Once in a while you can be lucky enough to discover "diamonds in your own backyard." That's exactly what happened with us a few weeks ago.
We were looking at other possible products we could create from our handmade Thai silk to make available for sale on our village community website. After lots of endless discussions and some really creative suggestions, we came up with the idea of making a range of silk gift items.
Great Ideas But How Can We Do This?
But the question was...what can we make and who will make them?
Well that problem was solved almost immediately as our very well tuned "village telegraph system" got working and to our great surprise, a lovely couple we knew had worked together in Bangkok, came forward with a wonderful surprise.
Our Latest Heroes - Juntar and Somjid
Not only had Juntar and his lovely wife, Somjid, had more than 25 years in the custom made craft industry but they also had awards from both the Thai government as well as regional and local authorities, for the highest quality of handmade craft work.
Juntar and Somjid loved the idea of moving back home from Bangkok as they wanted to bring up their children in a Thai village rather than a big city...so we were all lucky to find each other!
My Fashion Research Experiences
Prior to finalising what our silk gift items would be yours truly went on a "search and almost destroy" mission to find out more about the world of handbags ,neckties etc.
Well what a revelation this was for an Aussie guy with very little fashion sense and even less knowledge of "trends" and "What's Hot right now." Those of you who know me must be really laughing at the thought of me trying to make sense of the fashion world.
I actually ended up in some very active forum discussions where people (who must have had little to do with their time) were heatedly arguing the latest trends and what the differences are between handbags, shoulder bags, tote bags, duffle bags and even purses.
The result of this painfully useless research - we are going to call our items "handbags" - lets keep it simple OK?
Our Silk Gifts Launch...of sorts!
Our wonderful new craftsmen (or craftspeople or whatever the correct term is these days) are now busy creating not only beautiful silk handbags but neckties, cushion covers, sleep pants, boxer shorts and cute little purses.
We launched our first selection of handbags this week with HUGE introductory discounts (maybe way too big actually) and lots of fanfare via press releases (check out this press release for example) and lots of social media mentions.
We really are very proud of the quality work by Juntar and Somjid.
Hopefully people will really love these very high quality creations so we can make even more improvements to the village lifestyles we are so passionate about.
Want to see for yourself? Check out our silk handbag page and enjoy your handbag shopping.
But please direct any qustions you may have to Dao..not me as I am still completely "handbag confused and devastated"
