The heritage of wholesale Wood Carvings production in Chiang Mai has been a long-standing business and artistry which has been passed down for many generations. In this Meet the Maker series, we introduce you to Mrs. Joy, who is a second-generation owner of a wood carving manufacturing business right here in Chiang Mai’s handicrafts wholesale market. Most of her products are wooden items handcrafted from monkeypod wood. After being in this business for over two decades, her products have gained popularity among her international and wholesale business buyers that visit her to place their export orders of monkeypod wood carvings.
In Episode 1 of this 2-part video series, she showcased some of her best-selling items such as the children’s wooden stools, which she has accumulated many hundreds of designs throughout the years for her buyers to select from, both plain and colorfully painted pieces. Even some of our own clients come up with their own designs for Mrs. Joy to manufacture which she is happy to do that. Children’s wooden tables and chairs are also another of her specialty. Apart from the kid’s furniture, she has many other kinds of wood carvings and handicrafts such as animal figurines, animal trays, animal stools, large Native American sculptures, twist stools, small decor carvings, and so on that sell very well among international markets for crafts, functional pieces, and home decor. Her main source of wood for artistic production is monkeypod which is delivered to her by sustainable growers right here in Chiang Mai and some surrounding provinces. The benefits of using monkeypod is that the wood is soft and easy to carve with, in addition to having one of the most beautiful woodgrains in the world.
In this episode 2 of this 2-part video series, we visit her production facility, which is located right behind her showroom. Here is where the maker does their final production steps, sanding, painting, waxing, and polishing before exporting them off to clients around the globe. We can see in this video, one of her staff members painting a Native American figure which takes a lot of effort and perseverance in completing just one piece. Some factors in painting that require extra attention are that the paint must be within the carved lines and also have a smooth look and not having a smeared appearance. Furthermore, the painter must be careful that paint from different colors should not overlap each other. As for the main process, which is carving, this takes longer than the painting. For example, with the kids’ stool, the carving process of one stool takes around 2-3 hours (including the joining of legs), and the painting is about 30 minutes. And the carving process of one huge Native American statue takes over a month to complete, while the sanding, painting, and polishing is around two days. These artful handicraft products require a lot of skills and patience, and clients are welcome to see her staff working on the woodcarvings and witness how all the products turn up as very beautiful pieces of craft and art!
Meet The Maker
Interview with Export Manufacturer of Thai Wood Carvings in Chiang Mai Wholesale Market – Part 2
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