ThaiCraft Fair

On Saturday I volunteered at a ThaiCraft fair for the first time. The ThaiCraft Organization is a fair trade group that promotes, sells and exports crafts handmade by village artisans all across Thailand (you can check out their website for more info: www.thaicraft.org). The craft fairs they hold each month are wildly popular among the ex-patriot community in Thailand and are renowned for quality products and fascinating artisan demonstrations. It is a very unique setting as the foreign shoppers get to interact directly with the Thai producers, and in many cases learn about the history of the handicrafts being sold and the villages they come from.

I met some really interesting people at the fair and saw all kinds of amazing Thai products. I was working with a jewelry designer at her booth, which I obviously loved! There were about four of us working there including girls from the US, Japan and Thailand; truly a multi-cultural bunch!

Before the fair opened I heard stories of past fairs where people lined up outside the door to get in. I wasn't sure I believed them. But sure enough, at 10:00 when the doors opened we witnessed a rush of about 30 Japanese ladies literally running into the room! They went directly to a table near ours that was selling body lotions and soaps - obviously they'd been here before - and proceeded to fill their baskets with 5, 10, 15 bottles of the stuff! They were practically fighting each other for it! We stood in awe at the jewelry booth and wondered if the lotions contained some miracle anti-aging magic (later when I went to check out the phenomenon they were completely sold out...figures).

Once that particular craziness died down, the fair was non-stop busy for a couple of hours. I happily sold jewelry all morning and secretly picked out the pieces I wanted ;) When Sean showed up in the afternoon he helped me decide on a beautiful necklace and then we browsed through the rest of the fair. We picked up some great items and left the fair quite happy. Even Sean, who is definitely not a shopper, liked the experience of reading about the artisans and where exactly the products came from. It really is a nice change from the factory-made souvenirs that you can buy from pushy touts on every street corner. We know that when we buy these products for ourselves and the people back home (yes, we've been actively buying gifts ;) our money is supporting the Thai people who operate ethical businesses and local economies in remote villages.

I'm looking forward to next month's fair and the coming weeks when I'll be doing a little marketing consulting for the organization. Stay tuned...