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About Us
Who & What is Lanna Passa?
Lanna Passa the website, the store, us.. we’re a small family business, but Lanna – a term which translates to a million rice fields – was once the name for what is now Northern Thailand. In the 13th century the kingdom of Lanna covered much of Siam (now Thailand) and it’s neighboring countries, before becoming part of Siam in 1892.
Still today Northern Thailand has a diverse Lanna culture all it’s own, food, dialect, textiles and customs, it’s own language.
The word Passa is Thai for ‘language’ – together, we have Lanna Passa.
Where are we based?
We’re based in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai, once the capital city of the Kingdom of Lanna.
When Chiang Mai was founded in 1296 the city was built in a square shape, bounded by walls and a moat. The purpose was to protect the city from any invasion from the neighboring Thai and Burmese Kingdoms.
Today the moat and many parts of the wall still exist, surrounding what we call Chiang Mai Old City – a popular tourist area always full of cultural events and activities, and home to many hill tribe and traditional markets where skilled artisans work their craft.
What are we about?
Piecing together beautiful textiles and crafts from the ethnic hill tribe communities like the Hmong and Lisu, both vintage and modern, we hope to not only showcase the amazing work of these artisans past and present, but bring the character and traditions into your home in the form of gorgeous homeware.
Sadly, today there are many mass produced hill tribe-style items and textiles produced by various companies around the world and many hill tribes themselves have taken to mass production methods, slowly losing the centuries old traditions of hand weaving, organic cotton and hemp growth, and most notably, indigo plant dying methods.
We are proud to focus on and help continue these amazing traditions, sourcing our materials directly from Hmong & Lisu villages and one day hope to expand into other areas, supporting the hill tribe communities every step of the way.
Our Team
You might be surprised to find out that we’re a real family! Around 6 years ago we started crafting and creating at home during our (little) free time away our regular jobs, initially opening stores on websites like Etsy (you can find our Etsy store here). We have been lucky enough to have had some amazing customers and feedback, and over the years have gradually expanded to what you see now. We have many people involved in various aspects – the fantastic Hmong people from which we source items, creative friends behind the website design etc. all of whom deserve so much gratitude from our core team :
Saranya
Originally from Bangkok but now living in Chiang Mai, Saranya is the one with the lightbulb moments, always thinking of ways to work with the amazing textiles and crafts that we're lucky enough to source, and the person you reach when getting in touch
Mer (Saranya's Mum)
Mer and her skilled hands can be found sewing and crafting away behind the scenes, often with some great design ideas thrown in, while also packing your orders ready for shipment.
Biak
The man behind the heavy lifting - sourcing items, putting together electrical pieces, designing items, you name it.
Want to get in touch?
If you have any questions or queries or would like to know more, feel free to get in touch!