Product Features:
- Dimensions: 0.4 inches long x 0.4 inches wide
- Worldstock Country: Thailand
- Product Features: Handmade
- Material: Sterling Silver
- Style: Stud
- Metal Color: White
- Metal: Sterling Silver
Story Behind the Art:
Hi, my full name is Aekkachai Damrongwongtrakun and I am from the Karen hill tribe. My parents were evacuated from their village, and they followed Khru Ba Wong, a famous Buddhist monk and highly respected among the hill tribes. They believed in his teachings and followed the five precepts: abstain from taking life, abstain from stealing, abstain from sexual misconduct, abstain from false speech, and abstain from intoxicants causing heedlessness. We also refrained from eating meat. When villagers migrated to Lee district, they found out they couldn't farm the land because it was mostly laterite soil. There were no fertile lands, and there were inadequate water resources so they worked together to repair the temple and then constructed their houses and roads. Some villagers dug and cut laterite to sell and to build the temple. Then Khru Ba asked the King to help the villagers so he gave some funds to buy equipment and paid for the labor to build the temple. We found out old silver jewelries were popular among antiquarians. These antique silver jewelries had a very high cost and were starting to decrease in quantity, so we had the initiative to replicate antique silver designs making them more affordable. We started to craft with simple tools such as a hammer to flatten the silver plates, scissors for cutting and make the molding, and simple soldering tools. Then we took the silver jewelry to sell in the city. Later, the Government came over to support us by providing modern tools however, we still keep to the original process because every step must be done by hand and the silver cannot be mixed with other metals too much, because we need to maintain the soft texture of the silver, and keep it malleable. That is why Karen hill tribe silverware still contains a very high purity no less than 95-percent. One special feature of Karen silverware is that each family has unique details of their own. My family is expert in creating floral patterns and small animals. We have the tools in various shapes that can't be found in the market because we make it ourselves. So when neighbors see the products, they can identify which family makes them. I have three children and my eldest son only graduated from grade 9, so I encouraged him to study English in order to communicate with the foreign customers who come to visit the village. Originally we bought the silver ourselves but now, the way things have changed, we decided to receive the pure silver from the shops to make their products and charge them for labor only, because pure silver is much more expensive than ever and we can't afford it. Sometime it's unreasonable because we can't ask for the price that we think we deserve. We lack the power to negotiate since we don't have enough funds to buy the pure silver ourselves. We are trying to find a way to sell our silverware.
The handcrafted touch of artisan skill creates variations in color, size and design. If buying two of the same item, slight differences should be expected. Note: Color discrepancies may occur between this product and your computer screen.
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