Reed mat (craft)

Reed mats are handmade mats of plaited reed, made throughout most of Cambodia, India, and Thailand.

Reed mat it is Indian economical and healthy bed
Artisans weaving a reed mat in India

The mats are produced by plaiting reeds, strips of palm leaf, or some other easily available local plant. The supple mats made by this process of weaving without a loom are widely used in Thai homes. These mats are also now being made into shopping bags, place mats, and decorative wall hangings.

One popular kind of Thai mat is made from a kind of reed known as Kachud, which grows in the southern marshes. After the reeds are harvested, they are steeped in mud, which toughens them and prevents them from becoming brittle. They are then dried in the sun for a time and pounded flat, after which they are ready to be dyed and woven into mats of various sizes and patterns.

Other mats are produced in different parts of Thailand, most notably in the eastern province of Chanthaburi. Durable as well as attractive, they are plaited entirely by hand with an intricacy that makes the best resemble finely woven fabrics.

In India, reed mats (called paay in Tamil or chatai in Hindi) are used as cooling and eco-friendly floor coverings.[1]

See also

References
  • The National Identity Office, Office of the Prime Minister, Royal Thai Government (1998)
  1. "Weavers of dreams". Deccan Herald. 26 October 2014. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.