The “handicraft village”, as it’s often simply known, is located in Chiang Mai’s Hang Dong district some 15 kilometres to the west of the city. The village originally began life as a production centre for finished teak items, such as furniture and carvings, as woodworking families, some apparently Burmese, established themselves here to benefit from the region’s vast teak forests.
North Thailand’s huge logging industry expanded with European involvement during the 19th century, before being finally banned by the Thai government in the late 1980s after catastrophic flooding — the result of widespread deforestation. In theory, at least, any teak products you see these days must be made with either recycled wood or sourced from officially licensed commercial plantations.
