Prach Niyomkar – Mann Craft, is a Natural dyer, Natural Colour educator, Textile artist, and Indigo Specialist from Sakon Nakhon Thailand. He is the owner of the very renowned “Man garden” a Botanical garden in the North East of Thailand where he cultivates dye and fibber plants with an aim to educate the public of all ages in working with Nature in a sustainable way.
First trained a lawyer, he then branched out in Art. He returned to his roots in Sakhon Nakhon “World Craft City for Natural Indigo” (World Craft Council) to embrace local community, textile heritage and Natural dyes. There he runs a dye studio with regular demonstrations and training in extracting and using “Kram” (local name for Indigo from the Indigofera genus). He works and supports the local and active community of weavers to create collections of garments sold throughout Thailand. He is very active in the local scene with organising events to support local artisans such as his yearly December Man Gardens Craft Festival.
In his garden a newly built “Indigo Loom House” hosts demonstrations of cotton processing “from seeds to cloth” by local traditional artisans. They show the transformation of the cotton flower in the most sustainable cotton cloth.
Mann’s aim is to carry forward tradition and inform the young generation and visitors to the garden while interacting with the knowledgeable older generation (In Thailand we call this ‘Local Wisdom”). He is also very active on the international scene with collaborations with artists and organisations, in 2025 he was a guest speaker of The British Textile Biennal.
A long-term collaboration with Elisabeth Viguie-Culshaw has seen him during regular exchange visits, swapping skills in Botanical printing, indigo harvesting and processing, Mud dyeing, Natural dyeing.
Mann will be visiting Glasgow for the “Shades of Blue” exhibition to co-run an Indigo Masterclass opened to the public. See below for information
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