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Design for Life

She may have been born in deepest Cornwall in the UK, but Lamorna Cheesman, now manager and designer at Studio Naenna’s Adorn shop, was soon on the road with her parents in Laos and Australia and by the time she was eight years old, she arrived in the place she will now always call home, Chiang Mai.

Lamorna Cheesman looks every inch the classic English rose and even speaks with a very convincing English accent: “It’s only because I’m talking to you, I have this habit of unintentionally copying people’s accents, and I think it’s from when I learnt Thai as a child.” Lamorna did in fact leave the UK when she was just six months old and has never been back.

“It’s the one place I don’t remember.”

Her parents were working on a ceramics project in Laos and her birth in the UK was just a brief visit interlude in the UK especially for Lamorna’s birth.

“My mum and dad were living and working in Laos so my mum had to go back to the UK to have me. Then after six months they were back working on a UN project, my mum was working in ceramics, developing a stoneware project and it was there that she was exposed to the textiles of Laos and started off her interest in Laos textiles.”

Lamorna is the middle one of three blood sisters, as well as her oldest sister, Air, not by blood, who is Lao Asian.

“I have an older sister, who I share the same parents with. She is in Australia. Then i have my younger sister who is based in Thailand. She has a different father, and she is half Thai. We’re all very close but live in different places.”

Before arriving in Chiang Mai at the age of eight, Lamorna’s family were in Laos and Australia, where the family divided, leaving her father in Australia and her mother picking up the kids and heading to Chiang Mai for a new life.

“We were in Australia for about four years, then mum was traveling back and forth to Thailand. Laos was closed because of the revolution, but a lot of refugees were here. She continued her textile research in the Northeast of Thailand, reconnecting with friends and doing research with friends. Finally in 1985 she was invited by the University of Chiang Mai to lecture as a teacher and moved us to Thailand.”

So what was it like for the little eight-year-old girl with pale skin and red hair landing in Chiang Mai at that time?

“When we first arrived it was a shock. We lived with a friend of my mum’s. We weren’t rich, and we came with just three bags. It wasn’t an easy time. First I went to an international school; then had Thai classes out of school for six months. In those days you didn’t have much choice because you either went to an international school and were taught one hour of Thai a week, or you went to Thai school and learnt one hour of English a week. So my mum decided to send us to a Thai school. It was difficult. My sister and I were the only foreigners in the school and of course we got teased. But I soon got the hang of things.”

Chiang Mai was already showing what a bustling buzzing city it would soon become at that time but there were places of calm. “Chiang Mai wasn’t that quiet, there were always markets hustling and bustling Nimmanamin. We moved to Soi 11. We were right on the corner, a little wooden house. It was beautiful. I used to ride my bike around this area. It was safe.” School holidays were spent up in the villages where her mother was continuing her research in Laos Asian textiles, giving the girls the chance to explore a rapidly-dying culture.

After finishing school in Chiang Mai, Lamorna went on to study Fine Arts, again in Chiang Mai: “When I was young I was the alien, but when I was older being different was seen as a good thing, especially as an art student!”

Soon after, the West beckoned and Lamorna went back to Australia to spend some time with her father, study and eventually take up work within the fashion design business.

“Eventually I came back to Thailand at my mum’s request and looked after Studio Naenna while she was working on her book. It was a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed working with the textiles and it was great to use my design knowledge with them. So after saying I would stay for a year, I’m still here 10 years later!”

Studio Naenna

Studio Naenna supports Weavers for the Environment in the production of exquisite and eco-friendly garments, accessories, and textiles. Participate in any of our informative, hands-on workshops at our weaving studio in Chiang Mai to engage others and share an appreciation for an exceptional, sustainable, and enduring art form.

www.studio-naenna.com

Text : Alison Swann
Images : Apirak