January 2020 Edition Apparel January 2020 issue | Page 44

Karan
FEATURE
scarves and garments woven with yarns dyed
with cocoa. The label states that cocoa is the
new economic plant grown in the Nan region
of Thailand. It is organically planted and can be
harvested all year around. Peels of cocoa seeds
(which are leftovers) are processed to extract
colour for a natural dye of a lovely light pink hue.
The successful use of this natural dye is another
interesting learning.
KNOWLEDGE GALORE
On Sisavangvong Road is the Traditional Arts
and Ethnology Centre (TAEC), which has a variety
of textiles and products that are handmade.
TAEC works with over 600 artisans in more than
30 ethnic villages across Laos with an aim of
preserving the cultural diversity of the country
through permanent and special exhibitions,
events and craft workshops, and their product
range is representative of their efforts.
For more information on their work, one can
take a short tuk-tuk ride to the TAEC Museum,
housed in a heritage building, that has on display
the traditional textiles and attire, samples of
traditional weaves, as well as embroidery and
appliqué, along with printed information explaining
the displays. There is a store in the premises
with a range of textiles for sale (50 per cent of
every sale goes back to TAEC’s artisan partners
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January 2020
and their families.) Textiles woven with intricate
patterns, yarns dyed with natural dyes, and with
small beads are among the products on sale.
OCK POP TOK
Also located on Sisavangvong Road are two
stores (close to each other) of Ock Pop Tok, ‘an
artisanal social enterprise’ that has a fantastic
range of handmade textiles. Ock Pop Tok,
meaning ‘East Meets West’ in the Lao language,
is founded by an Englishwoman Joanna Smith
and Laotian woman Veomanee Douangdala,
and aims to have visitors discover Laos through
its textiles. Ock Pop Tok was founded “on the
principles of fair trade and sustainable business
practices and the original concept was to bring
people together through textiles to exchange
knowledge and ideas”.
For a deeper engagement with their work,
one can take a short tuk-tuk ride, organised by
the store, to the Living Crafts Centre that has
a heritage collection of vintage and modern
textiles made by master weavers, a boutique
with garments and lifestyle products that are
handmade using traditional techniques, a café
by the Mekong River, and the Mekong Villa
that has five textile-inspired rooms in a restored
heritage bungalow. There is a tour that takes
visitors around the complex and introduces