Call to Watch "Thai Fabric Wisdom You May Never Know"
Dow Thailand (Dow) has joined forces with three local community enterprises in Rayong Province to preserve Thai fabrics making skills and generate more income for local community members.
- The Rayong Local Textile Conservation Center, Ban Phe Municipality, is known for its distinctive eyelet weaving technique, a traditional Rayong fabric pattern recorded in historical documents.
- The Khlong Nam Hu Community Enterprise, Map Ta Phut Municipality, uses rice, a valuable Thai ingredient, to give the fabric a soft, smooth texture and a distinctive aroma.
- The Tan Batik Community Enterprise, Ban Chang District Municipality, uses seawater to dye fabric and presents a variety of unique hand-dyed fabrics, such as batik, tie-dye, candle writing, candle printing, and leaf printing.
Dow has produced promotional videos and improved learning centers and exhibition materials at the three enterprises. The videos can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvjrVYqoUNiCmvPIvLnctfJRaX0sJhGJP.
“Creating Thai fabrics is a process that requires precision and care,” said Nattapong Jirawattanaworakul, Dow’s Global Citizenship and Community Relations Manager. “Each thread woven into a piece of fabric is like a bond and connection that Dow Thailand has been building for many years in Thailand through collaboration and support for local communities in various areas, including quality of life, the environment, and community economics.”
Dow also joined forces with the leaders of the three textile centers to welcome and host a workshop for Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya, a world-renowned Thai-Indonesian artist who grew up in the United States. The artist visited Rayong to learn about Thai fabrics in order to showcase the works and collaborate with local artists from Rayong and other provinces that were selected for the “Weaving Our Stories” project. This project, sponsored by Dow, will be held in late 2023 to mark the 190th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the United States and Thailand.