Magical Felt in Thai orphanage

In Phrae and to Phatcheburn.

With the wool fibers that amalgamate continents, once again, Ruth Bucci-Baumer from Switzerland, which normally  offers creative felt courses in Italy, spent the winter, as a volunteer, in two orphanages in the North and Center Thailand.
Ruth was supported by DHG Main Street, which generously provided the material necessary for the realization of his project.

"The home and the schools in Phrae and Phatcheburn  managed by a Christian association based in Australia, were the places where I found an excellent base to work as an art-therapist.
I started working with preschool children in Phrae, in which the curiosity about this strange material has been definitely a good start. The contact with water, initially brake for these children, who were taught not to get wet, soon took over the entertainment aspect, it was transformed into a great interest and subsequent involvement.
Soon they showed the desire to create with fun, and day after day they created new felt objects.
Through this way of "making felt" I could teach the younger, as sensory, knowledge of colors, shapes and materials, particularly for Freddy and Ploy, two children with Special Needs, "making felt" it was a therapeutic boon that has helped to improve their motor skills and foster their growth.


In the second structure Phatcheburn, there are about 100 boys of all ages, organized in small families who attend the school adjacent to the institute, built by the Australians with the consent of the Thai state, the school also hosts about 1500 children from across the region .



These children could attend felt classes only in their free time after completing their daily tasks, which consisted of cleaning activities, gardening, work in agriculture, to feed the fish, fishing and helping in the kitchen, etc. etc.
With great pleasure I observed that just enjoyed a bit of time showed a great desire to be a personal item. Having a personal item Felt was seen as a prime location. Boys all wanted the bag or tie, females were creating flowers or light scarf. Often I felt it difficult to postpone the children the next day because the spontaneous participation, but so numerous, kept me from following them. 
I felt, and I confirm at now, that do felt in Thailand, in schools and orphanages, was the ideal vehicle to create contacts in the beautiful space of all ages. The combination of wool fibers, together with the soap and water and warmth mixed contacts between the people and joy for the soul -
In synthesis, I went with the thought and the desire to give many things to these children but the wealth that I brought in is really indescribable. "


Thanks again Ruth for her willingness to share his experience and for the beautiful photos of young artists and their beautiful creations that sent us.

Feltmakers Ireland Association Meeting 2012

Feltmakers Ireland Association Meeting 2012, un set su Flickr.

A small report on the association of Irish feltmakers who hosted us at their meetings. http://feltmakersireland.com/

DHG lands in Finland

We cannot avoid to navigate the 7 seas and the 5 continents. We can never disconnect from the world around us if we wish to do our job well and, then, how beautiful it is to travel, know new places and people, dive into other cultures.

Now the DHG BLOG is born and we have the chance to “bring” you with us. A little reportage for each journey. Let’s go!

6-11 December 2011 Finland

6 unique and fantastic days spent in part together with Leena, Piia and Sirpa, big friends and DHG partners. From 2012 they will be, in fact, the DHG testimonials in Finland and we are going to develop new projects with them...

On the left Sirpa, Leena on the right

They came to meet us first. It was last May:  they came to meet us at our Company offices with Eva (Basile) and Cristiana (Di Nardo) even if the weather was terribly hot and damp those days. Maybe just for this reason –tit for tat – (of course, we are joking!) they invited us to Finland... in December!

We had never been to Finland before and we just fell in love with it. You can feel the power of nature in every corner, people are really hospitable.. and also food is excellent! Then how about the healthy and marvellous habit of taking a sauna?

All and all, it was not so cold, even if the snow was not missing, luckily, and believe me, it was amazing to see Santa Claus’ Country under the snow!

Maybe the only problem was to get used to having only a few hours of light per day, as when the sun rises, it’s 10 in the morning and it already sets at 2 pm.

Obviously, it is impossible to see everything in 6 days, but we were on the move all the time. We spent some days in Helsinki, the capital, which is like a little treat of about 600,000 people, overlooking the Gulf of Finland. The first day, the 6^th December, it was National Holiday, so almost all shops and public places were closed, but the next two days we really had fun. The city is very clean, well organized and it is easy to wander around. Helsinki is the world capital of Design for 2012 and it is just ready for the role. We stayed in the Design District  and it was wonderful to go around the beautiful streets full of shops, cafés and art galleries. Prices were not so moderate for us, but sometimes just seeing the beautiful scenery around is enough.

 

We spent another three days in the nice city called Jyväskylä where Leena and Piia’s company, Papiina, is located. Papiina is specialised in the production of clothes made of felt (www.papiina.com). This city is  famous for its universities and because it is the home town of Alvar Alto, the most famous Finnish architect; it is about 600 kilometers from Helsinki. Trains run fast through the infinite countryside and iced lakes and we would have wished to stop at every moment to take some decent photos of the places unfolding before our eyes.

When we arrived, we spent the entire day at Papiina and we were able to see how these two energic women manage their company. It was beautiful to spend some time with them. See how their product are born, learn what their problems are and dream of new adventures. Then, they spoiled me so much: it was wonderful to work having a cup of tea, Christmas sweets and salmon cake in an ambient which I would define Jamaican-like. Total relax!

Another day we met Sirpa too and we visited Jämsä, maybe the “capital” of Finnish felt. Sirpa lives there so we started from there and visited some farms where they work Finnish wool and sell wool products: Christmas decorations, boots, sippers and bags of high design. Design and craftsmanship in a fine mix coming from the same place. It’s fantastic!

Then, in the middle of nowhere, we found ourselves on a wonderful lake where a little rebuilt house made of red bricks houses one of the highest level galleries of handicrafts we have ever seen. It really is worthy of big cities like London or New York. Here you can find felt but also metal and ceramic handicrafts. Amazing  handicrafts that made you want to write a letter to Santa Claus.

What more? We should write more pages, but still it would not be enough. We stop here and give voice to the images. We hope they arrive where our words did not.