Gold swan.
Gold peacock.
Gold niello tea set.
Clay figure of Thai top knot boys
dressed in traditional sarong
"SUM-ANG", Image set in Gold niello
"PHRA-OB", Image set in Gold niello
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Her Majesty the Queen has accompanied His Majesty the King throughout the royal visits to every region of the country for more than 40 years.
She observed the hardships endured by farmers in the rural areas as a result from natural causes such as drought, flood, damaging pests and insects. Her Majesty also discovered that Thai people from many localities were gifted with various crafts
that had been handed down from their ancestors for many generations.
In oder to preserve these valuable arts and crafts, Her Majesty the Queen put the best of her energy, her personal efforts, and funds to promote local handicrafts. The main objective is to provide supplementary occupations for farmers faced with problems in agriculture, or during their free time after the harvesting season.
These supplementary occupations can be operated at home, using local raw materials that are easily obtainable. Villagers no longer need to migrate to urban areas for employment. Not only could it help deter the emergence of slum areas in various cities, it would also help low-income farmers to retain their land ownership as well.
Her Majesty the Queen also encouraged the Thai Hilltribesmen who used to grow opium to change into making silver and gold crafts that they had already mastered.
Another important objective of Her Majesty' s project is to conserve and revive ancient Thai handicrafts from extinction to become popular again. For example, the weaving of ancient Mudmee silk design, weaving of silk Prae-wa, Yan-Lipao basketry, the arts of silver and gold neilloware, Khram. It is diffi cult to find someone interested in learning such crafts as an occupation.
In order to fulfill all the objectives, Her Majesty the Queen established a Training Center at Chitralada Palace to teach various kinds of crafts to children of landless farmers. For local trainees, a temporary training center will be set up every time Their Majesties the King and Queen stay at each regional residence throughout the length of the Royal visit to that area.
Her Majesty the Queen personally interviewed poor families in order to select on of their children who are poorly educated and without any skills, to be trained in handicrafts at the center. Her Majesty would seek skilled teachers to transfer knowledge to these trainees. Both the teachers and students are well provided for financially so that they can fully concentrate on the delicate work of arts without distraction.
Her Majesty herself would follow-up closely ever piece of work as well as providing the student with encouragement and support. All kinds of handicraft products are used by Her Majesty herself to set trends for the pubic.
Her Majesty's handicraft project progressed rapidly with widely accepled and expanded products. From the beginning, Her Majesty's private fund had been used for the project until a Foundation was officially established on July 21, 1976 called the Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations And Related Techniques (SUPPORT in short).
Her Majesty consented to become the Foundation's President. In recognition of SUPPORT Foundation's work as truly benificial to the country as a whole, the Thai government had set up the SUPPORT Divition within the Office of the Principle Private Secretary in 1985 to support the Foundation's work directly.
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