Thailand Hilltribe Handicrafts

As supporters of Fair tourism and Fair trade, we are proud to work with hill tribe artisans, to promote their indigenous crafts and to ensure they benefit directly from their skills and from tourism to their villages.  Purchasing handicrafts is a great way to support local artisans, it is sustainable, provides important supplemental income for families and helps to preserve traditional artforms.  If you are interested in ordering any of the hill tribe handicrafts below please send an email to - mja1906@hotmail.com. Please note that each item will be made to order, as we do not currently hold items in stock. This page is an on-going work in progress as we connect with more artisans and add more products, so please stay tuned :)

About Hilltribe Cotton

Weaving is a time-honoured tradition and innate part of everyday village life for hill tribe women. These cotton shoulder bags (called 'Yaam' bags in Thai) are traditionally used by hill tribes as work or day bags which they use to carry to the farms. They are skilfully made from one long strip of cotton.  Traditionally the cotton would be home grown, handpicked, handspun, and dyed using available natural materials such as tree bark and leaves, and then intricately handwoven using a backstrap loom. However, due to this lengthy and time consuming process, nowadays it is common for villagers to buy chemically dyed synthetic cottons to weave with instead. Sustaining a demand for cottons produced in the traditional way, helps to preserve a dying artform which was once an intrinsic part of everyday life for hill tribe women. Buying and showcasing these traditional hand woven bags and scarves, installs a sense of pride in the women artisans who make them, encouraging them to continue using these time-honoured techniques, and to pass them onto their daughters and future generations. In this way an important indigenous artform is preserved whilst providing valuable supplemental income for families.

Hilltribe Cotton shoulder bags
	1) Lawa Hill tribe Shoulder bag, Dark Salmon   Traditional Lawa hill tribe design   Width 40cm x Length of pouch 40cm x Full Length inc.strap 90cm

2)  Lawa hill tribe shoulder bag, Denim Width (32 cm) x Length of pouch  (30cm) x Full length inc. strap (82cm)

3)  Natural Cream bag Width(36cm) x Length of pouch (37cm) x Full length inc.strap (74cm) 4)  Natural Green bag Width (41cm) x Length of pouch (40cm) x Full length inc.strap (98cm)

Hill tribe cotton Scarves
	1) Hill tribe Cotton Scarf, Navy  100% Natural Handwoven cotton, Made to order available

2) Hill tribe Cotton scarf, Grey    100% Handwoven cotton, made using natural cotton and dyes. Made to order available

3) Traditional Lawa motif scarf     100% natural cotton, with traditional Lawa hill tribe motif, can also be used as a table decoration