Textile Wisdom Development Guideline for Tourism Promotion of Thong Fha Ham Community, Chiang Sean, Chiang Rai Province (in Thai)

Abstract

This qualitative research aims at examining the textile wisdom of people in Thung Fha Ham Community, Chiang Sean, Chiang Rai Province and discovering how the textile wisdom could be extensively developed among community members in order to enhance tourism. The data was collected from the most targeted subjects, namely six textile wisdom experts and textile producers by means of focus group discussion, participant observation, workshops, Appreciation Influence Control technique, in-depth interviews and content analysis.

The results showed that all of the six subjects were able to weave traditional northeastern cloth using general weaving techniques called combined patterned weaving flowered-weaving and Mud Mee. It was found that nobody knew the underlying meaning of such a completed textile pattern being weaved as the wisdom was merely transferred from the old generation. They developed their textile weaving techniques such as northern Thai dipping technique, natural cloth-dyeing technique, and flowered-weaving technique through workshops and self-study. In terms of the identity of the textile patterns, the traditional pattern was related to the myth. With regard to the textile wisdom development to promote Thung Fha Ham’s tourism, it was recommended that the colors used for cloth-dyeing should come from nature, and the products themselves should be of a variety. The community logo should be placed which would make them worth souvenirs bought by tourists. Last but not least, it was found that the subjects fully participated in the product development but lacked creative product design and promotion. These skills should be improved in order to promote the community’s tourism.