Sudaluck Theppanya

?Hi! My name is Sudaluck Theppanya, or you can call me 'Ann.' I'm a mother of two children, living in Bor Sang, the mid-sized craft village of San Kamphaeng district, Chiang Mai. I've been interested in and immersed in handicrafts since childhood, and when I grew up, I got involved in the saa paper craft in my father's workshop for almost 30 years. (Saa paper is handmade from the bark of the mulberry tree, which is planted in Thailand as a fruit crop and feeds silkworms on its leaves.)<br><br> ?My father started various enterprises in Chiang Mai, and saa paper was one of his workshops that he let me run. I also studied business administration at the university because it could help my family's business. I still love to research and design a new paper product. I design and let artisans from the San Kamphaeng area produce saa paper greeting cards, festive decorations, ornaments, bows, gift bags, and other products. The handicrafts export market was getting down, but luckily I still had some loyal customers. Therefore, I decided to develop paper crafts from recycled paper or plain paper instead of saa paper, and keep finding new ideas to produce 100% handmade paper items. <br><br> ?Around 2016, I started a paper cafe in my workshop's area; it's a small cafe in the old town that is mixed with the paper craft business. It became a gallery, showing works of paper art along with serving coffee, tea, and cake. Every piece of paper has been created with love and refinement by my handmade paper team. <br><br> ?Now I have 10-20 assistants and artisans who work in the factory and cafe; 90% are from the local area. I wish I could have more places to establish a handmade paper art gallery. I want people to notice that even paper can be made into valuable products by skilled Thai artisans, and I wish they would further support this kind of art. <br><br> ?I hope you love and are enchanted by my handmade paper art. Thank you so much!?