In 2005, the Participatory Development and Training Center (PADETC – www.padetc.org), a Lao non-governmental organization working in rural and youth development, recognized the potential of marketing Lao handcrafts to create employment for rural women and alleviate poverty.
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TaiBaan, formerly Saoban, was started by PADETC, Lao NGO, as a fair trade social business that works with traditional handicraft artisans to preserve and promote Lao village crafts, create employment opportunities for villagers – mostly women – and reduce poverty.
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TaiBaan cultivates markets for Lao handmade products to preserve its cultural heritage. Laos has a rich heritage of craft production but the pressures of modern life and the availability of cheap factory made imports have resulted in Lao people giving up their crafts and their rural livelihoods. As a result, many of the crafts of Laos are vanishing art forms.
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TaiBaan works with cotton weavers in Savannakhet, Sayaboury, Oudomxai, and Luang Prabang Provinces, where the people of the Phu-Tai, Tai-Leu, and Tai-Dam ethnic groups have a long standing tradition of cotton production.
TaiBaan works with artisan groups to create a wide range of exquisite silk products. Each item uses silk that is hand spun, hand dyed, and intricately woven on hand-made wooden looms by women in rural villages. Silk weaving is deeply rooted cultural tradition among many Lao ethnic groups.
Unlike most other countries where sterling silver is 92.5 percent silver, TaiBaan’s silver jewelry is 95 percent pure. Lao silversmiths work mainly by hand to mould, twist, twine, and pull the very soft high-grade silver into the desired shapes and patterns.
TaiBaan works with artisans in Xieng Khuang Province who produce spoons and jewelry made from recycled aluminum bomb parts.
