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 are immensely pleased with the result and hope you are too! We have an even greater things planned for the coming 12 months, and are excited to have you along for the ride…
Who am I? My name is Annie, and I’m a female expatriate-entrepreneur, originally from Switzerland but calling Thailand home for the past 15 years. I’m married to an Ecuadorian and have three beautiful children. In a previous life, I worked as a product development and retail consultant for the luxury hotel sector, that was until 2014 when I launched MonPanama. With this passion project, I want to shine a spotlight on the exquisite handicrafts of Ecuador, bringing the premium Panama hat to Southeast Asia. Since beginning this journey, I have also come to know and love the skill of Thai craftsmanship, which I’m also showcasing via a range of high-end bags.
As MonPanama enters its second year online, I want to use this blog to keep in regular contact with you. Our story is continually evolving, and I’m excited to share all our news, developments and happenings every month. Besides, this blog affords me a fantastic opportunity to acknowledge and showcase the global artisans I work with, without whom, MonPanama as a store would not exist. I also want to lift the curtain and explain to you why I do what I do, how I go about doing it, why it’s important and what’s unique about my brand.
Make sure you keep your eyes peeled on your Inbox as we have a lot of exciting blogs topics coming up in 2020. In February we’ll talk all about our sourcing habits in Bangkok; in March we’ll pay homage to our amazing female artisans in celebration of International Women’s Day; in April we’ll tell you how to care for your hat; in May we’ll explain precisely how the hats are woven (recognised as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage), and in June we’ll tell you how paja toquilla straw, the essential ingredient for a Panama hat, is made.
Before I go; I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for following MonPanama thus far and ask you to help spread the word about us to all your family, friends and colleagues.
