Ock Pop Tok Is A Fun Thing to Say

Ock Pop Top means east meets west, which is actually a good title for this entire trip I think. It is also the name of a social enterprise that seeks to empower women through their traditional skills, as well as promote Laos textile design.

We made our way to one of their store fronts in Luang Prabang, and after a bit of nosing around we took advantage of the free tuk tuk ride offered to those who wish to visit the Living Crafts Centre.

Besides the two storefronts in town, there is a restaurant, weaving and dyeing classes, a few villas available for rental all out in a shaded area on the bank of Mekong River. There are artisans and weavers working away on sight, a free guided tour and a gift shop.

We took a look at the silk worms and their cocoons, the dyeing process and the artisanal weavers doing their thing. The weavers come from villages to learn new weaving techniques and practice. The male role in all this is to help build looms, but an interesting thing is that they also weave bamboo and women don’t. In fact, the tour guide told me if a man can’t weave bamboo, he’s not even worth a second glance!

looks....complicated — looks….complicated

There was also a family taking a class on dyeing, which was kind of a funny activity for two boys (the teenage girl and mom looked right at home, though!).

It was so interesting to see ladies using the loom – I still don’t get how that works! Especially ikat, where they dye the pattern on the silk before they weave it. That doesn’t even make sense to me.

It was a nice quiet break from tourists and traffic for a while. It’s definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area you aren’t familiar with the silk weaving process.

Since then, we have been to a couple of silk farms and other similar places, but this one was my favorite – maybe because it was really my first time seeing everything in action.