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Jaitip"My name is Jaitip Seiermann, and I was born in Chiang Mai on the 9th of March 1969. My parents make bamboo parts for umbrellas sold at Borsang. I only studied up to elementary school because my parents could not afford the bus fare and the textbooks. I started working in a textile factory in our village when I was 12 years old, painting flower designs on cloth. I worked there for eight years. When I was twenty years old, I met my husband, who designs jewelry, textiles and woodcarving for some years. We married after knowing each other for two years and now have a daughter; she attends an international school.
"Thai culture and traditions keep on being a very important part of daily life. We still make offerings to our ancestors' spirits every morning, and the temple is a meeting place for the whole village. When there is a funeral or a wedding, all the women of the village help with the cooking and all the other chores. A funeral is like a big party for the whole village, going on for at least four days.
"I am very happy with my life. I have good friends, a very good family and I finally can make things I never dreamed of being able to make when I still worked at the factory.
"My art is inspired by the environment I live in, by the paintings in the temple, by the dancers that perform our traditional dances in their traditional costumes, by the books about Thai puppetry and Thai handicrafts. I travel a lot with my husband and I sometimes adapt things I see elsewhere. I always loved painting, and I always wanted to be an artist. My husband comes from Germany. He studied sculpture in Mexico and had his own ceramic workshop in Jalisco for many years. He taught me how to sculpt and how to make moulds. He loves Thailand very much too and we develop many ideas together.
"What I am trying to do at the moment is to adapt a very Thai object of art, such as the Ramakien (Ramayana) theatre puppets, to a style that appeals to both, Thai culture and western styles. As far as the puppets are concerned, I work a lot with resin. Some years ago, I made paper-mache. With resin, I can make faces that are more detailed, and the tiny parts of the headdress. I love to create new things and I am very happy to be able to make them myself. I am my own boss and that's a very good feeling.
"The greatest challenge in my life has been to marry somebody who came from a completely different culture. Many of my friends warned me not to do it but it worked out perfectly well. We complement one another in a very good way. I am proud of having achieved what I always dreamt of, even without a proper school education." |
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Works signed by designer Jaitip | | | |
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