General

THE JOURNEY BEGINS The Land of Smiles, aka Thailand, is known for many things… mangoes, elephants, green curry, beaches, massages, kickboxing and so forth. There is an abundance of incredible cultural achievements that have come out of this wonderful country. For myself, I have always been drawn to the beauty of arts ‘n’ crafts, especially…

Along with the hats themselves, what first drew me to Panama hats was their fantastic story. In particular, I was fascinated with how they are made – a long, labour intensive and complicated process, accomplished by only a select few skilled artisans. When first encountering the hats many people mistakenly believe that these beautiful, intricate…

In this blog post, I want to focus on one crucial element in the hat’s production journey: weaving. The act of weaving the hat is so unique, skilled, respected and culturally significant that in 2012 UNESCO declared it an Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). UNESCO’s list of ICH’s includes a diverse array of “practices, representations, expressions,…

In honour of up-coming International Women’s Day (March 8), I would like to dedicate this blog to all the incredible female artisans working with me, without whom there wouldn’t be any MonPanama. Collectively, spread across the globe, these amazing women produce the hats and bags sold by me. From northern Thailand, to the neighbourhoods of Bangkok and…

If you are a lover of high-end artisan items, you have possibly wondered how it gets made. What are the steps from A to Z to get a product from the imagination and into the store? The most vital step is sourcing, finding the exact item you like and then getting it produced to your…

Greetings! First and foremost, I want to wish you an excellent start to 2020. I hope your year is filled with new adventures, good friends, plenty of joy and lots of love. 2019 was a great year for MonPanama, culminating in the launch of our website. It was a lot of hard work, but we…