The Thai Chandelier, in the Round
▶ Pre-order only.
Thai hanging ornaments began as flat designs, like our Elephant Net and Crocodile Fragrance. Then came pieces built in the round, designed to be seen from every direction. Thai sources trace the evolution of these forms from the โคมฝรั่ง (farang, or Western, lantern) to the chandelier.
Ours are crafted from cotton fibres instead of fresh champa and jasmine, so a form that once had to be dismantled the following morning becomes a piece you can live with for years.
A Khruang Kwaen was hung wherever a household received guests, at the door or by a window to welcome, to honour and to carry fragrance naturally through the house with the wind.
Infuse it with your favourite perfume, and it will do what these pieces were always made to do: fill the room with fragrance.
Two designs
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The Siamese Sunbeam, in shades of yellow, symbolising royalty and prosperity.
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The Scent of a Kingdom, in tender shades of pink, symbolising love and harmony.
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Contact Nicha for a custom colour or design.
Product details
- Pre-order only
- Handmade in Asha village, Chiang Rai, Thailand
- Materials: cotton
- Size: 71 x 25 cm
- For a custom size, a custom colour or a series, please contact me for a quote
Made by Akha women
- These pieces are handmade by Akha women under the AKHA MA-DE social programme
- Every time you buy from us, you directly support and create opportunity for these women
Bulk orders and workshops
- For bulk orders, please contact us.
Contact me
- You can reach us any time through Messenger, Instagram or the "Contact Us" page
Delivery:
- Our Khruang Kwaen are handmade to order. The estimated delivery time is around one month on average
- Because our products are handmade, delivery times can vary with the number of orders being processed
- For urgent orders, please reach us on Facebook, Instagram or by email here
- For international delivery, please contact us
Returns and exchanges:
We accept returns and exchanges:
- Please contact us within 7 days of delivery
- Send the item back within 14 days of delivery
Return conditions:
- The buyer covers return shipping when the reason for dissatisfaction is not caused by a third party. If the returned item does not arrive in its original condition, the buyer is responsible for the loss in value of the item.
* Product photographs are for presentation purposes and may differ from the actual product. Because screens vary, product colours may appear different from those shown on your display.
** Please allow a difference of 1 to 2 cm, as each piece is handmade and measured by hand.
How do you care for a Khruang Kwaen?
Caring for your Khruang Kwaen is what keeps it beautiful and keeps it looking new for years. Hung in a living room, an entrance or a stairwell, it deserves attention. Here is how to look after yours properly.
- Handle it gently. Always treat the piece with a light touch. Cotton is delicate and damages easily. Keep handling to a minimum.
- Keep it out of direct sunlight. Direct sun fades cotton. Hang it away from a window that catches the full afternoon sun.
- Keep it dry. Damp causes mould and mildew, which damages cotton. Avoid hanging it anywhere with high humidity.
- Dust it regularly. Dust settles on cotton and makes a piece look dull. Brush it lightly with a soft brush or a cloth to lift dust and cobwebs away.
Cared for properly, your Khruang Kwaen stays beautiful in its place for many years.
See our other Thai chandeliers
Meet our Crocodile Fragrance and our Elephant Net, the flat patterns of the same craft.
From one day to a lifetime
This is the change these two pieces are built on. A fresh-flower chandelier is a masterpiece with a deadline: strung in the morning, admired through the day, taken down wilted. That is why the form now appears almost only at weddings and ceremonies, and almost never in a home.
Worked in cotton, the same silhouette holds its shape and its colour for years. Nothing about the craft is simplified to achieve it. Every strand is still knotted by hand, the proportions are the traditional ones, and the piece is still built in the round rather than flattened for convenience. What changes is only how long you get to keep it.
What it means to hang one
A Khruang Kwaen was never only decoration. It hung at the door and the window, the thresholds of a house, where it greeted whoever came in and marked the room as cared for. It carried fragrance, and in Thai homes fragrance is hospitality.
Giving or hanging one says the same thing now: this room is welcoming, this house is looked after, and the people who enter it are honoured. Made to last, that wish stays in the room instead of leaving with the flowers.
The chandelier lineage
The round Khruang Kwaen and the European chandelier are the same visual family, and Thai writing on the craft says so plainly. Those were the years when a cut-crystal chandelier was a statement of rank in Bangkok: the great chandelier of the Chakri Maha Prasat throne hall, commissioned in 1876 and inaugurated in 1882, was not ordered for the palace at all. A nobleman had bought it for his own residence, found it too large for the room, and presented it to the King.
The Thai answer was not to import more glass. It was to build the same silhouette out of flowers. Under King Chulalongkorn, Queen Sri Bajarindra revived the flower craft, and royal women and inner-court attendants made the pieces themselves for the palace and the royal temples. Our own are made the same way, by hand, by women, in Chiang Rai.
A contemporary piece for a contemporary Thai home
Hang it over a dining table, in a stairwell, in an entrance or in a double-height living room, anywhere a chandelier would go. It reads as contemporary craft first and carries its Thai heritage without needing an occasion. Add a few drops of your favourite perfume and the room fills before you have looked up.
These are the Thai answer to the chandelier, made in cotton to stay beautiful for years.