Malai Princess Flowers: Signature Collection
Our largest floral garland, and the last word in the Flowers line. Where the Petite Flowers is offered between two people and the Supreme Flowers is made for a ceremony, this one is made for the ceremony that happens once.
White for purity and inner peace, gold for sacredness and prosperity, silver for purity of intention and protection, worked at a scale and a density of detail that no smaller piece can carry.
A Signature piece is not a product you pick up. It is a garland someone commissioned because the occasion asked for it.
Product details
- Handmade in Asha village, Chiang Rai, Thailand
- Made from white cotton and real dried flowers, with gold and silver detailing
- Our largest size in the Flowers line
- Wooden box included
- For custom colours, a specific theme or bulk orders, 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:
- Because a Signature piece is made to order, please contact us early with your date
- Delivery within Thailand takes around 10 to 20 working days outside pre-order campaigns
- Because our products are handmade, delivery times can vary with the number of orders being processed
- For urgent orders (a wedding, a ceremony, a state visit), 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.
What a Signature piece is for
Most garlands mark a day. This one marks something that will be remembered for longer than the day it was given.
- A wedding. Offered to the parents and to the elders whose blessing the couple is asking for, and kept in the house long after.
- A retirement or a career honoured at its end, where a small piece would understate a working lifetime.
- A state, diplomatic or corporate welcome, where the garland is the first thing a guest is handed and the first thing they judge.
- An ordination or a family milestone, the kind that happens once in a generation.
Presented over the hands or along the forearm, this is the form Thai ceremony calls a malai kon, and it is the gesture that carries the most weight in Thai custom. If you want the background, we wrote it up here: what a Malai Kon is.
Why the scale changes the meaning
In Thailand the work in a garland is read as the depth of the respect behind it. That is why ceremonial pieces have always been the most elaborate ones: the effort is the message, and it is understood without anyone saying so.
At this size there is room for the full vocabulary of a Thai garland in a single piece, and the density of detail is what separates a Signature garland from a beautiful one.
The flowers of a Thai garland, and what each one says
A traditional phuang malai is not assembled from whatever is in season. Each flower was chosen for what it means, and the choice is the message:
- Jasmine for pure love. Its white colour, its lasting scent and its inward-curling petals are read as a mother's arms around her child, which is why it became the flower of Mother's Day.
- Dok rak, whose name means love outright.
- Dok phut for a calm and steady heart.
- Marigold for prosperity, which is why it appears in almost every Thai offering.
- Rose for gratitude and admiration.
- Orchid for refinement and strength, and the flower most associated with Thailand itself.
Why white, gold and silver
White is jasmine's own colour, and jasmine is the flower Thailand reaches for first, which makes white the choice that is never wrong.
Gold carries prosperity and honour, and it is the safe and correct colour for a retirement, a long-service award, or any celebration of a career in the Thai way.
Silver, ngoen, is a word that means both silver and money in Thai, so it has always been read as wealth. In Thai belief it also stands for purity, wisdom and light, and it is one of the colours held to keep misfortune away, which is why silver has such a long history in Thai ceremonial craft. On this piece it does one more thing: set against the gold, it keeps a garland worked at this level of detail looking composed rather than heavy.
For a wedding we also make this piece in your theme colours, or in the day-of-birth colour of the person receiving it. Tell us the palette and we work to it.
See our garlands in the seven day-of-birth colours
Dried flowers or fresh
A fresh garland is the tradition and its scent is the point. It costs between 35 and 100 baht at any flower market, and it is finished within a day. For a ceremony that ends at lunchtime, buy fresh.
This one is for the occasion nobody wants to end at lunchtime. It holds its shape and colour for years, it travels by post, and it spares the person you just honoured the job of throwing your gift away.
How to care for it
- Handle it gently. Dried flowers and cotton are delicate. Keep handling to a minimum.
- Keep it out of direct sunlight. Direct sun fades both. Somewhere dry and cool is best.
- Keep it dry. Damp causes mould, which damages dried flowers and cotton alike.
- Dust it regularly with a soft brush or a cloth.
Cared for properly, it stays beautiful for many years.
See our other garlands
Meet our Malai Supreme Flowers and Malai Petite Flowers, the same piece at smaller sizes, and our Malai Delicacy, in which every flower is woven by hand.