Traditionalists might fret about modernity’s corrosive effect on traditional arts in the Mekong, but cultural guardians like Ock Pop Tok (“East Meets West” in Lao) are helping local artisans meet the challenge.
The Ock Pop Tok brand revolves around Laotian textiles and crafts: a proud identity promoted through their Living Crafts Centre and riverside villa in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR; shops in Luang Prabang and Vientiane; and an artisanal army of over 500 weavers in 14 provinces throughout Lao PDR.
Founded by Veomanee “Veo” Douangmala and Joanna “Jo” Smith, the enterprise lives up to its name by combining Eastern traditions with Western innovation. “Our underlying philosophy and approach to design is that it needs to support the traditions and culture of Laos,” Veo explains to us.
We talked to Veo about Ock Pop Tok’s philosophy of “Discover Laos Through Textiles”, how they balance business demands with the needs of their artisans, and how they’ve used tourism and the Internet to promote Lao textiles beyond Lao PDR’s borders.
Can you share the story behind the founding of Ock Pop Tok and your personal journey that led you to this initiative?
Jo (Joanna) Smith and I founded Ock Pop Tok in 2000. But Jo and I actually met in 1999 when Jo, who’s British, was on an EU-funded assignment to photograph development projects in northern Laos.
I come from a family with textile and artisanal roots. As the only girl, I learned weaving from my mother when I was eight years old. When Jo and I met, I was designing and weaving my own textiles, while helping my mother’s weaving business in Xangkhong village, a living cultural village. I was constantly challenging old ways and methods and designing unique sinh (traditional skirts) and patterns that differentiated me from other weavers.
Jo – who fell in love with Lao textiles while on this photography assignment – asked me if I would teach her to weave. I agreed. She wove two sinh; one for her and one for me.
Since we shared a similar creative energy and commitment to preserving and promoting these textiles, I saw an opportunity there and asked Jo if she wanted to start a project together, the answer was “of course I bloody do!”, and this is how Ock Pop Tok (“East Meets West” in Lao) was born.
How does Ock Pop Tok blend traditional Laotian textile techniques with contemporary designs?
The company was pioneering social business and ethical textiles before these terms were even a part of our cultural lexicon. Our craft practice is based on elevating the profile of Lao textiles and artisans, increasing economic opportunities for artisans, and facilitating creative and educational collaboration in Laos and worldwide.
Our products reflect a balance between tradition and innovation, East and West. Societies are dynamic and evolving – we believe that traditional crafts should be, too.
On one hand, we use local materials, value the savoir-faire of our master weavers and get inspiration from traditional patterns. On the other, we use more contemporary and trendy colors, as well as reinterpret the patterns, either make them bigger or simpler to be more attractive to customers worldwide.
Merging traditions from the east with innovation from the west has allowed us over the last 20 years to not only elevate the profile of Lao textiles but also contribute to its preservation.
In what ways does Ock Pop Tok contribute to sustainable tourism development in Laos?
Ock Pop Tok adopted and has been promoting sustainable tourism and green initiatives for many years now. As a social enterprise, we strive to make our community a better place and a part of that is caring about our impact on the environment.
As part of our sustainable development policy, Ock Pop Tok has made a commitment to making all our activities environmentally friendly. As you know Ock Pop Tok is not only a hotel; we have a restaurant, we give classes and workshops on Lao handicrafts, and most importantly we are textile producers.
Here are some of our initiatives:
- We filter wastewater through sand and charcoal pits. Grey water from the Villa is used for our garden.
- We source all of our raw materials locally and seasonally in order to minimize our carbon footprint. This also reflects our commitment to the local community by supporting local business.
- Wherever we can, we use natural dyes. When it’s not possible, we use EU-approved chemical dyes. This ties in with our goal to be a plastic free company; we are working with our team to raise awareness and educate the local community about the issue of plastic pollution as a global problem. Customers shopping in our brick and mortar shops in Luang Prabang will leave with their purchase in either a handmade saa paper bag or a reusable tote bag.
- Thanks to Lasting Laos, Ock Pop Tok now recycles food waste into cooking gas and organic fertiliser using a HOMEBIOGAS 7.0 system. This HOMEBIOGAS system was subsidised by the Travelife program, which is sponsored by the European Union.
- We sort out most of our recyclable waste. For example, upcycling is a big part of our creative process. Inspired by the silver discs and coins used to decorate their traditional clothes and headdresses, the Akha community in northern Laos upcycles aluminum cans, fashioning them into matte, shimmery discs which in turn are used on some of our pouches, coasters and placemats.
- We also send our plastic waste to be recycled by Patihoub. This Luang Prabang based company converts low-value plastic waste into durable, versatile and premium products.
Can you discuss the role of inclusive tourism in your business model, especially regarding local communities?
We offer free tours of our Living Crafts Centre, where guests can learn more about Laos through textiles as well as free demonstrations by artisans.
Tourists can also learn traditional crafts (weaving, Hmong batik, bamboo weaving, natural dyeing, etc.) from local artisans in one of our many classes and workshops.
We also created a mini Lao version of the International Folk Art Market (IFAM), offering a market place to artisans coming from different provinces but also to local street food vendors selling traditional local street food. The market was so popular that we were asked to do one in the capital too!
On top of that, we also accompany guests to some of the villages we work with. The guests get to spend time with our artisans – and many more – in their environment. And our partners get to be more involved – included – in the tourism industry.
How have you navigated the challenges of running a socially responsible enterprise in a global market?
For the past 20 years, we’ve played on our strengths and what makes Lao textiles so unique: the materials Made in Laos; the savoir-faire of our master artisans; and our traditional designs. To show that we work exclusively with raw material from Laos, some of our new products now sport a “GI” (Geographical indication) tag certifying that this silk was produced in Luang Prabang.
Running a socially responsible enterprise in a global market also demands some concessions – not to our core values, but in terms of certain goals.
Because we want our material to be locally sourced and handspun, and our artisans to be fairly remunerated, we are not as competitive on the global market when it comes to wholesale. Add to this the fact that Laos is a landlocked country where our only shipping option is DHL and its exorbitant prices, and you can forget scaling up your wholesale business.
We’ve made our peace with it, and now focus on some key partners – mostly in the United States – with whom we share common values. This has been key, finding companies worldwide who share our values and not only understand our pricing and production time but value it.
What have been some of the most significant obstacles you’ve faced, and how did you overcome them?
The Covid-19 pandemic was our most significant challenge. Pre-Covid, 90% of our revenues came from tourism. No tourists = 90% of revenues gone. We had to reinvent ourselves and focus on areas which were formerly secondary to us, like our online sales and wholesale.
We took our philosophy of “Discover Laos Through Textiles” online – adding many videos to our Youtube channel, starting a podcast, and launching our very own DIY kits for purchase on our webshop. We revamped our webshop, added all the products we had in stock to generate revenue and adopted a more proactive approach when it came to wholesale – researching what customers worldwide wanted, where to find those customers and reaching out to them.
And as I mentioned before, we also created a mini Lao version of the International Folk Art Market (IFAM) thus offering a market place to artisans coming from different provinces.
It was two very hard years. Things are not yet back to “normal” but we learnt a lot from this. Among other things, we definitely should not put all our eggs in one basket!
How does Ock Pop Tok empower local artisans, particularly women, in the community?
We started with five weavers; we now work with more than 500 artisans around Laos, through our Village Weavers Project. Currently this work takes place in 14 provinces, with 15 different ethnic groups.
In Luang Prabang, we employ about 30 weavers directly. Half of them work full time at our Living Crafts Centre on the banks of the Mekong and the rest of them work from home.
It has always been our goal to break the social stigma that weaving work is menial work. When we first started, women in villages were ashamed to say they were weavers. In their minds it was like saying “I don’t have an education, I couldn’t get an office job.” By putting the emphasis on the face behind the textile, putting the artisans in the spotlight, we strive to give weaving and weavers a certain prestige.
Our weavers are artists; their products are works of art. They should be recognized and valued as such. We do! And we make sure people who visit our Living Crafts Centre also gain this appreciation.
Are there any aspects or resources you feel are still missing or needed to further your mission?
We deeply believe that the art of weaving should be more valued – we should lend it more prestige – so as to encourage the new generation to envision it as a career. They should want to be weavers as they want to work in offices, be doctors, etc.
We should have a national campaign to showcase the career possibilities and how it’s part of the Lao heritage and needs to be preserved. There should be official training facilities – over and above the neighborhood weaving studios. Something more high-end – like a design school, coupled with a design week that celebrates Lao design – where young kids would dream to study and become textile designers, home decorators, etc. To encourage the younger generation, the work should be seen as both lucrative and socially revered.
There’s also the question of natural resources with the production of raw material like cotton and silk. It’s harder and harder to source these materials in high quantity and good quality. Maybe there could be official schemes from the government to encourage the production of these materials.
What are your future visions for Ock Pop Tok and its impact on the local and global textile industry?
For many women in Laos, weaving is something that they work on in their free time. Our goal is to find a way to make weaving a sustainable source of income for as many women as possible. With these women, we’ll continue our work of merging tradition from the east and innovation from the west while preserving Lao textiles.
We want more and more women – especially the new generation – to be involved in the production of textiles, and put Lao textiles on the world map. The famous Naga motif being inscribed recently on the UNESCO intangible cultural heritage list is a step in the right direction.
The more people know about Lao textiles, the more opportunities there will be for Lao artisans to be asked for consent (for reproduction) and for the work of Lao artisans to be credited and compensated.
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Find out more about Ock Pop Tok on their official website, as well as on social media: their YouTube channel, Facebook page and Instagram page.
