Studio Naenna

Patricia Cheesman founded Studio Naenna in 1988, drawing on research into Lao and Thai textiles that began in the early 1970s, when she was working on a UN pottery project in Laos. Following villagers who fled to Vientiane during the 1975 Lao Revolution and brought their heritage cloths with them, she began documenting and studying regional weaving and dye traditions in depth, later lecturing on ceramics and textiles at the University of Chiang Mai from 1985.

The studio sits in the shade of Suthep mountain, surrounded by fruit and dye trees, and works with Karen weavers using backstrap looms and 100 percent natural indigo dyes drawn from indigo vats kept going for 25 years. Its stated aim is to honor a 2,000-year-old regional weaving tradition while working at the pace of the natural materials involved — ikat, brocade and embroidery on silk and eco-cotton.

Patricia's daughter, Lamorna Cheesman, has since taken over the studio's operations, running both the original workshop and its Nimmanhaemin showroom, Adorn, alongside ongoing indigo and weaving workshops open to visitors.