Last year, my husband and I spent three weeks backpacking around Thailand as our "honeymoon" and I fell madly in love. We'd finally gotten married, and now my husband had to compete with a whole country! The people, the culture, the food, the landscape... and the crafts. Oh! The crafts. Night bazaars filled with the most beautiful handcrafted things...
That said, it should be no surprise that I like to peek at what is being sold on Etsy from the Land of Smiles. And when I stumbled across Thaitied, well, I'm now even more in love. Thaitied is a group of young designers in the Northern Thailand city of Chiang Mai, creating modern clothes with a very traditional influence. Much of their line is made by pairing natural fibers like hemp and cotton with gorgeous vintage batik and embroidery from the Hmong hill tribes of Northern Thailand. The result? Beautiful and very wearable. Love.
Oh yeah, and Thailand? Go there. I know it is far, but you won't regret the trip.
Liz
Grotyohann is a co-founder of cosa verde,
a marketplace for handmade,
environmentally-conscious goods.
I really appreciate it! Thank you sooooooo much :)
Posted by: Apple | Jun 08, 2010 at 08:56 AM
Loving these tribals! Really beautiful!
Looks like I need to plan a trip to Thailand:)
Posted by: amanda | Jun 08, 2010 at 04:20 PM
I really like the mixture of their own culture but taking it a little bit further, making it more modern. The handkraft is beautifull.
I wonder though: when you say all natural fibers like cotton or hemp do you mean organic? A lot of companies say natural fibers like it should be something great but usually its not organic and if its not organic then its just a marketing bluff really. Take in consideration that 3% of the land is used to produce cotton but that cotton uses 25% of all pesticides ever - its like so bad cotton if its not organic.
Posted by: Helena | Jun 09, 2010 at 03:14 AM
Helena, you are absolutely right that there is an awful amount of greenwashing out there. I was quoting Thaitied's own description of their materials, and while I do not know if they are using organics, I mentioned that they are using natural fibers because despite cotton's ecological downsides it can be preferable to many synthetics.
Mainly I am happy to see an artist using a rapidly-renewable fabric like hemp and repurposed vintage fabrics in such a lovely way.
Posted by: Liz | Jun 09, 2010 at 07:23 AM
Great find! Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: minouette | Jun 10, 2010 at 03:15 PM
Wow, I really love the patterns of the fabric on these pieces.
Posted by: Melissa | Jun 23, 2010 at 09:12 PM