Karen Weavers Keep Ancient Plant-Dye Tradition Alive
Karen weavers in Ban Lai Kaew village, Chiang Mai, preserve centuries-old plant-dye traditions, using roots like the golden "slaang" plant to create distinctive pink and dozens of other natural hues. The weaving group controls every step fr
Green leaves don't always give just green. Red berries might not produce red. And yellow roots may hide vibrant pink deep inside. Nature conceals far more color than we imagine. In Ban Lai Kaew, Doi Tao District, Chiang Mai Province, villagers continue to preserve the wisdom of drawing these colors from roots, leaves, flowers, fruits, and bark, creating textiles with a character unlike any other.
The star of Ban Lai Kaew's colors is the "slaang" plant—a modest shrub that, when its yellow roots undergo the heat of dyeing, miraculously transforms into brilliant pink. This pink has become the hallmark of Karen Poi Luang weaving from Ban Lai Kaew right up to today.
Nature holds infinite colors, yet how people discovered and passed down these color secrets is a wonder spanning many lifetimes. Though many communities once knew about the slaang plant, over time that knowledge gradually faded. At Ban Lai Kaew, however, the knowledge of slaang colors continues to be passed down steadily and still glows in the weavings of the Ban Lai Kaew weaving group to this day.
The charm of slaang lies not in a single pink shade but in a spectrum ranging from soft pastel pink to bright, vibrant, lively pink.
Slaang is just one of the village's dye plants. Villagers also dye cotton yarn yellow from mango leaves, and achieve blue, indigo, and navy from indigo and other plants. They create brown and earth tones from acacia, gray and black from myrobalan fruits, and use many other plants as well, making Ban Lai Kaew like a village of dye plants.
The Ban Lai Kaew weaving group grows cotton themselves, spins the yarn themselves, and dyes everything themselves at every step. This gives them a diverse natural cotton palette in many shades to freely choose from when weaving and creating patterns—not limited to just a few traditional tones.
Meanwhile, knowledge of natural dyes never stops. It continues to be tested, developed, and improved. As dyers find joy in discovering new colors, weavers can endlessly create patterns and color combinations, giving the textiles of the Ban Lai Kaew weaving group a distinctive, striking character that stands out wherever they go.
Each cloth from Ban Lai Kaew tells not only beautiful patterns but also stories of wisdom, nature, and people who work together to preserve the colors within their community—one thread at a time, one weaving at a time.
