Fine handicrafts are traditional to the country, and many of the most popular items are created in small cottage industries, employing skills handed down for generations. Others are produced in factories boasting the latest in advanced technology and quality control. Both are distinguished by the superb craftsmanship that makes a "Made in Thailand" purchase something special to treasure for years to come.

Classic buys such as exquisite Thai silk, gems and jewellery, and precious antiques are rightly at the top of most shopping lists, as are leading international brand-name products. But there is also much that is new, and Thailand today pulses with artistic innovation.

•CREATIONS FROM SHELL

Some of the greatest works of traditional Thai art have employed the craft of fashioning intricate designs from bits of mother-of-pearl, embedded in a lacquer surface. This skill is still very much alive and is displayed on many items such as trays, picture frames, carved wooden animals, and furniture. Shells and coral from the seas off Thailand's coasts are also used to make handsome table lamps, mirror frames, and other decorative creations that make perfect souvenirs of a holiday at such resorts as Pattaya and Phuket.

•THAI SILK

Thai silk is famous throughout the world and few visitors will want to leave without buying some of this lustrous handwoven fabric. Originally used mainly for clothing, it now comes in heavier weights and is finding widespread popularity in household furnishing for draperies and upholstery. Countless shops in Bangkok and elsewhere in the country offer both plain and printed silks, by the yard or made into the latest ready-to-wear fashions. Silk is also used for place mats and napkins, neckties, scarves, and to cover such souvenirs as notebooks, jewelry boxes, and eye-glass cases.

•COTTON AND BATIK

Thai cotton, once rarely seen outside the country, is gaining international re-known because of its supple texture and durability. It now comes in as broad a range of colours and prints as silk, often adorned with delicate embroidery, and is used for both clothing and household items like bedspreads, table linen, cushion covers, and rugs. Among the specialty cotton goods that are attracting increasing interest are those made by the hill tribes of the north, with bold designs and a lavish use of fine embroidery. In addition several studios, mainly in Bangkok, specialize in original batik designs on both cotton and silk.

•NIELLOWARE

A traditional craft of southern Thailand, nielloware is the art of applying etched designs on silver or gold receptacles. For centuries artisans have used this technique to produce beautiful trays, boxes, vases, and other objects and these are still available today at shops in Bangkok and in the south, particularly the province of Nakhon Si Thammarat.

•BRONZEWARE

Thailand’s high-quality bronzeware has long been a favourite item for visiting shoppers. Produced by traditional techniques yet employing a number of modern innovations like a silicon coat to prevent tarnishing, this craft is employed on bowls and cutlery guaranteed to provoke admiration at a dinner party back home, as well as on large, striking figures, both animal and human, ideal for home decorations.

•LACQUERWARE

A northern craft particularly popular in Chiang Mai, lacquerware is used for boxes, bowls, trays, and countless other items that brighten a room and serve as a souvenir of a visit to Thailand. While in Chiang Mai, be sure to go to a factory and view the painstaking process by which each item is produced.

•WOODCARVING

Thai artisans are noted for the skill with which they transform teak and other hard woods into animal figures, ornate boxes, mirror frames, lamp bases, tableware, and fine furniture. Chiang Mai is the center for this craft, but shops all over the country feature such creations. Some of the wooden items, brightly gilded and embedded with designs in coloured glass, make memorable Christmas decorations and are, in fact, exported in large quantities for this purpose.

Made to order furniture and skillful reproductions of antique pieces are especially good bargains in Thailand, selling here for only a fraction of the prices they bring in Western countries even when the shipping costs are included.

•CREAMICS

Fine ceramics were produced for export in Sukhothai, the first Thai capital, over 700 years ago and the craft is still practiced today in several parts of the country. Sea-green celadon is available in a wide variety of forms, ranging from dinner sets to elegant vases and lamp bases, and other traditional glazes are also used. Several kilns near Bangkok turn out excellent reproductions of blue¬and-white porcelains, as well as handsome glazed water jars and garden seats that make striking conversation pieces back home.

•RATTAN AND WICKERWORK

Furniture made in Thailand from rattan and wicker, now exported to many countries throughout the world, is ideal for lending a light, tropical touch to a room. In addition to the high quality of their workmanship, local artisans have also become reknowned for their ability to reproduce classic European designs in these materials as well as for original creations.

•GEMS AND JEWELRY

Exceptional gem bargains can be found in Thailand, not only in such native stones as rubies, sapphires both blue and black, zircons, garnets, and turquoise but also in imported ones brought here for cutting and setting by local artisans. The creation of fine jewelry in distinctive settings is one of the fastest-growing new Thai industries and many international connoiseurs now come here especially to add pieces to their collection; most shops have a wide selection of original items and can also make others to specific designs supplied by the customer.

•GOLD AND SILVER

Gold prices are fixed in Thailand, the ultimate cost of an ornament depending on the workmanship, and since the latter is relatively inexpensive there are excellent bargains in gold chains, earrings, bracelets, pendants, and other such items, all delicately hand¬crafted. Most Bangkok goldsmiths are concentrated in the Yaowarat area, known as the capital's Chinatown, but every jewelry shop has a selection of pieces.

•ANTIQUES AND ART OBJECTS

Silver, too, is a good buy, either made into fashion accessories or in the form of bowls and tableware. Chiang Mai a long tradition of producing handsome silver bowls with raised designs and the northern hill tribe people are masters at the craft of making heavy, ornate silver jewelry.