The Firm Intention

Her Majesty Queen Sirikit expressed her strong intention to help improve the people's livelihood mainly by bringing out the best of their expertise and the local wisdom. The villagers are skilled at traditional handicraft-making, usually of daily use products such as weaving of silk and cotton, and Chok embroidery weaving, sewing, pottery making, gold and silver nielloware, wickerworks of kitchenware and other tools for making a living, and carving of shadow play figures. Her Majesty therefore granted an initiative for further developing such local skills to create outstanding and value-added products.
While visiting the villagers in different parts of the country, Her Majesty had a chance to see numerous locally made handicraft products with diverse patterns, according to the characteristics of each place. Her Majesty the Queen desired the collection of outstanding works from each village, which have now made up a great number, and originated the center of "handicraft vocational products" coming from all regions of Thailand.

Once the villagers were capable of making saleable products, the next important thing was to find markets for distributing them and thereby create a stable income from handicraft making. Her Majesty was quite concerned about the issue of maintaining these local skills in Thai society and preventing them from being supplanted by the newly emerging cultural trends. Therefore, it was necessary to establish a place for learning, teaching, and practicing the handicraft making techniques in order to ensure the skills of future generations. It would also be an opportunity to display the finest skills and efforts behind each creative piece of work. Moreover, the general public who recognize the value and are interested in the works of art made from highly trained artisans can buy the products.

Student participating in the drawing and sculpture training course.

The Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center Project, Koh Kerd Subdistrict, Bang Pa Inn District, Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Province, was originated according to the royal initiative of Her Majesty the Queen On December 15, 1997. Her Majesty's intention was for the Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center to serve as a national center for collecting and preserving the traditional arts and culture, to help in maintaining Thai lifestyles and the agricultural occupation to remain with the country forever.

Handicraft Vocation: The Arts of the Land 

Her Majesty the Queen graciously granted a royal initiative as a guideline for running the Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center Project as follows:

" The setting up of this new Handicraft Vocational Center at Koh Kerd District was to be funded by the "SUPPORT" Foundation (SUPPORT - Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques). The Center would buy the products made by the farmers to help increase their income. Amid the economic crisis, the fact that these farmers had the opportunity to carry out their handicraft vocational activities, combined with their traditional agricultural occupation, prevented them from abandoning their homes to work elsewhere.

" Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center would gather handicraft products from all other centers to be displayed here. The facilities at the Center include a handicraft products exhibition building, training rooms with different sections, the four-regions handicraft vocational village, and the office. The Advisory Board and Working Group was appointed, with General Manat Khlaimanee as the Chairman of the Working Group, to manage the Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center Project.

On January 7, 1999, Her Majesty Queen Sirikit graciously visited Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center to follow up on the progress of the center. This brought great pride and joy to the staff and villagers living around that area. Implementation in various areas progressed rapidly and an area of 760 rai (304 acres) was allocated for carrying out different activities to create maximum benefits as follows:

" Digging of a water retention pond covering 135 rai (54 acres), with a retention capacity of 648,000 cubic meters. There is also a ditch of a width of 4 meters, a depth of 1.5 meters, a length of 4,760 meters, with a storage capacity of 21,500 cubic meters, to help distribute water throughout the whole area more effectively.

" The four-region model village, covering an area of 110 rai (44 acres), was set up to show ancient Thai lifestyles and traditional agricultural practices, along with an area for accommodating foreign visitors.

" An area of 70 rai (28 acres) was allocated for building a training center, with a handicraft products exhibition room, and a museum.

The project's water retention pond covering 135 rai with a retention capacity of 648,000 cubic meters.

" Another 326 rai (130.4 acres) were designated for agricultural lands and green areas. At present, since only 150 rai (60 acres) out of the targeted 250 rai (100 acres) are being used for rice farming, the other 176 rai (70.4 acres) remain green areas.

Due to the economic crisis which has directly affected the Thai economy since 1997, some parts of the work were put on hold, including the work of the four-region model village and the handicraft production exhibition room and museum. The work on the construction of the water retention pond was carried out because it was a necessary basic component for supporting other activities. On-site training was arranged for a total of 50 handicraft vocational students from different regions in the areas of drawing, and sculpture work. Cultivating such crops as vegetables and animal raising to provide protein source from eggs, ducks, Gunther's walking catfish, and snakeskin gourami, etc., was taught. Rice farming was carried out to ensure sufficient yields for feeding the handicraft vocational students, with the surplus for sale and to raise funds for the "SUPPORT" Foundation.

In the near future when all construction is completed, the Koh Kerd Handicraft Vocational Center will be a place for gathering together the country's local wisdom as well as the great handicraft works, enabling all Thais to recognize the value of arts and culture which have been handed down for many generations. Furthermore, Thai people will jointly help in preserving this arts and cultural heritage to remain with Thailand forever. This is the firm intention of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit.