Laos - Laha Boutique

I love the texture in natural cotton, its lack of glamour and the sense of warmth it exudes.  The delicate changes of weaves and colours in these hand-woven pieces is a visual delight to me.  They are first objects of admiration, anything else - its purpose and practicality, perhaps come later.  These pieces were acquired on two separate visits, from Laha boutique in Luang Prabang and Vientianne.  The first two are scarves and the rest are table mats.  I discovered Laha during a visit to Luang Prabang in 2008.  It's a beautiful boutique, housed in an old French style colonial property.  I like the collections so much that before I left, I had to return twice more to see them all over again.  A few years later I visited Vientianne, and no doubt,  I had to check out Laha in the capital. The selections were a little limited, not as varied as in Luang Prabang.  However, it might be that their new stocks had yet to arrive, and most of what they had were already exported to Japan, the shop assistant told me.  Oh, apparently the President's daughter is a regular here.

Website, http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/mekongpsdf.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/14-Lao-Laha+Sinh/$FILE/14-Lao-Laha+Sinh.pdf