The gorgeous Thai silk favoured by many Thai and international designers originates from northeastern Thailand where cloth-weaving is a traditional folk craft. Northeastern silk is renowned for mudmee and khid silk varieties, usually made into tubular skirts or phasin. Phu Thai folk employ an elaborate weaving style called chok to create unique phrae wa and phrae mon silks. Hang kra rok silk is the speciality of Thais of Khmer origin, in which complicated weaving patterns create a harmonious, multicoloured combination of threads. Northern hand-woven fabrics include cottons with distinctive patterns, such as nam lai and tin chok. The North’s most famous rustic cloth is the traditional dark blue mo hom denim-like cloth favoured by Thai farmers. In southern Thailand, Phum Riang silk is produced by Thai-Muslim villagers who apply traditional weaving patterns to Japanese silk.

The Yok Nakhon cotton of Nakhon Si Thammarat is equally distinctive, while batiks and patae skirts glow with the brilliant colours.

The hand-made nang talung shadow play in southern Thailand features distinctive puppets with moving parts, while the classic nang yai shadow play associated with the royal courts of Ayutthaya and Bangkok features larger pieces which have no moving parts and are vignettes depicting either principal characters or scenes from the Thai version of the classic Ramayana. Shadow play puppets make unusual souvenirs and are manufactured principally in the south of Thailand.

Thai kilns have a long, primarily Chinese-influenced tradition of pottery making. Of the various styles, hand-painted 14th century Sangkhalok, produced in Sukhothai, and 19th century Benjarong with decorative porcelain bowls, jars and spittoons are the most popular. Benjarong has proved the most desirable among Thai and foreign collectors due to the rarity and rich surface decorations. The northeastern community of Dan Kwian produces a distinctive range of rust-red objects including vases, flower pots and tiny ornamental accessories. In northern Thailand, high fired seagreen celadon produces an effect similar to venerable Sangkhalok ceramics.

Clothing presents many excellent buys, both men and women’s fashions off-the-peg and tailor made. A whole range of accessories are also to be found, especially leather goods which offer particularly good value for money.

1. Ready-to-Wear
   Thailand is known as Southeast Asia and the world’s leading manufacturer of ready-to-wear clothing, producing a wide range of garments for the local market and export. Upmarket fashion boutiques are located in modern shopping malls, while bargain clothing is to be found at bazaar stalls or make-shift stalls on the streets.
2. Custom Tailoring
   There are literally hundreds of establishments small and large producing all kinds of clothing orders in a variety of styles in just a few days. You may choose a style from recent fashion magazines and select the cloth from a wide display of materials, both locally made and imported.

Chiang Mai has been the commercial centre of wood crafting in northern Thailand for decades. Wooden elephants were popular souvenir items at first, while today craftsmen have enhanced wood carving by featuring mythical angels, dancing figures, animals and the reproduction of ornamental fragments from old palaces and temples.

Folk wisdom and the countrywide distribution of bamboo combine to make basket-weaving an important folk craft.

Rattan, sedge, kok, bulrush or kra chud are also used to produce beautifully designed furniture and attractive souvenirs. These natural materials are widely used for woven mats and other woven handicrafts, while the popular and delicate lipao vine ladies’ handbags were introduced by Her Majesty the Queen.

Cultured pearl production mimics the natural process to produce pearls of guaranteed quality. Cultured pearl farms are found principally in southern Thailand, particularly in Ranong, Phang-nga and Phuket provinces.

Gold has been used primarily in temples and palaces, as golden Buddha images, jewellery and royal insignia and decorations. Buddha images are decorated with gold leaf and gold is used to enhance modern jewellery.

Lacquerware is an ancient oriental craft, and entails a repeated process of coating structural bamboo or wood with lacquer before hand-painting it with elaborate designs. Generally, objects are produced either in gold and black, or yellow and green on a red-brown background. Chiang Mai is the major centre of lacquerware. Products include boxes, trays and dolls.

Silver beating is another traditional northern craft. Bowls, boxes, cigarette cases, vases are fashioned in a craft which has been practised in southern Thailand for hundreds of years.

Nielloware, or khrueang thom, is the craft of decorating objects with delicately etched designs which are filled with a metal alloy to produce a smooth patterned surface in black and gold. The art is widely practised in Nakhon Si Thammarat.

Pewterware, essentially an alloy of lead and tin which produces a metal with a smooth and silky feel, comes mainly in the form of beakers, goblets, tankards and decorative figurines.