Posted on: Monday, June 19, 2006
Enjoy Southeast Asia style without the jet lag
By Paula Rath
Advertiser Staff Writer
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The handpicked treasures of former Honolulu resident Peter Thomson, such as this Indochine jacket, will be on display at O'ahu and Maui trunk shows.
Peter Thomson
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'FABULOUS SOUTHEAST ASIA' TRUNK SHOWS
10 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday-Saturday Silk Winds, 333 Queen St., Suite D 550-8111 10 a.m.-4 p.m. June 29July 1 Duck Soup, Central Maui Baseyard 871-7875
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Woven bags created by Southeast Asian crafts people are part of the bounty to be displayed in a trunk show of imports this week.
Peter Thomson
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Southeast Asia has become a hotbed of design and fashion. Now, a cadre of international designers is combining a Western aesthetic with the exquisite craftsmanship of artisans in Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar to create stylish, innovative clothing and accessories.
At the forefront in positioning Southeast Asia as an emerging market, ready to take the international stage, is former Honolulu resident Peter Thomson. Now living in Chiang Mai, Thailand, Thomson owned Toko Kain, an import shop in Kilohana Square.
Thomson, who's opening a gallery in Chiang Mai this summer, searches throughout Southeast Asia for artisans and designers offering unique fashions and home furnishings. He will bring his latest collection to Honolulu and Maui for trunk shows. Among his latest finds:
OckPopTok ("East meets West" in Lao). Clothing and weaving made in the city of Luang Prabang, in collaboration with an innovative young designer from London's Central St. Martins school of design.
Sop Moei Arts textiles and baskets, created by a collective of Pwo Karen hill tribe craftsmen working with international designers to reinterpret age-old designs in a fresh light.
Studio Naenna's Patricia Cheesman founded Weavers for the Environment, making natural-dyed silk weavings in Thai traditional and contemporary motifs.
Lanna Silver, taking an eight-century-old tradition and reinterpreting temple bracelets and hill-tribe cuffs into contemporary jewelry that works with today's fashions.
Thomson's trunk shows on O'ahu and Maui offer an opportunity to experience Southeast Asia without jet lag.
Reach Paula Rath at prath@honoluluadvertiser.com.
