Weaving communities together
Continuing our Female Leadership series, Life talked to Nichada Suriyacharearn, a passionate preserver of traditional woven patterns from ethnic groups in Lamphun
More than a decade ago, no one in the northern province of Lamphun gave much attention to “geographical indication”, a status that identifies a product with its specific origin. But today the province is renowned for the implementation of geographical indications, or GI tags, that can improve the quality of pha mai yok dok Lamphun, a well- known hand- woven silk brocade that has intricate and elegant designs. Nichada Suriyacharearn spearheads such a movement. Now the permanent secretary of Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) of Lamphun,
the 60- year- old is also the founder of the Institute of Hariphunchai Hand-woven Cloth in Muang district, the one-stop learning centre of woven cloth in the province.
“When I learned the benefits of GI status — that it can help preserve our local wisdom and add value to the silk brocade — I knew that Lamphun must gear up for it,” she recalled of her plan in the early 2000s.
Born in Samut Songkhram and graduating from Thammasat University, Nichada moved to Lamphun almost 30 years ago. She has always been into cultural conservation, especially preserving traditional woven cloth. She wears phasin, a tube-like skirt, to work every day. During weekends, she visits ethnic communities everywhere in Lamphun, regardless of the distance, to learn how ethnic groups like Tai Lue, Tai Yong or Pakakayo make their clothes. She wants to see their original woven patterns and find ways to promote their fabrics.
“I love hand-woven cloth, especially those with beautiful patterns. The designs show local wisdom so I’ve tried everywhere to help preserve it.”
One of her big achievements started when Chao Dararat Na Lamphun, a granddaughter of the last Lamphun ruler Maj Gen Chao Chakkham Kachornsak, donated a 5 rai plot of land to the PAO in 2002. Chao Dararat has a passion for textiles and silk fabrics. Her aim was also to help preserve the unique
yok dok pattern, the cultural heritage of Lamphun. When the PAO received the land from Chao Dararat, Nichada planned to open the institute of hand-woven cloth to preserve the yok dok silk cloth whose history dates back to more than a century ago. The first phase was to have a workroom with a dozen wooden looms for local weavers to use without service charge.
The institute later added a showroom to help promote and distribute their woven fabrics. A museum with history and collections of old Lanna cloth and dresses was also established in its second phase. Today, the institute also houses a One Tambon One Product (Otop) centre.
In 2006, Nichada wanted to help local weavers improve their products. She knew that the weavers could get benefits from GI status because it would force them to have a systematic process in producing woven fabrics. The weavers had to record every part of the process of weaving, starting from selecting yarns, the weaving technique, a production period, and the name and location of the weaver.
This information can be accessed by customers via a QR code tag. The information can enhance customers’ confidence that when they pay a high price for the product as it signifies good quality.
But things were easier said than done. When the GI concept was introduced, local weavers understood the benefits. But the major drawback was that many of them were computer-illiterate.
The solution? Nichada had an idea to ease weavers’ anxiety. She sent her staff to work with some potential weavers. For those who totally baulked at using the technology, she asked her staff to work with their young family members.
“We worked on it for one year before weavers were ready to apply for the patent. The Department of Intellectual Property gave GI status to pha mai
yok dok of Lamphun in 2007. We were a pioneer in the field,” she said.
Since then, the Institute of Hariphunchai Hand-woven Cloth has received visitors from all over the country. Not only did the GI status of yok dok silk cloth make the institute famous, the province has also become more recognised.
But Nichada still sees room for improvement. She encouraged the PAO to work with the Thailand Professional Qualification Institute which oversees occupational standards, to certify weaving skills of local weavers.
“When we told local weavers there would be a skill test, they were excited. Many of them have woven cloth since a young age, but they have never got certification. More than 100 weavers joined our first test for Level 1 weaving skill. They showed up in numbers far greater than my expectation,” she said.
As some old ethnic people can’t read Thai, Nichada arranged for her staff to help read each question for them.
Soon, PAO will organise the test for Level 4 weaving skills. So when customers check the QR code tag, they will know if the yok dok silk fabric is woven by Level 1 or Level 4 skilled weavers, she said. The cloth made by the weaver with a Level 4 standard will have a higher price than the entry level standard.
In addition to yok dok silk cloth, Nichada also helps promote other types of woven fabrics.
“In the past, Lamphun never had any festival dedicated to woven cloth. I knew that Lamphun has a variety of woven fabrics so PAO supported my idea to host the first cotton woven fabric fair in town.”
In 1999, PAO organised a fair which was popular among locals and PAO made it an annual event. But in the third edition, conflicts with some local businessmen forced Nichada to stop organising it. In 2002, however, she was asked to help arrange the same kind of fair in Ban Don Luang in Pa Sang district, around a 30-minute drive from town. The fair has been organised annually ever since, with the 16th edition taking place from April 6-10.
“The original purpose is to let people know that Don Luang is the major production centre of hand-woven cloth in Lamphun,” she said.
It was the first time for the Don Luang community to host a woven cloth fair. People joined forces to decorate their community with blue tung, Lanna-style flags woven by locals. Families who wove cloth displayed their products under their raisedfloor houses so that visitors would be able to observe how they wove cloth and learned the local way of life by joining a welcoming ceremony in the temple and saw local performances and had food in a kad mua (Lanna-style market), she said.
The remote community, which could be reached only via a dirt road two decades ago, became lively with the sound of drums and traditional dance performances.
“The small event became magnificent because of the collaboration between locals,” she said.
But then again, it wasn’t a bed of roses. The fair was later interfered with by local politicians and businessmen. They organised concerts and tents to sell factory products. Tired of confronting them, Nichada stopped supporting the fair. Since then, the format of the event has been changed. It has gradually turned into a flea market.
Nichada is not yet tired of discovering Lamphun’s cultural heritage. She fell in love with pha tin-chok
of the Pakakoyo ethnic group in Li district the first time she saw it. Pha tin-chok is another form of cloth weaving that uses the “pick and pull” technique. People may learn about tin-chok cloth patterns of Tai Yuan ethnic communities in Chiang Mai’s Mae Chaem district, but tin-chok fabrics of Pakakoyo ethnic groups in Ban Puang Kham in Li have different patterns and more variety in designs.
During the first year when PAO had a policy to promote local culture including tin-chok fabrics of Li many years ago, they found that all weavers who were in their 60s and above did not want to produce tin-chok
fabrics any more. It was because the process was complicated and took time to produce.
“I told them that if they still wanted to earn a living by weaving, they could beat other hand-woven fabrics in the North by bringing back their original tin-chok patterns,” she said.
At first only two weavers gave it a try. When they finished, they could sell a piece of cloth for at least 2,000 baht. The price was 10 times higher than typical hand-woven cloth. This became an incentive for others and today they have a weaving group and a permanent workroom in Wat Paung Kham. Nichada also initiated a policy for schools under the support of PAO in Li district to have a weaving curriculum. Middle school students (Grade 7-9) must learn to plant cotton trees, make yarn from cotton balls, dye yarns in natural colours and weave cloth. “We also match students with experienced weavers in Ban Puang Kham. The students help the elderly mix and match colours that are supervised by instructors. The elderly share their weaving techniques with students. By doing so, I hope that their heritage can live on,” she said.
Although Nichada will retire this September, she still has fire in her soul and grace in her heart.
She plans to improve the facilities of her brainchild project by adding a function and meeting hall to accommodate group visitors when they visit the Institute of Hariphunchai Hand-woven Cloth. She also plans to have a museum for Buddha images and amulets to tell the story of Lamphun through Buddha sculptures. Lastly, she also wants to see more locals wear woven fabrics in their daily lives in order to create a wider market for communities of weavers.
With the support of mayors and governors, civil servants wear local woven clothes to work, to join provincial meetings or even to organise fashion shows to encourage people to wear woven clothes on a daily basis.
“As a civil servant, I have a duty not only to develop our communities, but also to preserve local cultures. I’ve always worked with passion. I am proud to say that I am one of the Lanna people. Lamphun is my home.”
The elderly share their weaving techniques with students