Luang Prabang lacquer ware products to open in Vientiane
Luang Prabang lacquer ware products to open in Vientiane
Mani Lacquer Ware Lao Luang Prabang plans to open another branch in Vientiane after its traditional lacquer ware products have received a good response from local people, especially in Vientiane.
Owner of Mani Lacquer Ware Lao Luang Prabang Mr Ounheuane Soukaseum told Vientiane Times about the plan while attending the 13th Lao Handicraft Festival 2014 at Lao-ITECC in Vientiane.
He said they plan to open another branch in Vientiane at the end of this year because they have observed that more and more Vientiane people tend to use their lacquer ware bowls, vases and trays for house decoration and attending alms giving ceremonies.
“In addition, some customers in the southern provinces are interested in our products but we don’t have any plans to open a branch there yet,” Mr Ounheuane said.
He explained that his traditional lacquer ware products were awarded One District One Product (ODOP) in Luang Prabang in August last year and that Mani was the first traditional lacquer ware producer in the province.
“Since then, many people began to know our products and our market is expanding wider, especially this year our market is growing well compared to the past few years,” Mr Ounheuane said.
‘We brought 52 lacquer bowls to sell at this handicraft festival and until now we could sell out almost all of them. The price of our product starts from 200,000 kip to 1.5 million each.
So this was the reason why we want to expand our branch in Vientiane because it is quite a big market compared to our province, Mr Ounheuane commented.
He added that it’s not only Lao customers but that some customers from China, Vietnam and Thailand also come to buy Mani’s lacquer products while travelling in Luang Prabang.
“In addition, we also export our products to Australia, Japan, Germany, and America,” according to the orders from Lao people living there. However, we didn’t export a large quantity of products; we normally export about ten products each time.”
Mr Ounheuane said they plan to increase their production in response to high demand, especially to take advantage of the Asean Economic Community market next year.
“However, we still face a shortage of skilled labour so we can’t produce a large number of products quickly sometimes.”
“Currently we have only eight workers but most are family members, so we plan to recruit more workers, in particular people without legs.”
“We will teach and hire them to work with us so that they will have jobs. This is a way to promote disabled people so that they will not be a burden on their families,” Mr Ounheuane said.
vientiane times
