A Silk Weaving Project in a Thai Village

Ban Reng Khai is a village in the north-eastern region of Thailand Known as “Isaan”. Formerly silk weaving was a means to supplement the meagre income from agriculture. The knowledge and skill of preparing silk yarn and weaving fabric is a craft passed down through many generations. However this has faded in modern times due to lack of direct markets and unscrupulous buyers.

Economic reality and lack of work opportunities locally forced younger villagers to seek work in the larger cities, mostly Bangkok, as unskilled workers. The people remaining in the village became dependent on funds sent by those who had departed. This cycle over several generations led to the loss of craft skills in the village.

The new opportunity for Ban Reng Khai arrived when a talented Dutch artist and textile specialist, Ms. Lea Laarakker Dingjan, made her first visit in 1985. Despite finding the majority of the village’s handlooms in disrepair, the unique features and quality of the surviving silk fabric and the humanity of the people so impressed Ms. Lea that she was determined to rebuild the silk’s former potential.

Ms. Lea moved to Thailand in 1987 and devoted herself to showing the villagers how to realize the worth of their weaving skill by raising the necessary funds to revive the craft and emphasizing the benefits of ethical marketing. The success of this work encouraged Ms. Lea to establish new markets for the silk fabric and a collection of finished products within Thailand and overseas.

With a viable income basis secured, Ms. Lea founded a village development program in 1989 benefitting from the proceeds of silk sales and she also donated personal funds to improve all aspects of village life and the benefits of new electricity installations, a better water supply, and healthy sanitation were much appreciated by the village people.
Ms. Lea’s efforts to generate funds also ensured financial support for the village children to be educated at primary, secondary and vocational school levels. An ideal community cooperative effort.
As revived prosperity returned to Ban Reng Khai many of the younger generations, who had been forced to leave, returned. Reunited families were once again able to work in and for their village, and earn a good living by their own efforts. To sustain this development in Ban Reng Khai, and extend it to other villages in the area, Lea conceived the idea of an organization capable of supporting such initiatives. This idea has now become the Ban Reng Khai Foundation.

The Ban Reng Khai Foundation is an independent organization focused on supporting village self-sufficiency in sericulture, silk weaving, integrated farming, micro enterprise, healthcare, and education, through its flagship Learning 4 Living (L4L) student programme.