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updated Dec
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Contact us
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About us Images of Asia was
set up out of a love for things Asian, and whilst specialising in
modern Burmese arts and handicrafts, predominantly lacquerware,
tableware and homeware, we will also showcase antique Burmese Buddha
images and other antique Buddhas as we acquire them. Similarly with
antique Burmese lacquerware and other individual antique pieces,
as well as high-quality Vietnamese lacquerware, and certain high-quality
Thai products, such as the stunning candles recently introduced
to our range of products. We are constantly adding extra lines to our catalogue. One of our most popular is the section featuring paintings - oils, watercolours, and occasionally acrylics - from top-class artists in Burma. We have held exhibitions of the artists' works, and some of this art is now available in Europe. Please contact us for details on info@images-of-asia.com We have an extensive range of garden statuary in our collection, hand-carved by master craftsmen in Burma and Thailand in top-quality sandstone or marble. Most of these pieces are based on statues and panels from ancient temples in Asia, notably Angkor Wat, Bagan, and Borobodur; but individual commissions are also accepted. These pieces, crafted from natural stone using the same techniques as the originals on which they are modelled, are truly the antiques of the future. The section specialising in Thai mangowood products, mainly small homeware and giftware items, but also lamps, has proven very popular. Mangowood is sustainable and eco-friendly and our stocks come from one factory who buy from privately-owned mango orchards. Our latest addition is a section dedicated to Asian puppets and marionettes - currently Taiwanese, Vietnamese, Burmese, and Indonesian. Most Asian countries have a long history of puppetry, which has evolved for very different reasons, and in many different forms. We have started each section with a brief history of the art in that country, and have a wide selection of puppets for sale. The founder has travelled extensively in South-East Asia, particularly in Burma, and has collected many antiques, and commissioned many modern pieces during her travels. The functionality and appeal of Burmese lacquerware in particular has become her passion. Partly due to the relative inaccessibility of some lacquer centres in Burma, as well as to Burma's isolation to the rest of the world, the art is in danger of dying out in the more remote areas. It has only survived thus far because the local population still use it in their everyday lives. It is in these areas that we concentrate our trade. Neither the demand nor the rewards are currently proving to be sufficient lure for the younger generation to become apprentices to the master craftsmen and learn this most skilful craft, except to a small extent in Bagan. It would be a great shame to see the skills die out, and at Images of Asia it is our wish to help keep them alive. On a slightly more political note, we emphasise that none of the workshops we deal with in Burma are government-owned. They are all private, and the money earned there goes to the people, not into the coffers of the military junta.
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