A Study of Original Patterns of Bamboo Basketry Development for Decorative Purposes: A Case Study of the Elderly Cooperative Group in Kiu Lae Pa Pao Village, Mae Wang District, Chiang Mai

Abstract

An art of local basketry weaving can be found in every province of Thailand including some provinces in the north of Thailand. In Kiu Lae Pa Pao village, Ban Kat subdistrict, Mae Wang district, Chiang Mai, the elderly cooperative basketry group called “Oui Son Laan” (in northern Thai dialect means grandparents teach the grandchildren a basket weaving process) was initiated with an aim to spread the local wisdom of basket weaving to young people in the village. However, it was noticed that the original patterns of the basketry made no difference to the basketry patterns from other communities. Moreover, the basketry products from the village did not suit the existing market needs. Consequently, the purpose of this research is to study and develop the original pattern basketry weaving of the elderly cooperative basketry group to meet the decorative purposes. What more, it is another way to strengthen the potential of the elderly people in creative ways as per the concept of aging society in 21st century. The research methodology involved collecting the data from relevant documents, related research papers, and interviewing the elderly people from the cooperative group. After the data was compiled, the original basketry products were developed into modern-style mobiles. Some of them have been used as the master models. The development of basketry weaving which is regarded as emerging knowledge was distributed and transferred to the elderly cooperative group afterwards. The findings showed that there were a total of 10 original patterns. In particular, poppy and zinnia flower patterns were chosen to be developed into the modern-style mobiles because of their elaborate pattern details. The poppy patterns mainly have four petals. Each petal is round or lobed. Poppy patterns are also combined with other patterns such as the lotus flower, bullet wood, golden gardenia, cornbeef wood, nine-gem pattern, and bird cage pattern. For the zinnia pattern, it includes both single-layer and double-layer flowers. It is a combination of zinnia petal patterns and others patterns such as twist, foxtail orchid, and sunflower to attract modern consumers and expanded markets.