Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair
25 - 28 January
The Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair in Chiang Mai is a festival that exhibits the region's traditional crafts and culture as a whole.
Northern Thailand is home to innumerable bounteous hardwood forests. And, Chiang Mai is the city which has these forests in profusion. This profuseness has led to the invention of numerous arts and crafts based on timber. These crafts have given livelihood to countless people, and have also generated revenues for the administration over the years.
Most of the temples in Chiang Mai have ornately carved teak gables that display supreme craftsmanship of the then local artistes. Even today, the city's structures have various woodcarvings as inherent features. Spinning wheels, doors, windows, etc are exquisitely decorated in teak.
One of the most important festivals and events in Chiang Mai, the Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair is a festival that celebrates these traditional craft works. The city has one of the densest concentrations of wood carvers. The forests of Chiang Mai have allured these local artisans for years.
Woodcarving has become a thriving export industry in Chiang Mai. The Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair is an attempt to bring these artistes and their products in the limelight. Held at the village of Baan Tawai, the Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair is the place where wood carvers from all over the city assemble together to sell their products under one roof.
Full of color and liveliness, the Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair is an assortment of a wide range of goods like statutes, furniture, dolls, animals and flowers, all carved in wood.
The Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair is usually held over a period of 15 days. The rate of products sold here is not very high. These goods are durable and add chicness to your home or workplace. In short, Baan Tawai Woodcarving Fair is undoubtedly one of the best places for shopping in Chiang Mai.Baan Tawai
Baan Tawai is the village of wood-carving handicrafts. It has been known as the major cultural attraction of Chiangmai for Thai and foreign tourists. The best quality and bargains of wood carving items can be found in Baan Tawai.
At present, a wide variety of wood carvings and other decorative items e.g. wood carving, wood-strips, gold leaf wood, antique wood, silverware, lacquer ware, hand-woven textile, basketry and earthenware, can be found in Baan Tawai at Baan Tawai handicraft Center and Baan Tawai Song Fang Klong Center.
How we became the village of wood-carving
For forty years, the art of wood carving has been passed down from generation to generation. During BE 2500-2505, the first three villagers, Pho Naan Daeng Puntusa, Pho Jaima Inkaew and Pho Huen Puntusart had left Baan Tawai to learn how to carve at Nomsilp, a manufacture shop on Wua Lai Street, Chiangmai Gate. They brought their new found skill back to Baan Tawai. The village gradually became renowned for its woodcarving expertise.
vdo Baan Tawai
The art of wooden handicrafts at Baan Tawai
• | Wood-carving : typical woodwork at Baan Tawai, Chiangmai |
| • | Wood texture- polishing : polished in order to bring out the beauty of wood texture |
| • | Crackle Paint Wood : a paint that produce a crackled effect on the wood |
| • | Wood antiqueing : new wood made to look like antiques Credit http://ban-tawai.com/history.php http://www.asiarooms.com/en/travel-guide/thailand/chiang-mai/things-to-do-in-chiang-mai/shopping-in-chiang-mai/baan-tawai-wood-carving-village-chiang-mai.html |
