The principal designer and CEO of Lao Design is Bounkhong Signavong. He lives and works in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, where he was born and grew up. He comes from a simple family, the parents worked as farmers, teacher and had, later on, a small business. Through sometimes tumultuous times in the country, it was always his family who provided for support and good education. He was able to finish high school and university and was raised in true Buddhist traditions. He had even the opportunity to gain some experience as a monk.
Although he had worked in different jobs, waiter, hotel clerk, teacher, and for about 8 years in the administration of the national UNICEF Office, Bounkhong's passion has always been textiles and later, fashion. Already as a youngster at home and in the extended family, he had learned to distinguish between quality textiles, the result of long weeks of hard work by weavers and others, and the products usually sold at the morning market, hastily produced on machines.
He understood that his country had a very special history and tradition of producing quality textiles. Lao textiles are being appreciated worldwide by experts and consumers for their close connection to the lives and destiny of its people. They are not simple cloth to wear, they are a statement of life, happiness, joy, or, sometimes, of reflection and mourning.
Soon, he started collecting textiles, antique and vintage ones. Often, he visits Luang Prabang, the former capital and seat of the former King, or he travels to the countryside to visit hill tribes. People gladly show how they keep their weaving traditions, how to wear a particular piece, and sometimes sell a sample of their outstanding work.
Lao Design's antique and vintage textile collection reflects the rich history and cultural heritage of Laos, and represents the artistic inspirations and manual skills of an era long gone by. A few years ago, Bounkhong was honored that some of his original pieces have been obtained by the Vienna "Museum f?r V?lkerkunde" for its permanent collection.
In the early 90s, he begun to show his collection to friends, colleagues and visitors. They encouraged him to display the many interesting pieces permanently and to sell some to visitors. In 1995, he has opened his own store at the Lan Xang Hotel in Vientiane, after a couple of years of consignment there. The Lan Xang Hotel is very traditional, located at the banks of the Mekong River, reflecting the serene atmosphere that comes with that unique landscape.
Bounkhong got inspired to design new patterns and started working with weavers from the outskirts of Vientiane. A few years later, he was able to open a second store at one of Vientiane's main streets: Samsenthai. That store has a small workshop with two looms attached, and tourists enjoy watching the weavers at work. Only then, they can really appreciate the amount of effort and skill that goes into each and every of the textiles offered by the workshop.
Lao Design's contemporary textile collection offers one-of-a-kind pieces, uniquely designed by Bounkhong and hand-woven on traditional loom by Lao masterweavers, reviving century-old weaving traditions of Laos. The company also offers shawls for decorative purposes in different sizes, colors and patterns; bedcovers and quilts in unique patterns/motives and scarves of all sizes and different colors and patterns, combining traditional Asian and Western styles; pillows and cushions.
Also in the early 90s, he started to design fashion, using vintage items and newly produced fabrics. The preferred material is silk, but he also works with cotton and hemp. Tailors in Vientiane and Bangkok helped to realize his ideas, and customers appreciated the results. Today, Lao Design offers one-of-a-kind fashion objects, and art to wear, like dresses, skirts, jackets and shirts, giving new life to vintage textiles. Bounkhong is integrating them into uniquely designed formal and every-day wear.
To improve his own skills, he attended in the early 2000s a one-year study course in designing and sketching in Bangkok. This helped him a lot to get his ideas on paper and to have them realized by co-workers in the workshop. More recently, he has started to design some jewelry and have them produced by skilled silver smiths in Laos.
Every day has the potential for new ideas, Bounkhong receives inspiration from all things surrounding him, nature in the first place, be it a landscape or the bark of a tree, the fine linings of its leaves, or a dragon fly resting on a blossom.
A lot of inspiration he draws from his traveling. It all started with the customers that visited the store in Vientiane, they come from Japan, quite some, of course, but also from America, Europe and Australia. The way they dress, they talk, they show interest in Lao culture was an important source for ideas, but also for an urge to travel himself, to visit their countries. By now, Bounkhong has been to Japan, and to other countries in the neighbourhood, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Indonesia (Bali), Thailand, of course. Each journey provided for very unique experiences, resulting in new ideas and designs.
He has visited Europe - a sister lives in France - but also the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain. So many impressions, so much inspiration! He returns full of energy to realize something different again, always combining the new experience with the traditional Lao handicraft.
Bounkhong has been to North America and fell in love with New York. People are very open-minded, curious about South East Asian culture. Hardly anyone in the street knows where Laos is located. But they are ready to listen and appreciate design and quality. He ended up creating an affiliate company in New York State, Lao Design, had revolving exhibits at a store in Soho and learned a lot. Business in that city is not easy….
Bounkhong appreciated very much having gotten the chance to participate in some of the well-known art shows annually organized in different cities of the United States. Examples of such exhibits are the Art of Pacific Asia Shows, as well as Tribal Art, Folk and Textile Shows held in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Saint Etienne, France. He also participated in the Convergence Shows of the Handweavers' Guild of North America, held in Vancouver in 2002, Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 2006 and Tampa, Florida in 2008.
For the past couple of years, he had to spend most of the time at home in Vientiane, due to a serious illness of his mother. He loves to care for her, always remembering how much she encouraged him to put his ideas to work, appreciating his first designs, wearing them proudly at family gatherings.
During the past few years Bounkhong's work was met with rising interest at the national level. He participated with his own fashion design in a number of centrally organized fashion shows with a wide international audience, including the diplomatic corps in Vientiane and members of the government. His work has been featured in Lao lifestyle and fashion magazines. He represented his country in design workshops organized at the ASEAN level.
Bounkhong would like to conclude by thanking you from all of his heart for the opportunity to present his work to you and for taking the time to visit his web site. He sincerely hopes to meet you at one of the forthcoming events where he displays his work or through the almost unlimited possibilities of cyberspace.