Tai・lue Round Table｜Form and Everyday Life

A round table seen in a Tai・lue village in northern Laos. Through the house, cotton drying, meals, and rest, we examine why the table is open-woven, lightweight, and low to the floor.

The Tai・lue trace their roots to Sipsongpanna in southern Yunnan, China, and today live across northern Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, and neighboring regions.

In a village in northern Laos, we met a bamboo craftsman. The Tai・lue round tables now presented by mrak are made by him.

Their defining features are an open weave of finely prepared bamboo strips and a lightness that makes them easy to carry.

Northern Laos｜A Tai・lue Village

In Tai・lue settlements, rice and cotton are cultivated alongside weaving and bamboo craft.

We met the craftsman who makes the round tables in a village we stopped at during our time in Laos. He has worked with bamboo for around twenty years and has made this same form of table since his grandfather’s generation. He told us we were the first people from overseas he had worked with.

Stilt House

On later visits to the craftsman, we had an opportunity to stay in a village house: a stilt house reconstructed by a team of Japanese architects based on a traditional Tai・lue house with roots in Yunnan, China.

The ground floor is an earthen-floored space used for weaving, bamboo work, meals, rest, and keeping livestock. The kitchen and sleeping areas are on the upper floor.

Round tables and baskets were stored on bamboo shelves running along the beams. They are taken down when needed and returned after use. In a house where daily life moves between floors and between indoors and outdoors, lightness makes these objects easier to handle.

Drying Cotton, Gathering for Tea

Rice, natural rubber, cotton, and other crops are cultivated around the village. Weaving is mainly carried out by women, while the more physically demanding bamboo work is mainly undertaken by men.

The round tables are used to dry cotton, as well as for breaks and meals between agricultural work. The tabletop, woven with spaces between the bamboo strips, supports objects while allowing air to pass through, making it suitable for drying cotton.

A square table made with the same structure is also used as an altar in Baci ceremonies marking occasions such as marriage and childbirth. The table changes role according to use: work, meals, rest, and ceremony.

Bamboo and Rattan

From tabletop to legs, the round table is built from finely prepared bamboo, with rattan reinforcing key points. No adhesive is used.

Spacing the bamboo strips reduces the amount of material while retaining the necessary strength, creating both airflow and lightness. The open structure also allows moisture to escape in a hot and humid climate.

The craftsman harvests bamboo from the surrounding forest and carries out the work himself, from preparing the strips to making the tools used in the process. He splits and refines the bamboo, weaves the circular tabletop, then connects the legs to assemble the table.

Smoking

At the craftsman’s house, completed round tables are hung above the hearth and exposed to smoke.

He explains that smoking the bamboo helps protect it from insects and increase its strength. The bamboo gradually turns brown, leaving tonal variation and a smoky aroma on the surface.

The darker round tables commissioned by mrak are finished through this same smoking process. No paint is used.

Living Environment and Structure

The open weave allows air to pass through and is suited to drying cotton. The lightweight structure makes it easy to move the table between indoors and outdoors and between floors, and to return it to the shelf above the beams after use. Its low height suits both floor-seated work and meals.

The structure of the Tai・lue round table reflects the living environment and the ways it is used.