GENUINE STRING DOLLS IS FROM THAI

Today I want to share a stories...the story of three young entrepreneurs who succeed with a career as a string doll maker. Taweechai Boontum, Tanayot Saihaikam & Kanya Thuaylai is a architecture students and they were in their fourth year of a five-year course at Rajamangala University of Technology Lanna Northern Campus. The story began when they running out of money for their respective thesis projects. So Taweechai Boontum, who was then running a makeshift stall on Walking Street, convinced Tanayot Saihaikam and Kanya Thuaylai to join his business selling home decorative items fashioned from wire. Tanayot has got the idea when he was attracted by a bear doll made from rice stalks and comeout with new small dolls with oversized heads and slim bodies, made from gunny and hemp rope.The trio spent 70 baht buying materials to produce eight of these dolls. Within an hour, they'd made 320 baht. They started with seven models but increased that to 40. Within a year of studying and manning the stall, they were making between $600 and $900 a month each.

String Doll aka Voodoo Doll

After graduating from university, only Taweechai decided to stay in the doll business. His two mates started work as architects but they left their jobs within months and join Taweechai again.The trio renamed their dolls Saan_ha, which means ''selection'' in Thai. The name reflected their desire to design something new and unusual to keep their clients happy. They were also looking to sell their dolls in Bangkok.The trio went much further than that. They've sold one million Saan_ha dolls, which are distributed to more than ten countries worldwide, with the US and England as the major markets. They also employ 100 workers who are able to produce 100,000 dolls a month.

Saan_ha Shop at Chiangmai

Unfortunately, the demand from the overseas market has fallen from the peak of 80,000 to between 30,000 and 50,000 now. Taweechai blames this sharp dip on the problems they faced in China. Sales of the dolls declined sharply after news broke that some students had used them to put a curse on their teachers. As a result, the Chinese police raided several shops where the dolls were on sale. The authorities deemed the dolls to be the product of black magic and hence banned it from the country.

After much brainstorming, they came up with another line of action. First, they improved the quality of their dolls and made sure they injected innovative ideas into their product lines regularly. They produced a line of seasonal dolls in such large numbers that there was just no room for copycats. On top of that, they made limited edition designs, ensuring the exclusivity of their products. They also occasionally lowered prices to compete with manufacturers of the fake products.

All Saan_ha string doll products is copyright

Despite these difficulties, the three classmates are proud of their success. Their handicraft is highly praised for its beauty, uniqueness and high quality. They're also happy to be setting a good example for other young Thais. In fact, they're regarded as role models in their community; they've overcome multiple obstacles to receive blessings from their string dolls. There are many more characters of String dolls and it's so cute...Pliz visit www.originalsaanha.com if you like to order their string dolls.

characters of String dolls