Chiang Mai is a centre for arts and crafts in Thailand
Dozens of companies have adapted to the tourist boom and offer not only products for sale but the chance to look over the shoulders of local artists as they work. South of the city on Chom Thong Road is the home of the
silversmiths. They make bowls, tureens and jewellery from pure silver or silver alloys. A little further east in the suburb of Ban Khoen are the makers of lacquerware(bowls, caskets and trays). Their black lacquer is applied in multiple coats and polished with ashes or lime. Ornamentation is then etched into the upper coat to be filled with gold or coloured paints. Wulai Road and Ratchangsaen Road are centres for the teak carvers. The products of their economically valuable efforts are exported all over the world. Since the prohibition on the felling of tropical timber in Thailand, the teak is now imported from Myanmar. The
street of the bronze casters, Chang Loh Road, is also worth a look. Here bells are cast without clappers, their bright sound instead being made by small lead discs strung on a thread. This is also where the solid bronze cutlery is made that is found in practically every shop in the country. North of the city, near the “White Elephant Gate” is the
village of the potters. All the houses here have rows of pottery outside, which has been put there to dry (or to sell).
