I grew up listening to the sound of my grandmother’s (Grandma Chum) weaving loom. I was fascinated by the way the shuttle flew back and forth and how her nimble fingers made the intricate patterns appear on the woven cloth like magic. I was also intrigued by how she would use different leaves, flowers, roots, seeds, insect resin, and even mud, to make the dyes to dye the yarn into so many colors. Whenever she hung out the colored yarn to dry in the sun, it was like seeing a colourful butterfly gently flapping its wings.

My grandmother and all the women in our village hand wove and hand sewed everything we used at home – cotton blankets, cotton bed covers, curtains, silk wraps, and silk “xinns” (Lao skirts). Weaving was all I knew when I was young; it was my whole life, and it was the life of our whole community.

I left home to study in the city when I was twelve. I lived with my Uncle Sombath, and he provided me with the other major source of inspiration that defined my life’s path. My uncle had studied in the USA, but he came back to Laos to work on sustainable community development. I remembered when I was in school, I hardly saw my uncle; he was always working in the rural villages of Laos. When he was home, he talked about how important it was to get the rural poor to help themselves. He would say all the time, “Lao villagers are such skilled artisans; all they need are opportunities to use their indigenous knowledge and skills to improve their own lives”. That was why Uncle Sombath started his own development agency, PADETC (Participatory Development and Training Center) to train rural men and women to improve their lives (http://www.padetc.org/about-us/our-founder/).

Uncle Sombath wanted to create employment opportunities for rural women to earn an income for their families. That was why he started Saoban Handcrafts as a Fair Trade Social Enterprise to work with women artisan groups across Laos to promote Laos handcrafts and to market them to local and international buyers (http://www.saobancrafts.com).

In 2012, I became involved with Saoban Handcrafts. Driven by my passion for weaving inherited from Grandma Chum, and inspired by Uncle Sombath’s vision to develop the rural poor, I became Saoban Handcrafts chief artist and designer. Working tirelessly with different women artisanal groups, I boldly experimented with using a mixture of local yarns – cotton, silk, hemp, and mulberry paper – dyed in a new palette of natural colors to give a modern and fun twist to my products, without compromising on traditional techniques.

Now after more than four years, I am ready to launch my own Etsy Saoban Shop. I am so proud and excited that I can at last showcase a range of my beautifully handmade products.

When you buy a product from me, you can be sure that it's 100% handmade and eco-friendly. Your purchase will also help preserve the long history and tradition of my culture of Lao handwoven textiles made from indigenous and organic cotton and silk threads.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to contact me :)

Thank you for visiting and hope you enjoy my shop!