Tai-Yuan Tin Chok Weaving Museum

The Tai-Yuan Tin Chok Weaving Museum occupies a two-storey wooden house in Ban Khum, a weaving hamlet in Laplae’s Chai Chumphon subdistrict. It’s a private house-museum run by Chongcharoen Manokham — known locally as Kru Jo — who has spent more than two decades collecting and reviving century-old tin-chok cloth. Entry is free.

Kru Jo grew up in a family of weavers but wasn’t taught the craft as a boy — tin-chok weaving in Laplae was considered women’s work, passed mother to daughter on looms built without heddles, known locally as Tha Ko or Kao Huk. In 2002 he organised the neighbourhood into the Ban Khum-Na Thale weaving group, redesigning old patterns and training a new generation on the same heddle-less looms, set up in the open space beneath the house.

Display cases hold cloth over a hundred years old from Kru Jo’s personal collection alongside newer pieces the group still weaves to order. Patterns include Dok Phud Son, Nok Khum, the Naga design, and the eight-hook Paed Ko pattern — each requires the weaver to lift and count warp threads by hand rather than use a mechanical heddle, which is why a single sinh (wraparound skirt cloth) can take weeks to finish.

The tin-chok technique from Laplae is now recognised as one of Uttaradit’s OTOP (One Tambon One Product) crafts, and Kru Jo’s group still fields custom orders for sinh woven in the old patterns rather than machine looms.

Insider Tip: This is someone’s home, not a staffed institution — call Kru Jo’s mobile (08 7198 7353) before driving out, especially outside the core 08:00-16:00 window, to make sure someone’s there to open up.

The museum sits in Chai Chumphon subdistrict, a short drive from Laplae town and within easy reach of central Uttaradit. There’s no admission charge, though most visitors buy a length of cloth on the way out — those sales are what keep the weaving group going. For more of Laplae’s community-museum circuit, the Laplae Museum covers the district’s wider history.