Fair trade * Innovative books * Creative Events 

Welcome to Suksit Siam bookshop
You will find Suksit Siam shop in the old part of Bangkok, halfway the Royal Palace and the Giant Swing. Suksit Siam shop has a rich and turbulent history. Some 35 years ago Sulak Sivaraksa and his wife Nilchawee founded the shop near Chulalonkorn University. It was a meeting place for students, activists, progressive academics and artists for many years at that location. In particular during periods of military dictatorship friends met here and made plans together. The shop was the connection with the outside world.

In this early period Ajarn Sulak also started the Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation. The foundation (SNF) provides an umbrella for a cluster of independent groups with a critical outlook on society; and it supports artists in need.

After Suksit Siam shop had been forcefully removed from its original location, and ‘Ajarn Sulak’ had to resort to many years in exile he re-established the shop at its present place in Fuang Nakorn Road, in the same building as Kled Thai company, a traditional book distributor.

Suan Nguen Mee Ma or ‘Garden of Fruition’

In 1999 Ajarn Sulak Sivaraksa donated his mother's land, a garden (suan) dedicated to his grand-aunts Nguen, Mee and Ma (at 666 Charoen Nakorn, Klongsarn, Bangkok 10600) to provide an office for several organizations. The work involved raising social awareness: e.g. Santi Pracha Dhamma Institute, Spirit in Education Movement (SEM) and Health of the Poor Project. The work continues at Suan Nguen Mee Ma in a newly constructed building.

Alternatives to Consumerism

The groundbreaking international gathering ‘Alternatives to Consumerism’ organised in Buddhamonthon near Bangkok ~ shortly after Sulak Sivaraksa was honoured with the Right Livelihood Award (the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’) ~ formed the starting point for a new initiative. It was felt that among alternatives in education, in agriculture, in medicine and in community development a new kind of social enterprise should be initiated.

Registered Company

The new enterprise was nurtured in Suan Nguen Mee Ma ~ or in English: the ‘Garden of Fruition’ ~ and derived its name from this place. After initial preparations we came out in March 2001 with Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd.: a registered company that is partially owned by the non-governmental groups (NGO’s) under the Sathirakoses Nagapradipa Foundation (35%) and for another part by business friends (35%) who had helped to prepare the new enterprise in order to contribute to the work inspired by Ajarn Sulak. The Management Team invested its own money in 20% of the shares. And independent individuals like Ajarn Sulak himself joined (and still are joining one by one) the shareholders’ community. Any profit of Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. will benefit the non-profit shareholders.

Soon the new company established its office in Fuang Nakorn Road in the old city and took over the care for Suksit Siam bookshop.

Purposes

• To sell and distribute indigenous and village products; to contribute to the development of associations between producers and consumers; including fair trade. And to explore new consumers' markets for indigenous and village products, craftsmanship, while honouring local wisdom.
• To publish books, periodicals and educational materials.
• To initiate and implement ~ in partnership with likeminded persons and groups ~ conferences, events, seminars, public forums, product development, vocational training and training in business development skills; to act as a small-scale practice-based ‘think tank’.

Mission

The mission of Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. is to contribute to humanizing the business sector by setting a small-scale example that is:

• economically feasible,
• innovative  and 
• provides an opportunity for young entrepreneurs to meet the challenges of our time.

To engage in dialogue and partnership towards spirit-based human development and cultural integrity.

Business Profile:  * Publishing house  * Fair Trade  * Events, Activities

• Publishing house

Our core business is the Suan Nguen Mee Ma publishing house. We publish around 24 books per year, a growing number written by Thai authors; and translations of a great diversity of foreign books into Thai. It provides the company with a stable income. Books with a specific message or a certain degree of complexity can be published thanks to sponsorships.

Suan Nguen Mee Ma books are sold in our own bookshop, and distributed By Kled Thai book distributors throughout the country. Suksit Siam bookshop ~ though a small stand-alone bookshop characterized by simplicity ~ has built a reputation of being one of the most advanced bookshops in Bangkok with a unique collection of Thai books and some intriguing shelves of English books. Please enjoy a cup of coffee while you explore.

At present we volunteer to coordinate the Editorial Team, and care for the production and distribution of the quarterly journal on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)  ‘Business & Society’.  The CSR Journal is published under responsibility of Social Venture Network Asia (Thailand). SVN founded the CSR Centre in Thailand.

·          Fair Trade

In addition to books we sell in our shop and via this website community arts & crafts and villagers’ products, in particular hand-woven cotton. We try to promote community business and indigenous culture and we support sustainable production methods including home- & hand- weaving, dying with natural colours and the cultivation of organic cotton with local seeds. This unit of our business is not profit-making but until now just break-even. For certain projects external sponsoring is needed e.g. to guarantee the price of the organic cotton harvest for pioneering farmers.

Our products:

Thailand

Nan Province (North-East border area with Laos)

Nan is the area where we support a small group of farmers to grow cotton with local seeds. By tradition the women weave at home while caring for the children. The revitalization of locally cultivated cotton and natural dyes requires painstaking efforts, patience, persistence and adjustment of the looms. This results in roughly woven shawls, sarongs and fabric by the meter with strong, warm brownish colours modestly decorated with blue tones from the local hom plant, and other natural dyes.

Indigo from Sakorn Nakorn

Deep blue colours from natural indigo are typically found in Sakorn Nakorn, an Eastern region of Thailand. In no other part of Thailand weavers are able to produce the unique quality of blue, with the same intensity and nearly 100% permanence. In some cases the dying process is repeated 10 times; other procedures result in mixtures of green, blue and grey, sometimes complimented with yellowish and beige tones.

Pak Moon community, ‘Assembly of the Poor’, Ubon Ratchathani

The area where the Moon River merges with the Mekong is both known for its archaeological significance and pre-historic mural paintings as well as its social activism. Farmers and fisher folk have been protesting the Pak Moon dam for decades and communities uprooted by the dam have formed a make-shift village of protest. Although the village has been raided and burned several times the villagers stick to their non-violent resistance. They organised themselves into the “Assembly of the Poor” and the movement grew into a nation-wide civil network. In order to support the movement and to replace lost livelihood because of the dam communities are actively revitalizing local arts & crafts. The hand-woven cotton fabric they produce is characterized by warm brown, lively earth tones made from wood bark and so-called ‘scott’ patterns.  

Indigenous Karen, North-west of Chiang Mai

The Karen people live in the forests of Burma, North-Thailand until down the coast of the Gulf of Thailand. Although they often are contested living in the forests they argue that actually the area’s they are inhabiting are still densely forested while in areas where commercial ownership replaced community rule the forests are depleted or disappeared at all. The Karen have their own language, story-telling culture (Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. publishes a series of Karen stories) and a particular style of dressing according to traditions that vary from community to community. Especially the Karen cotton shirts for females and males are suit to modern circumstances. They have natural brown, pink (sometimes yellow) and dark red colours while white shirts are used at special occasions.    

Tibet and Bhutan

As interest in the teachings of H.H. the Dalai Lama is growing Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. ~ in addition to several books published ~ offers a limited collection of Tibetan arts & crafts including singing bowls, bells and incense. After our participation in the conference on ‘Gross National Happiness’ in Thimphu, Bhutan, February 2004 we also try to set up trade linkages with Bhutan.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

While at this stage based on individual membership only, Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. seeks ways to play a more structural role to extend the CSA circle in Bangkok. We hope our shop in the future can become a distribution centre for subscribers of organic vegetables and fruits produced by an independent group of farmers in Suphanburi. Once the circle of subscribers will have grown the farmers can rely fully on the yearly subscription fees, while the customers can suggest the farm plan in direct communication with the farmers during field visits.

·          Events, Activities

Shop talks

Every month several activities are organised in Suksit Siam shop: meetings with authors, discussions and dialogue on subjects related to our books and guided walks in the historic neighbourhood. Periodically we organise excursions to several locations in Thailand.

Outside activities

Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. ~ often together with a diversity of partners ~ organises conferences, workshops, public forums and trainings. See the Agenda for updated information. Contacperson for international activities: Hans (see: Contact Us)

Management and Teamwork

The team-building process is the core of our concern. We try to find creative cooperative approaches in order to meet the always changing challenges of our time. The role of our Team (5-7 mainly young staff members) and Management (2 persons) is to mediate between our Producers and Customers. Our customers are often living in the city while we try to reach out to readers of our books in rural areas via our website. The Producers are authors, translators, production staff, printers in the city; and arts & crafts folk (often women) in rural areas. Sometimes we work as a ‘think tank’ to find solutions for a diversity of problems, however basically we are do-ers who want to see things being realised.

The Management is part of the Shareholders community. The Management submits the financial Year Report to the shareholders for approval in an annual open meeting.

Associations

Suan Nguen Mee Ma is associated with the Alternative Publishers Alliance and with Social Venture Network Asia (Thailand). For more information see below.

Marketing

Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. appeals to the ‘mindful consumer’ and we appreciate direct contact with our customers. Suksit Siam shop has a circle of ca. 700 members who receive 5% discount on all products. In addition to the distribution of our books to regular bookshops in the country via Kled Thai company we open booths at conferences and seminars for the participants. We encourage ‘corporate clients’ to order our products for projects, study groups or as a present; corporate clients receive discounts according to the volume of the order.

Foreign orders

We apologise that foreign orders cannot be handled via the shopping system of the website yet. Please contact us directly by E-mail (Contact Us: Hans and Wallapa) and we will find an agreement on individual terms depending of your wishes and circumstances like mailing costs, samples needed, periodical orders etc..

 
MAP

Suan Nguen Mee Ma and Suksit Siam shop can be found opposite Wat Rajabopit. This is one block further than the backside of the Ministry of Interior (Mahadthai). Both the Ministry and Wat Rajabopit face the canal named Klong Lord. The canal is situated in between the Giant Swing (opposite City Hall) and the Grand Palace.

Also see the Lonely Planet BANGKOK under ‘Shopping’ > Books & Magazines (page 206)

Shareholders community

Committee (Board of Directors)

CONTACT US

Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd.

Garden of Fruition

Social Venture Network

Suan Nguen Mee Ma is one of the founding members of Social Venture Network Asia (Thailand). SVN is a network of business leaders promoting social and environmental responsibility. SVN Asia organises an annual conference in Thailand and monthly activities for members. Contact Khun Prida Tiasuwan, SVN Asia (Thailand) President via the SVN Secretariat apinan_b@pranda.co.th .

In the year 2003 the first SVN Asia conference ‘Living Economies. Re-thinking Corporate Social Responsibility’ was held in Bangkok. Suan Nguen Mee Ma Co., Ltd. was the conference organiser. After the second SVN Asia conference in Singapore in 2004 SVN Asia (Thailand) established the CSR Centre in Thailand, member of the Asia-Pacific CSR Group. Suan Company volunteers to publish the CSR Journal ‘Business & Society’. The 3d SVN Asia conference will be organised by Young Entrepreneurs of SVN Asia Japan www.svnjapan.org .

The newly formed SVN Junior group can be contacted via Muthita Panich pmuthita@hotmail.com

Websites of the SVN groups in USA and Europe can be visited at www.svn.org and www.svneurope.com .

Alternative Publishers Alliance

An initiative of the Foundation for Children resulted in the Alternative Publishers Alliance. The Alliance joins hands in media-events and presentations during the Bangkok Book Fair.