“I was working for the UN in Laos during the 1975 revolution. During that time antique textile came from the north of the country into the capital that nobody had seen before. Farmers were selling their textiles to survive but there were not many foreigners living in the town at that time and not many people were interested. I had no idea what they were but I bought a lot. I knew there was something special about these textiles and I started doing research those dying and weaving techniques. In 1980, I left the UN and went to Australia and started writing books on the research I had made. That brought me into Thailand because Laos was still blocked at that time and you couldn’t go travel into the countryside. I started getting the idea that maybe I could help weavers sell their products and get a better income for themselves and I decided to settle in Chiang Mai because I was offered a teaching job in the Thai Art Department of the University of Chiang Mai.”