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Water Hyacinth Teak Policy Materials
Once an unmanageable weed, clogging up waterways over large parts of Asia, water hyacinths are now being harvested for a growing range of industries, particularly in Thailand and Indonesia. Also known as Java Weed, the plant produces beautiful blossoms and was first introduced into Thailand about 100 years ago as a water ornament. The problems arose from the plants ability to double its biomass in less than two weeks and quickly outgrow local flora and fauna, reducing the traversibility of canals, rivers and lakes, and clogging outboard engines and oars. For decades it was removed at some cost, and with only limited success, by the widespread use of herbicides. Beginning in the early 1990’s, a Government backed Thai research institute began to look into possible uses for the weed. Its potential gradually emerged, and from 1992 onwards it began to be variously used as a fertiliser, an ingredient in fibre board, an agricultural fuel and in the wicker work baskets that are increasingly fashionable in Europe and Japan. Most recently it has been woven into a wide range of modern Oriental and European designs that have made interior designers around the world take note.
Part of the success in promoting these products has come from the extra income provided to rural farmers, who can make wickerwork and other items in the off season, and also from the positive image abroad of the water hyacinth as an environmentally friendly material. Water hyacinth products now generate impressive foreign earnings from the US, Japan and the EU.
The furniture available through SOTO uses panels of water hyacinth or rattan, embedded in old teak wood salvaged from broken furniture and dilapidated buildings. Teak trees can only legally be felled in Thailand from specially planted areas, and in any case the wood must go through a long treatment process before it is suitable for making high quality furniture. The designs of Prapai Sairien are unique and original works, made specifically for each customer. The ordering process ideally will involve him planning the space in your room and together working out the most suitable pieces for your home or workplace. The workmanship and finish that goes into Khun Prapai’s furniture is of the highest order, and old teak wood is primarily used because of its great durability, resistance to both water damage and wood eating insects, and its capacity to form perfect joins.
The woven panels can be made from various braids of water hyacinth, some wound more tightly than others. These braids are treated to prevent decay and can then be either left in their natural golden colour, or dyed to provide other contrasts to the teak frames. In these distinctive modern designs the classical elegance of teak wood is combined with the lightness of natural fibres to produce furniture with true space transforming power.
Teak Policy
All of SOTO’s teak furniture uses only rediscovered wood. Many of our lines also make use of teak veneer plywood, the sources for which are Forestry Commission controlled. Whereas in the past Thailand was a centre of teak logging, now it is banned in all but controlled plantations, and therefore there is very little unprocessed teak exported from Thailand. In order to feed the teak furniture industry’s demand for the raw material, a country wide industry harvesting old and dilapidated buildings, rice barns and other structures has developed. In the longer term, of course, this finite resource will dwindle, and in preparation for that Thailand now has an extensive and carefully controlled reforestation program, of which teak planting is a major part. Many teak trees have been planted that will likely never be cut down, and where they will, the government strictly controls the age at which the trees can be cut.
Materials
Bamboo Silk Celadon Mulberry Paper Hemp Bamboo is usually classified as a species of grass, and yet some varieties can grow to over 100 feet tall. Most of us are familiar with bamboo as the food of Giant Pandas, or as scaffolding for Hong Kong skyscrapers, and perhaps by some tourists to Thailand as a means of rafting down rivers. There are many species of Bamboo growing in Thailand, and different varieties have widely different possibilities for commercial and aesthetic use. This versatile quick growing plant has long been used as a building material, in musical instruments, and more recently it has been used to make a growing array of decorative items, from candleholders to beds. Some large varieties can be used to make bold furniture designs with strikingly simple and elegant frames. Smaller pieces can be crushed and made into all sorts of tableware and vases, or be used as panels in teakwood furniture. In Thailand the young shoots are even eaten, especially in Northern Thai curries.
Enthusiasts in Europe and the United States complain that the utility of bamboo is ignored to our considerable loss. It is even cleared as an unwanted weed. In most of Asia bamboo has been used and even revered for centuries, especially in China, where it has been said that life begins and ends with bamboo. Although long known to be a strong and useful building material, recent attention has focused on how to make the best of bamboo’s aesthetic qualities. Small bamboo shoots now appear around the world as house plants and furniture designers have gone to great lengths to find species that resist warping and can make interesting interior designs. Ultimately, however much styling you put into your work with bamboo, it always retains an instantly identifiable uniqueness by virtue of the rings that trace its rapid growth.
Silk Bamboo Celadon Mulberry Paper Hemp Silk yarns are spun by hand from the cocoons of silk worms on wooden or plastic tubes before going through a complicated dying process and being transferred to a hand-loom. Several ultra fine threads are drawn together to make a thicker fibre suitable for weaving. Thai silk has a lustrous sheen and slightly uneven texture that makes it ideal for hand weaving and distinguishes it from sleek machine-woven fabrics, and even from Chinese and Indian Silk, which although softer, have a more even and manufactured feel. Weaving silk by hand-loom is a time consuming and skilled undertaking and weavers must balance the use of both their hands and feet at once to produce a piece of silk fabric.
Silk is the natural filament produced by the salivary glands of silkworms, a type of moth that feeds on the leaves of the mulberry tree. When they are mature, the silkworms spin cocoons. Thai Silk has triangular fibres that reflect light like prisms. It also has layers of protein that gives it a natural sheen and makes it smooth, strong, lightweight, supple, and with proper care able to last a century or more.
The SOTO range includes cushions, accessories, table runners, scarves, hangings&a selection of fashion clothing made using the very highest quality smooth and textured Thai Silk, and a variety of weaving and manufacturing techniques. Thai silk provides a quality, texture and richness unmatched by any other material. Smooth Thai silk often has a rare iridescence, produced by using different colour threads for the warp and weft weave. Textured Thai silk is relatively thick, and coarse to look at, but nevertheless soft to the touch.
Celadon Bamboo Silk Mulberry Paper Hemp Celadon is one kind of three main types of ceramics in Thailand, and although originally imported from China, it has been made in Thailand since the 13th Century. According to Thai chronicles, King Ramkamhaeng the Great - in the Sukhotai period - went on an official mission to Peking and brought back Chinese pottery and potters. Following the introduction of Chinese methods, ceramics were produced in several parts of Northern Thailand and especially in Chiang Mai - where Celadon has grown to international recognition and become the best known of local ceramics. The name Celadon derives from two Sanskrit words; 'Sila' meaning stone, and 'Dhara', meaning green. With this in mind it’s easy to see why Celadon is considered a man-made attempt to duplicate opaque jade, important to the Chinese as a symbol of good luck and success. The making process uses a high fired stoneware with a wood ash glaze and results in a solid and strong product which is made delicate and uniquely beautiful by the cracked effect which forms under its glaze. The cracks are caused by a difference in the rate of cooling between the body of the celadon product and the glaze.
SOTO’s range of tea sets, oriental tableware and tea light sets combine the very best in modern Thai design with the timeless elegance of Celadon. In addition to the traditional pale green glaze, four more colours are available, all with the delicate cracking produced by the original Celadon method.
Mulberry Paper Silk Bamboo Celadon Hemp Mulberry paper (know as “Saa Paper” in Thailand) is made from bark stripped from the young branches of the mulberry tree. It was first made in the north of Thailand more than 200 years ago and was facilitated by an abundance of the small Mulberry trees.
The paper making process begins with the sun drying of the bark, to remove natural sap. The bark is then soaked in water, overnight or longer, until the bark is soft and pliable. The next step is to boil the "mush" for several hours in huge drums of water and caustic soda. The soda causes the fibres to breakdown and also bleaches them to an off-white colour. After the boiling is complete, the mixture is well rinsed in cold water to remove the soda. The remaining pulp is then placed in a "beating" machine, to separate the fine fibres from which the paper is made. The penultimate stage of manufacture immerses a fine mesh screen in the fibre filled water allowing the fibres to cling to the mesh. The screen is finally taken outside for sun drying. Colour and design can be added by putting vegetable dyes into the pulp, by a batik process similar to that used for other materials, or by printing directly onto the finished paper. Some of the most beautiful designs have the petals of flowers or leaves layered into the paper in a way only Mulberry paper allows. Mulberry paper can be made by hand or machine, and although many people appreciate the unusual texture and incredible strength of the hand made paper, machine made varieties also have their advantages, particularly in allowing intricate printed designs to be done. The versatile paper can even be waterproofed for use in traditional Thai parasols.
Mulberry paper is now available in a large and ever increasing range of products including photo albums, all kinds of boxes and bags, notebooks, wrapping and gift paper, art paper and many more. SOTO designs reflect a variety of techniques and use both machine and man made Mulberry paper. The main themes revolve around northern Thai art and culture and the use of Thai leaves and flowers.
Hemp Silk Bamboo Celadon Mulberry Paper Woven by tribal peoples in the mountains of southern China, Laos&northern Thailand, this wonderful natural fibre is regaining importance as a cash crop. Hemp is one of the strongest natural fibres, so strong that it was grown extensively in countries including the US during World War II to provide ropes for ships and for other purposes. To counter the negative image associated with it's cousin marijuana, there have been recent attempts to breed strains of hemp with very low THC content. This year a group successfully lobbied the Thai government to allow the growing of low THC hemp in Thailand, something which had previously been illegal. The future for hemp is looking strong, and we can expect to see more and more fabric and hemp products in the near future.
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