Handshouse Studio traveled with the Toys for Elephants project to Thailand again! A group of 15 people from 5 different colleges from the US and England traveled together to Thailand this past January to design and build both enrichment objects for elephants and tools for elephant keepers to improve life for elephants at BEES Elephant Sanctuary. Participants experienced a unique immersion into both traditional Thai culture and contemporary Thai arts during our visits at Monfai Culture Center in Chaing Mai, Ne Na Contemporary Art Space, and many artist studio visits with some of Thailand’s more reknown artists and artisans.

We also observed elephants at two hands-off Elephant Sanctuaries that have courageously committed to creating elephant-centered sanctuaries designed to be what the name implies, sanctuaries for elephants. These sanctuaries have created centers that support life for retired elephants without the touch of tourists or the needs of human visitors dominating their movements throughout their days. While many sanctuaries are committed to ethical care of elephants, Chang Chill and BEES Elephant Sanctuary are two of a very few that are strictly no-touch sanctuaries currently operating in Thailand. Participants of the Handshouse Toys for Elephants project got to witness these elephants, moving and living in these more natural environments.

The Handshouse participants used these observations to guide their collaborative discussions and designs for the objects they were tasked to build. In one explosively productive final week, our participants worked together with Burm and Emily of BEES Elephant Sanctuary in constructing a multi-use scratching post/interchangeable enrichment object and a set of elephant-sized slings to aid their caretakers in lifting a sick elephant back to standing if she is too weak to successfully do so on her own. We feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to aid in the compassionate care of these elephants retired from lifetimes of work and hardship. And to have gotten to live, eat and learn from so many remarkable people along the way. Thank you for all our Thai friends. We will carry these memories with us for a long time. AND we sincerely look forward to the day when we can return!