Chiang Mai Umbrellas (Bo Sang)

Sunisa Umbrella Works, run by Sunisa Phetsana, operates from Maekhu in Chiang Mai's Doi Saket district, about a five-minute scooter ride from Bo Sang, the umbrella-making village roughly 10km east of Chiang Mai's Old City on the San Kamphaeng handicraft road. Bo Sang's craft tradition runs over 200 years: bamboo frames are covered in sa paper, made from mulberry bark, then hand-painted in slow strokes with floral and wildlife motifs that have become recognized symbols of Chiang Mai. Sunisa's factory makes several umbrella types along these lines - Chiang Mai Classic umbrellas in waterproof oiled cotton over bamboo, paper umbrellas with bamboo frames, and heavier hardwood-framed market umbrellas - alongside bamboo folding hand fans in mulberry paper and fabric. Rather than selling only through its own storefront, the workshop supplies many of the umbrellas sold in Bo Sang's own tourist shops, putting it inside the same supply chain as the village it sits beside. It also takes custom and promotional-branding orders and offers repair and renovation for umbrellas it or others have made, running Monday to Saturday by appointment for buyers who want to see production directly. The shop's bamboo is sourced locally and described as fast-renewing, in keeping with the low-impact materials - bamboo, mulberry paper, cotton - that have defined Chiang Mai's umbrella trade since it began.