Thai Elephant Figurine Hand-Painted in Black Blue and Aqua 'Hypnotic Elephant' Item ID: 2676654259

“Hi! We are Pang and Ni, the co-founders of a Chiang Mai hand-painted wood store. We were both born in Phayao, but we never met there.” Pang was a Grab driver and Ni was a customer when they first met in Chiang Mai.

Pang moved to Chiang Mai in 2003 and launched a mobile shop near the Night Bazaar, but it was unsuccessful, so he looked for something else nearby. He saw some hand-painted elephant sculptures and decided to study them and turn them into sculpture products. He sought the help of his relatives to paint and sell until he met Ni, a teacher at a Chiang Mai school, and began to develop a more extensive shop.

Ni works at the school throughout the day and comes to assist Pang in opening the shop at night, but she will rest at home if she is too exhausted. Ni considered leaving teaching to run the shop full-time before the COVID epidemic because they couldn't complete huge orders on time.

“Since things are getting better, we have two or three close friends and relatives helping us paint. We trained all of them from the beginning, and we are unwilling to hire outsiders because we are scared that if they can learn these painting techniques, they will resign and sell their wares the same way we do. We don't have a workshop. Therefore we work in the shop and at home. We order a wooden box or a sculpture at a wooden factory around Chiang Mai and paint, polish and do quality control of every item ourselves.”

They opened a second shop at a weekend market that Ni takes care of while Pang remains at the storefront at the Night Bazaar. “In the future, we hope to expand the shop and discover other wood producers. If we receive more large orders, Ni may be able to leave her full-time work and focus more on our business. We hope Novica's customers enjoy our items and will support us. Thank you very much.”