed to the traditional, almost exclusive, use of teak. Changes in designs and techniques over the centuries document changes in the lives and cultures of the people of Lanna.
» Read More
Since the arrival of skilled Burmese woodcarvers, who worked alongside silversmiths on Wualai Road, Chiang Mai has been a breeding ground for artistic talent. A recurrent image in Lanna architecture, furniture, woodcarvings and domestic utensils is that of the Buddha. It is said that the Kingdom of Lanna has more preserved wooden Buddha images than any other part of Thailand. Buddha images and temple banners found in Lanna and Isaan were carved from single planks of wood and embellished with a variety of Lanna emblems. Elephants and jungle scenes also feature heavily in Northern Thai woodcarvings. Undoubtedly, the Tai Yuan of Lanna were not only highly skilled craftspeople, but they also valued their beliefs.
» Read More
In the early days of the teak industry, woodcarvers carried their tools into the forest and set to work on tree trunks. For smaller pieces, they would take a section of the trunk back to their workshop. Though Lanna design has shared origins, its carvings feature North-specific motifs. These include the cloud – since modified to incorporate the kanok -, the dok tan tawan (sunflower) the dok takhanat (pineapple with leaves), the stucco, introduced in Lanna in the 23rd century B.E., and the viharn as seen at the Viharn Lai Kham, Wat Phra Singh.
Chiang Mai is also the birthplace of colour-incised lacquerware, a form that has since evolved from functional to purely decorative. Now, no Chiang Mai home, traditional or contemporary, is complete without a piece of lacquerware. Burmese refugee-cum-craftsmen, working on Wualai Road, eventually moved to the open spaces of Hang Dong and Sankamphaeng. Here, on the city’s outskirts, they discovered the lacquerware cottage industry.
» Read More
In the past two decades, Chiang Mai’s wood-based craft industry has become more export-orientated, supplying either directly or via furniture making companies situated in Central Thailand. Despite these changes, local artisans still rely on traditional furniture making and woodcarving techniques. Since teak is now hard to obtain, more and more artisans are exploring other types of wood, notably bamboo and reclaimed wood.
