Take craft bible Kinfolk and reimagine it as retailvana – et voila, you have Bann Khang Wat. Home to only a select few artisans selling bespoke wares amid leafy, rustic-chic surrounds; it’s the perfect excursion when you’re watted out.
While in recent years the trend for all things artisanal hotted up the world over, in Chiang Mai, well, it never went out of style. Thailand’s northern rose has long been a magnet for the country’s most conscientiously savvy designers, employing traddy materials and craftsmanship to create thoroughly modern objets. Villagey Bann Khang Wat embodies this spirit via a cluster of old-fash wood and concrete villas, occupied by smart, artistic souls who are committed to giving back. Here are our three fave spots.
Jibberish
This self-proclaimed zakka-style shop draws inspiration from your hippie mama’s closet, adding a dash of contempo Nordic-chic. A specialist of stylish natural-spun clothing, hessian bags, mismatched ceramics all quirkily displayed in a neutral, sandblasted space, plus delish brownies from the café.
BooKoo Studio
Ground zero for whimsical, tactile ceramics, taking nature as their theme. Alongside the home-fired edit of earthy-hued rice bowls, dipping-sauce dishes and beautiful misshapen spoons are a collection of mod hand-woven raffia and array of chopping boards made from salvaged wood.
Mahasamut
An old-school library rejigged for millennials, with raw brick walls, shuttered doors and retro-tiled floors serving as backdrop to golden teak bookshelves crammed with tomes to browse or borrow. Host to regular readings and pop up events, this kooky joint is also strictly no WiFi – readers are asked to pretend its 1993. Well, as long as we don’t have to dress like it’s the ‘90s…
Bann Khang Wat, Moo 5 Suthep, opp. Wat Ram Poeng, Chiang Mai. +66 95 691 0888
