Welcome to the Chiang Mai Dolls Making Museum
Dolls from Taiwan, Bolivia, Australia, France, Switzerland, Hungary, Brazil and many other places, 50.000 in all. Beautiful music puppets from China, terrifying warriors from New Zealand, wizards and clowns in lifelike robes. Cute porcelain dolls with refined clothes, cloth dolls in sweet colors, made with great skill.
Some look like real people, others have theatrical features. Some are fun toys for kids, others are delicate and graceful and fit better in a display case.
In a quiet end of San Pa Tong in Chiang Mai, a man has dedicated his life to dolls. He collects them, displays them, and a staff of 20 produces thousands a month for domestic and export markets.
Youthana Boonprakong is the man behind the Chiang Mai Dolls Making Museum. Dolls are his passion and his life. He cleans each doll himself, because 'my cleaning lady doesn't know how best to do that and would damage them. Besides, do I notice when a doll is not in its usual place?'
Vientiane – Udon Thani – Bangkok – Chiang Mai
Youthana's mother taught him how to make dolls. She owned a doll shop in Vientiane (Laos). When the revolution and civil war broke out in Laos, the family decided to cross the Mekong. It settled in Udon Thani, in northeastern Thailand. His aunt then went to Bangkok and Youthana followed her. They set up a small factory and supplied dolls to souvenir shops, luxury department stores and outlets in hotels.
When he met his wife, who was from Chiang Mai, the factory moved to her hometown, partly because of the lower production costs. They make dolls of fabric, ceramics and porcelain. The porcelain dolls have a skin that most closely resembles human skin. They are the most beautiful, but also the most difficult to make and the most expensive.
When Youthana goes on a trip to visit clients, he takes dolls from their place. He watches how they make dolls and studies the traditional clothing people wear. “I spent a long time in the mountains with the hill tribe people lived and learned all about their traditional dress. The patterns on the dolls' clothing are made by themselves.'
Youthana is proud of a series Ramayana dolls. They wear the same clothes as the players in one khon, the Thai masked dance. Each doll took months of work.
Chiang Mai Doll Making Museum, San Pa Tong, Chiang Mai.
187/2 Moo 9, Ban DongkhilekTambon Makhamluang, Amphur San Pa Tong
50210 Chiang Mai
+66 81 465 5566
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