ไทย
source of MINDFUL craft
Phra Bat Huai Tom village lies on the outskirts of a town called Li, in Lamphun province in Northern Thailand. This is where the Karen hill tribe people live their peaceful and simple way of life in close connection to Buddhist practices and virtues.
The beauty of this place exists within the people who emanate the calm, sincerity and perseverance that shows in their life and work.
Take a closer look at Phra Bat Huai Tom
The way of life of the village community is strongly connected to the 5 guidelines that they adhere to. These are the teachings of Phra Kruba Wong, a revered monk who guided the Karen Hill Tribe people to do good, behave properly and improve their way of living. Everyday and from everywhere you can hear the gentle sounds of impressive Chedi Si Wiang Chai pagoda bells, silver hammering sounds, evening prayer chanting and the sounds of festivities related to merit-making – the source of our inspiration and guarantee of piece of mind.
Painted murals of the main temple, the Wat Phrabat Huai Tom, tell an impressive story of faith and cooperation of the community. Merit making at the occasion of major Buddhist holidays epitomized by offering (strictly vegetarian) food to monks represents their most common social gathering.
If you walk around the village you will hear the rhythmic sound of silver hammering coming from each house and the sounds of traditional looms deriving from the handicraft center. You will also encounter the smiles of the people, the elderly women in their beautiful Karen outfits embellished with a necklace or a bracelets composed from the most beautiful silver beads! Most impressing is the fact that the lifestyle continues with the new generation of youngsters who proudly continue wearing traditional colorful Karen clothes and express interest in their traditional crafts.
Beauty of Mindfulness
Simple hand tools such as stones, hammers, a block of wood that require little to no electricity have always been common items utilized in Karen silver jewelry making. In addition to that, the most important aspect that allows a silversmith to realize a beautiful piece of work is to be found in one’s mindfulness and perseverance. Traditional silver making process requires high attention to details and can be most tedious. For example, making of a single string of silver beads requires all the family to work together.
It can take up to a full day of work for a family of 3 to make about five pieces of 45cm long strings of fine grain silver beads.
We wish for our jewelry creations to be a source of encouragement, a suggestion for whoever is wearing it to find the mindfulness within and the ability to concentrate in every moment of the day.
We hope the products can pass on good energy, the creativity and the energy that has been put into the work in order to obtain each piece.
About Karen Silver
Our silver products are hand crafted in 95-99% Silver by Thai Karen hill-tribe artisans. The Karen are a group of ethnic peoples who reside primarily in southern and southeastern Burma and in northern and north-eastern Thailand. Thai and Burmese hill tribes can be traced back to the 12th century when they are said to have originated from Tibet. With a higher silver content than sterling silver, Karen silver has a weight, bright satin color and feel, all of its own. Every piece is handmade and individual.
MINDFUL Approach
For the past few decades, Thailand has theorized its own unique sustainability framework—sufficiency economy philosophy— that is recognized worldwide, as well as by the United Nations. It is based on the Buddhist worldview on interrelationships of economy, society, and environment.
THE SUFFICIENCY ECONOMY PHILOSOPHY (SEP)
Consciousness is
the starting point.
Consciousness directs the self awareness. Mindfulness reminds us to make thoughtful decisions. It reveals the missing parts and shows how to fulfill them. Mindfulness leads to a path towards one’s self and is therefore sustainable.
Three interrelated components and two underlying conditions are central ideas to SEP.
The sufficiency economy is a philosophy of development based on moderation, prudence, and immunity. The main idea focuses on the idealistic notion that, in general, individuals, families, organizations and countries will enjoy more happiness and better outcomes when virtues prevail.
The first component is self-awareness: aware of what we are good at, what we do well, what completes us and makes us happy, what we do better than others and thus positively affects others, the community, the society, even nature.
The second component is the mindset of reasonability: taken into account moderation and the comprehension that engaging in a certain kind of cause will result in a similar kind of result – the principle of karma.
The third is immunity: to be prepared for any situation we cannot control and plan for the worst case scenario. If we know that we are not prepared and skilled in a certain area (such as knowledge, language, technology, financial management), we should find a way to close that gap.
Two essential conditions are knowledge and morality. We should have knowledge, deep understanding, do things with perseverance and not give up while at the same time think of others without taking advantage of anyone.
In summary, it is to act consciously, know oneself, walk the middle path with perseverance, strive for what is right, not only for ourselves, but also for broader benefits, in line with the principles of Buddhism.
The sufficiency level differs for each person, so we should do what is right for us and help each other.
Together we can go further and this will take us towards sustainability.
We wish for our jewelry to be a source of encouragement, a suggestion for whoever is wearing it to find himself, be mindful, and concentrate in every moment of the day while contributing to the opportunity for Phra Bat Huai Tom community to remain truthful to their culture and beliefs, bringing about the proudness to be Karen Hill Tribe and to pass on the heritage that connects to mindfulness.
We invite you to join us on this journey of doing what we believe most, in the best possible way. We hope to learn more along the road so we can keep growing, doing good for others and for the cause we believe in.
People Behind mindful jewelry
Ekachai
The Master Silversmith
After having worked as a chef in Bangkok as a youngster, he decided to come back to his hometown to work in farming and silver making in order to be able to be with his family and community.
Lung Chae & Pa Tiloo
The Silversmith and the Threader
The couple who often give a hand in our workshop. Silver making is their source of income during the off harvesting seasons.
Nid & Tae
The Apprentices in silver making
The two youngest newcomers who are interested in silver making and crafting as a career. They want to be able to earn a proud and adequate income while living in their hometown and staying in the community.
Lah & Deang family
The Master in rice grain silver beads making
The sole family in Phra Bat Huai Tom who still produces the 1 mm grain silver beads. Their ancestors have been doing this for centuries. It is a an fatiguing process, as the tiny beads will only make 5-6 strings in one working day.
Titapa Tanskul
Realizing that her meaning is to work in design alongside the people of Phra Bat Huai Tom to pass on the beauty of mindfulness, she aims to enable others to find serenity of here & now through her work.
Lucija Perko
Lucija has made her commitment in design field to support the local know-how and traditional skills, by means of creativity, innovation and respect towards ancestral knowledge.