In the lush hills surrounding Chiang Mai, where ancient traditions weave seamlessly through modern life, Saranya has built a truly special home accessories business, Lanna Passa. Lanna—a term that translates to a million rice fields—was once the name for what is now Northern Thailand. The word Passa is Thai for ‘language’. The deep meaning of the name gives us our first hint of just how special Lanna Passa is.
This family business serves as both a bridge and a beacon—connecting the exquisite artistry of Thailand’s ethnic hill tribe communities, including the Hmong and Lisu peoples, with homes around the world. Lanna Passa breathes new life into bamboo fish traps and vintage textiles while celebrating contemporary craftsmanship. Today, Saranya shares her journey of building a business that honors the past while creating sustainable opportunities for artisan communities in Northern Thailand.
Lanna Passa: Random Encounters Fueling Inspiration
Take us back to the moment a traditional bamboo fish trap first inspired you. What made you see its handwoven beauty as something that could illuminate homes worldwide?
I wish I had an exciting and inspiring story for you here, but it is actually quite mundane! One day I drove past some bamboo basket sellers on the side of the road and saw what we now know as the classic fish trap basket design. It looked interesting, and I thought maybe I could use it to decorate the home in some way—maybe have a few standing in the corner of the room or possibly holding long leaves and branches as a tall standing vase-like piece. So, I decided to stop on the way back to have a look.
Seeing and handling it in person and realizing it was flexible, I was amazed. It’s just an incredible design and looks so elegant, and while compressing it in my hands into a sphere shape, I had the thought – ‘I wonder if I can make this into a pendant light shade’.
After that I sought out some basic lighting components and experimented a little trying to figure out how it could hang on a light cord, eventually having a working design using small brackets and cord grips. At the time, I had just opened an Etsy store to sell cushions and pillows made from hill tribe textiles, and decided to list the lights for sale also, just to see how it went. And it went well, to say the least!
So really it was just a random moment—a quick flash of inspiration, some hard work, and probably a lot of luck!
What inspired you to move from natural bamboo tones into the bold Colorways Collection? Which colors have surprised you most in how Lanna Passa’s customers connect with them?
It was random local inspiration again, really. We were at a farmers market, which has a range of everything from organic farm produce to handicrafts and coffee stalls, basically anything and everything artisan and locally produced. We walked past one stall where a young couple were selling beautiful handmade ceramic pottery, and they had a colorful vase where the lower section was dyed in a brighter color contrasting with the dull gray stone ceramic look. I thought it was really cool, and it caught my eye, and then again, it was just a thought – ‘I wonder if we can dye our fish trap baskets in a similar way’.
The idea was planted; so then we sought out some local dyes and started experimenting. We tried boiling dyes in vats, testing various mixtures and quantities, and spent a week or two dipping the bamboo baskets in various dyes to see how it worked. Eventually, we figured out a process, and then slowly built up a small collection of colorful pendant lights to create our Colorway Collection.
The most popular color is definitely the rust orange/copper, with teal coming in second. Those colors seem to work well in most spaces. It has been pleasantly surprising to see customers connecting with them as we initially thought they would be very niche and only used for specific interior design, like ‘x’ color-themed interiors. But seeing them in customer’s homes and spaces, they work really well in general and add a touch of color and bit of liveliness without going crazy. I think customers connect with the handmade aspect too, knowing we dye them by hand and they’re not too perfect like something you’d get from a factory.
As someone deeply connected to traditional crafts and cultural preservation, what destinations have captured your imagination beyond Thailand?
I really love Japan. It has a unique culture that really doesn’t feel like anywhere else, even in Asia. There is a big emphasis on respect and social order there that makes it feel safe, clean, and calm, and there’s just a special vibe that I haven’t found anywhere else. It also has more varied seasons, which is unique for a country so close to Thailand, while ours are more like hot, hotter, and wet. They have snow-covered mountains where people can take ski holidays, summer beaches, cherry blossoms in spring and autumn.
One thing that I unfortunately haven’t been able to explore much yet, due to being in a holiday mindset when there, is traditional Japanese crafts. That’s a huge rabbit hole to go down, I think—even just for crafts or materials relevant to Lanna Passa – Shibori, various forms of fabric weaves, Japanese dyes, bamboo craftsmanship, etc. There seems like so much to explore; I’m not sure where to start. Also, I’m not sure how to explain it, but everything feels almost like an art form in Japan too—even the most everyday activities, like cooking food or directing traffic.
At Lanna Passa, It’s All About Family
Since Lanna Passa is a family business, I am curious to learn how do you balance family relationships with business decisions? What strategies have you developed to maintain both professional boundaries and family harmony?
Delicately! Overall, it’s definitely a plus being able to work from home as a family, but there’s not much of a line between work and home-life sometimes, which can be difficult. Due to things like time zone differences, having a young child, and generally just having day-to-day home/family things to do, we don’t work set hours; it’s really 24/7 and just trying to fit things in where we can.
To help with this, we try to take full days off sometimes where we make a conscious decision to be completely work-free (aside from maybe answering important emails and customer queries). It gives us a chance to recharge and some valuable family time.
I think the main strategy we have for maintaining family harmony is each person having a set role within Lanna Passa. For example, my mom sews our cushions and packs orders for sending, while I will source materials and answer customer queries, etc. There’s never any overlap there, so there’s no real issues business decision-wise as everything is separate. There’s nobody to blame except ourselves if we make a mistake that way, I think! Of course, sometimes we have bad days or a little family bickering, but generally it’s not work-related and doesn’t really affect how we work; it’s just normal family life.
I would say the only potential negative would be that it maybe limits how much we can grow as a business—as if we were to one day expand and grow by a considerable amount, it would mean taking on new staff, maybe needing a new premises, etc., and losing the small family dynamic. That would be both a blessing and a curse. As we are at the moment, though, I think we’ve found a good balance, and we haven’t disowned each other yet.
Building Community in Chiang Mai’s Artisan Ecosystem
How has living and working in Chiang Mai shaped your vision of authentic, sustainable design? What would be lost if you tried to replicate Lanna Passa elsewhere?
I don’t think we could have created Lanna Passa if we lived anywhere else, to be honest, or at least it would have been very difficult. Chiang Mai is known for its ‘slow life’, and many people move here from other cities like Bangkok (myself included) because it has a slower, calmer city feel and a unique creative culture that isn’t really found in other provinces.
It’s a large city, so you can find anything you need, but it also has a small-town feel. There are so many different independent stores, markets, and crafters who live here that there is constant inspiration all around you.
One reason why there is such a fantastic creative culture here is that unique and high quality materials are relatively easy to source in the region. There are traditional textiles, cocao, world-class coffee beans, bamboo, etc. The city and province is like an epicenter for artisans and creative endeavors as it seems to have the perfect combination of materials and inspiration.
As demand grows, how do you stay true to Lanna Passa’s values of sustainability and fair partnerships with the hill tribe communities you work with?
I think being a small business with a limited product range helps, and then it’s simply making a conscious effort to focus on sustainability and traditional crafts, in general.
Over the years through sourcing various materials, we have built great connections and friendships with people involved in traditional communities. We have a friend in the Hmong hill tribe community who helps us source specific textiles, and others in the local basket-weaving community who help us with sourcing bamboo weaves. At each step, everyone not only gets paid a fair price for their work, but these traditions—basket weaving, textile weaving, and dyeing, etc.—are kept alive and in demand. Of course, we’re not big enough to be doing this ourselves, but we hope that we are playing a small part in doing so.
Looking Ahead for Lanna Passa
Nearly a decade in, what’s on the horizon for Lanna Passa? Are there traditional Thai crafts or materials you’re excited to explore next?
We have been designing and making clothing recently using the same local fabrics and hill tribe textiles we use for ottomans and cushions. We’re still refining designs and exploring different fabric combinations, but we’re excited to try this—and I now have an endless selection of dresses to wear, which is great.
Our aim is to highlight the beauty of traditional Thai and hill tribe textiles while adding some flair of our own. We’re focusing on free-flowing dresses at the moment and will see where that takes us.
What would you say to a creative female entrepreneur dreaming of building her own ethical brand?
Try! You just need to take the first step and see where it takes you. Of course, luck plays a part, but unless you take action, then you’ll never know. So I think the important thing is just taking action and trying things. If the business side fails, just try again, now with your added experience.
Also, I think with creatives and entrepreneurs in general today, the actual creation part—the building, the inspiration, the passion and the process—that is its own reward, more so than the business, in a way. It sounds a little bit cheesy, but I believe the creative experience overall is rewarding—even with all the ups and downs. There’s a sense of accomplishment in building or creating things, even if it’s not monetary, which I think you need to feel in order to not go insane—because the business side is a bit of a grind! So, you need to enjoy it in some way, first and foremost.
Saranya’s story with Lanna Passa is ultimately one of transformation—taking retired fish traps and forgotten textiles and giving them new purpose, drawing deep inspiration from the rich cultural tapestry that surrounds her in Northern Thailand, and building something meaningful alongside her family. You must see these stunning transformations for yourself and explore the full collection at https://lannapassa.com and follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest.
