Friday, July 16, 2010

Fabric Freak Out: Jim Thompson


The turq girls got to go to Bangkok last year. It was an amazing trip for two friends and two small business owners. Neither of us had ever really been anywhere in that part of the world and had no idea what to expect. We found it to be colorful and full of inspiration. There were many cool parts of the trip but the highlight was getting to visit the Jim Thompson house. I think I first learned about the Jim Thompson house in Bangkok when Courtney Barnes at Style Court wrote this post about it.

Jim Thompson's life was amazing, I mean so inspiring. You have to read about it here. Short story is he was an expatriate who was living in Thailand and totally revitalized the silk and textile industry. He built this incredible house that did not use a single nail. It is like a tree house in the middle of the city. There is a spooky end to this short story - he went missing on Easter Sunday while on a walk on vacation in Malaysia and never returned. Local theories are that he was attacked by a bear (are there bears in Malaysia? Maybe it was a Tiger) and another is that he was involved in the CIA and faked his disappearance. Quite a mystery. Being in his home you cant help but feel that he just simply walked out and never returned. There are still framed photos around of him and all of his perfectly maintained furnishings. It really is a work of art.

Here are a few images from the interior of his home - taken from the book "Jim Thompson- The House on the Klong".


Here we are in the gardens outside his house. We look tired because we are.

But the REAL destination is the Jim Thompson store and Outlet (YES OUTLET!!!). The store is like 3 or 4 stories high and is gorgeous. Silk Ties and gifty items on the bottom floors and then the top floors are all fabric. I mean ... speechless. We bought so much fabric for furniture and rooms we didnt even have. All at wholesale prices. I still have yards of fabric for rooms I know I will have one day.

This is one fabric we purchased. It is a linen fabric called Zhizac. So pretty in every color combo:




I cant even decide which images to put up there are so many gorgeous ones. I love the periwinkle in this one:


This one gives me ideas for painting my own fabric.... love it!


Now I want to go back. Plus the Pad Thai was amazing and they put flowers like this everywhere.


images 1&2 from Luca Tettoni .Images 3, 4,6 &7 from Jim Thomson Fabrics Images 5 from Traditional Home

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