Ubiquitous on the streets, in shops and on pushcarts, those big fluffy dolls and stuffed toys that are adored by everyone have an interesting and colourful beginning in the villages of Ratchaburi’s Photharam district.
A villager busily stuffs material into dolls for a popular Japanese cartoon character at his small factory in Ratchaburi, one of the country’s largest doll manufacturing provinces. The dolls are supplied to retailers throughout the country. Photos by Tawatchai Kemgumnerd
Dubbed the "Land of Dolls", Phetkasem Road in the district is flanked by many shops and factories that design and sell these magnificent dolls.
Tambon Ban Singh in Photharam district is known as the country’s largest base for making stuffed toys, shipping out products certified to industrial standard to wholesale markets across the country.
There are some interesting stories behind the fluffy stuffed dolls.
More than 20 years ago, the Chuan Leekpai government allocated about 40 billion baht under the Miyazawa economic stimulus loan fund to villages nationwide to boost community development, support job and handicraft training and improve local livelihoods.
Each community spent the funds they obtained for different purposes, such as training locals to make handicrafts, or cook foods using local ingredients.
Tambon Ban Singh spent the funds on training locals, most of whom were farmers, to make stuffed toys as a way to supplement their income. It also gave the elderly and unemployed regular jobs.
"The first dolls that community development officials trained villagers to make were Pikachu [a yellow, mouse-like character from the Japanese Pokemon animation series]," said Natchawee Lomthaphiwat, a 46-year-old local.
She said residents have to be careful about copyright infringement and only make dolls commissioned by patented factories.
Stuffed toys vary, many resembling animals and popular cartoon characters.
In making stuffed toys, Ms Natchawee designs and draws patterns on cardboard, cuts out the pattern and then puts it on a piece of cloth. From there she uses scissors to cut the cloth according to the pattern.
She then farms out the next phase of work to seamstresses employed to sew the dolls according to the design.
When the seamstresses finish their work and send the toys back to her, Ms Natchawee has the dolls filled with stuffing, often synthetic fibre, and stitches eyes, mouths, noses onto the face to complete the work.
As the business grew, villager Nichapa Saengsawang quit her job as a factory worker in Bang Bon, Bangkok, to help her family make stuffed toys after her mother passed away.
Making stuffed toys is her family’s major source of income, with everyone engaged in the business. Her family produces toys commissioned by factories as well as those made-to-order.
Her family’s approach is a bit different from that of Ms Natchawee's. When she gets the desired patterns of toys on cardboard, a machine is used to cut the cloth.
Previously, printed cloth was often used in making toys, often stuffed with cotton.
But today stuffed toys are sewn from a wider range of textiles and synthetic fibre is a more common stuffing material, Ms Nichapha said.
"We do not only produce animal toys, but also toys from popular cartoon characters. We must always surf the internet to catch up with the demands of the market," she said.
Ms Nichapa said she earns between 20,000 and 30,000 baht a month from making toys. The products never remain in stock for too long as they are quickly shipped out to keep up with demand.
Toys with simple patterns only take a few days to make, while those with complicated patterns take longer. But she says it helps if the customers come up with the patterns.
Sewing stuffed toys takes place all year round, and toy makers are particularly busy during festive occasions such as Christmas, New Year, Children’s Day and Valentine’s Day, when toys sell really well, Ms Nichapha said.
"Toy-making is a family business. Previously, we did everything by ourselves, but today we cannot afford to do so. We make the patterns, and send them to seamsters or seamstresses, who are also in the same village. They charge 3.50 baht a toy. Then, we hire people to stuff the toys for 80 baht per 120 toys," Ms Nichapha said.
The finished products are sold to Mae Khwan shop, which buys stuffed toys from villagers and distributes them to retail shops nationwide. The shop also sells materials for making stuffed toys.
Originally the shop was run by a group of local housewives hawking toys. They later made their own toys for sale and set up the shop to buy toys from other villagers for distribution. The toys generate quite a substantial income for the residents, many of whom have decided to quit their regular jobs.
Thawatchai Samakrat is another Ban Singh villager who turned his back on a textile mill job in Ratchaburi seven years ago, and entered the business of making stuffed toys.
"Sewing a toy is not a tough job for a man to do," he said, adding that the job gives him financial independence. He works at home, and does not pay travel expenses. Most importantly, the income is better than what he earned at his old factory job.
"I received about 10,000 baht a month working at the factory. I had to get up early and arrived home in the evening.
"Now that I have decided to make toys at home, I begin work in the morning and rest for a few hours in the afternoon, and then continue with my work. Orders come in all year round, and I’m not stressed out," Mr Thawatchai said.
He said about 70 toy manufacturers hire more than 2,000 villagers to make stuffed toys. The toys produced by Ban Singh villagers are hand-made products of fine quality gaining the One Tambon One Product (Otop) status as a guarantee of quality.
Ban Singh stuffed toys are famed in the province and certified with an industrial standard. Exports of the toys are valued at more than 1 billion baht annually.
Several villages produce and supply stuffed toys to other major retailers, shopping malls and department stores nationwide.
Residents produce toys mainly for wholesale, but some visitors may sometimes pop in to buy directly from the homes of the locals, he said.
During festive occasions, some state agencies place orders for thousands of toys which they plan to give as souvenirs and presents, Mr Thawatchai said.
Nichapa Saengsawang works with thread before sewing up the dolls. She quit her job as a factory worker in Bangkok to help her family make stuffed toys.
Local residents earn a steady income from making dolls. The process starts when fabric is cut to a design, followed by assembling and stitching together. Villagers say they make more money from the work than in a factory job.