K E W
​
The forgotten craft of Thailand’s first spun bamboo village, Baan Sri Pan Krua, inspired a journey back in time to rediscover its beauty and worth in today’s world. For decades, this craftsmanship technique was regarded as a low-cost method for creating the internal structure of traditional Lanna lacquerware.
To honour the previously neglected and hidden appeal of this technique, we collaborated with Sri Pan Krua village to not only reinterpret the tradition, but also to artistically portray the tale of human and handicraft behind this technique.
This column series is an experiment to deconstruct "Kew," which refers to the cornice-like components of typical Lanna-style spun bamboo items. We rebuild "Kew" to form a new skeleton-like structure that reflects the body and hand intensive movement behind the work. Instead of covering with a heavy layer of lacquer, we collected and turned the residual bamboo into charcoal powder using local smokeless incineration knowledge. This powder was then used as a natural colour and eco-base to fill the gap. Subsequently, the surface was hand sanded, matching the beauty of natural structure and black pattern.
EXHIBITION
​
Venice Design Biennial 2023
