Your vision, handcrafted in teak
Share an image, sketch, or idea, and we will help transform it into a custom furniture piece handcrafted by skilled craftspeople in Chiang Mai.
Lannateak creates individually commissioned teak furniture inspired by your ideas — a photograph, a sketch, a room plan, a reference torn from a magazine.
We help refine the proportions, materials, finish, and construction before coordinating production and delivery. Every piece is developed individually — final dimensions, pricing, production time, and delivery arrangements are confirmed through the custom quotation process.
Years of Lanna carving tradition
Generations of workshop lineage
Made to order, never warehoused
Custom built from your drawing
This cabinet began as a customer's own pencil sketch, dimensions and all. Send your sketch, photo reference, or Pinterest board, and our team works with the workshop to bring it to life in solid teak.
From inspiration to finished piece
Share your vision
Upload an image, drawing, Pinterest reference, room photograph, or written description of what you would like to create.
Refine the design
We work with you and the workshop to determine the appropriate dimensions, construction, details, wood tone, finish, and budget.
Handcrafted in Chiang Mai
Once the design and quotation are approved, your piece is handcrafted, inspected, documented, and prepared for delivery.
What we can create
View the full collection →These images represent styles, techniques, and possibilities. Each commissioned piece is individually developed according to your preferred dimensions, finish, details, budget, and intended use.
Crafted with skill, patience, and purpose
Chiang Mai has a long tradition of wood craftsmanship. Lannateak works with experienced furniture makers and workshops capable of producing individually commissioned pieces using a combination of skilled handwork, precise construction, carving, sanding, finishing, and quality inspection.
A material that has always belonged to power
Teak has been treated as material aristocracy for the entirety of recorded furniture history. It protects itself from within, deepens in color rather than wearing down, and carries a grain pattern that is never repeated — the record of decades a single tree spent becoming itself.
Typical plantation maturation before a tree is ever harvested for fine furniture.
Natural resinous oils repel water, insects, and decay from within the grain, with no chemical treatment required.
Thailand's nationwide ban on commercial teak logging means legitimate supply now comes only from regulated plantation stock.
Raw teak begins golden-brown and deepens over years into a rich, honeyed amber — a patina that cannot be rushed or faked.
Because pieces are commissioned rather than warehoused, ownership means something built after it was requested — furniture suited to being passed down, not replaced.
Created for design professionals
Lannateak supports interior designers, architects, builders, and hospitality professionals seeking distinctive custom teak furniture. Share your concept, dimensions, drawings, or client brief, and we will help coordinate feasibility, quotation, production, inspection, and delivery.
Have a piece in mind?
Send us an image, sketch, or description. You do not need to have every measurement or detail confirmed before beginning.
A gallery of style and possibility
Browse by category to find a starting point. Every piece shown is a reference for style and craftsmanship, not a fixed product.
Inspiration images are used to communicate style and direction. Final pieces are individually developed and are not represented as exact reproductions of another designer's protected work.
From your vision to a finished piece
Because every piece is custom-made, pricing and timelines vary according to size, material requirements, design complexity, finish, workshop availability, and delivery destination.
Crafted with skill, patience, and purpose
A carving language spoken since the Lanna Kingdom, founded circa 1296 — carried, unbroken, from workshop to workshop for over seven centuries, into the very benches where a Lannateak piece begins.
Years of Lanna carving tradition behind every motif
Generations of unbroken workshop lineage in Baan Tawai
Hand chisels and gouges in a master carver's toolkit
A tradition older than the kingdom's modern borders
Fifteen kilometres south of Chiang Mai's old city, the village of Baan Tawai has served as a commercial home for hand-carved teak furniture since the 1950s, when a handful of villagers trained under master carvers and returned to teach their neighbours. Five hundred-plus workshops now line its main street — the same family lines, still carving by hand, still teaching the next generation.
Wood selection
Teak grown for fine furniture is typically allowed decades to mature before it is milled and seasoned, developing the dense, oil-rich heartwood that gives the timber its durability and colour. Not every log is set aside for hand-carved work — grain quality, colour consistency, and the absence of structural flaws determine what reaches a carver's bench. Since Thailand's 1989 ban on commercial teak logging, legitimate supply comes from regulated plantation stock rather than wild-harvested forest.
Hand carving
Training in Baan Tawai begins with years of foundational work before a carver is introduced to figural motifs such as the naga, the lotus medallion, or a repeating kanok flame-scroll border. Design is transferred freehand, background wood is roughed out, and detail is carved with a toolkit of thirty or more individual chisels — each shaped for one specific cut. Every curve is the record of a single hand's decision, which is why no two pieces are ever truly identical.
Sanding, finishing, and inspection
Once carving and construction are complete, surfaces are smoothed and edges cleaned before finishing is applied to protect the wood while keeping its natural grain and colour visible. Teak's own resinous oils already resist water, insects, and decay from within — a material that preserves itself rather than needing to be told to survive. Finished pieces are reviewed before they are packed, crated to suit their weight and density, and prepared for their journey onward.
The people behind the work
A carver's apprenticeship in Baan Tawai can run for years before a student is trusted with a significant commission — a pace of mastery unhurried by modern production timelines. These are skilled professionals and creative partners working within a design language carried hand to hand for generations, not anonymous labour behind a product.
Have a piece in mind?
Why teak from Northern Thailand is so exceptional
Teak is not simply a handsome hardwood. Its own chemistry makes it resist rot, insects, and water, and its growth pattern makes it exceptionally stable. Northern Thailand's climate produces some of the densest, tightest-grained teak in the world.
Naturally rich in oils
Teak's heartwood carries its own resinous oils and tectoquinone, which resist termites, fungal decay, and water from inside the timber — not from a coating applied later.
Dense, stable grain
A true dry season forces slow, interrupted growth, laying down distinct annual rings. The result is a tight interlocking grain and unusually low shrinkage.
Built for longevity
The properties that made teak the standard for ship decking for centuries let it age gracefully indoors and out, developing a patina rather than degrading.
Indoor & outdoor use
Few furniture timbers move between a dining room and an open terrace. Left bare outdoors, teak weathers to silver-grey without losing structural integrity.
Why the climate matters to the wood
Teak is deciduous. In a monsoon climate with a true dry season, the tree drops its leaves and effectively stops growing for months, then surges again when the rains return. That stop-start rhythm is what lays down the distinct annual rings and the tight, interlocking grain teak is known for.
Wood grown fast and evenly — in a wet climate with no real dry season — puts on wider, softer rings. It is the same species, but it is not the same timber. Northern Thailand sits squarely in teak's native range, and the slow growth there is the reason the material behaves the way it does.
Density and ring structure are what determine how a board holds an edge, takes a carved detail, and resists movement once it is in your home.
Six things the wood does
It defends itself
Most timbers need a preservative to survive moisture and insects. Teak's heartwood produces its own — which is why the protection cannot wear off the surface over time.
It barely moves
Solid wood expands and contracts with humidity. Teak does so less than almost any comparable hardwood, which is why wide tabletops and close-fitted joinery stay true in it.
It holds fine detail
Tight, even grain means a carved edge stays crisp instead of crumbling along the fibre. Deep relief work is possible in teak that softer woods simply cannot hold.
It improves with age
Fresh teak is golden brown and deepens over years into honeyed amber. Outdoors and left bare it turns silver-grey — a change in colour only, not in strength.
No two boards match
Figure and colour record how one particular tree grew. It cannot be repeated, so a commissioned piece is genuinely singular rather than nominally so.
It can be repaired
Solid timber can be sanded back and refinished decades later. Veneered and engineered panels cannot — once the surface layer goes, the piece is finished.
Why clients choose Thai teak
Unmatched durability
Resists moisture, insects, and decay through the wood's own chemistry.
Timeless beauty
Warm honey tones that deepen with age rather than fading.
Dimensional stability
Low shrinkage and little warping as humidity shifts through the year.
Custom craftsmanship
Dimensions, joinery, carving, and finish decided per commission.
A lasting investment
Solid-wood construction intended to be repaired, not replaced.
Mass-produced furniture is priced to be replaced. A solid teak piece is built to be repaired, refinished, and handed down — the cost is paid once, and the value compounds across generations.
A note on sourcing
Thailand has prohibited commercial logging in its natural forests since 1989. Legitimate teak in the country today comes from regulated plantation stock or from reclaimed and salvaged timber — often old structural wood recovered from buildings.
We confirm the material basis of each commission with the workshop during quotation. Specific sourcing documentation for your project is provided at that stage rather than claimed in advance.
Made to last.
Crafted to be remembered.
Begin a custom teak commission with skilled craftspeople in Baan Tawai, Chiang Mai. Share an image, a sketch, or an idea — we will take it from there.
Connecting thoughtful design with Chiang Mai craftsmanship
Lannateak was created to make distinctive Chiang Mai furniture craftsmanship accessible to clients and design professionals seeking individually commissioned pieces.
Rather than offering mass-produced furniture, Lannateak begins with the client's vision. A photograph, sketch, room concept, or design idea becomes the starting point for a collaborative process involving design refinement, workshop coordination, production, inspection, and delivery.
The purpose of the brand is to create furniture with lasting presence, material character, and a clear connection to the people and place where it was made.
Founder story
Founded on a simple belief: furniture should be made by hand, sourced honestly, and built to outlast the people who buy it.
Brand values
Craftsmanship, honesty about process, and furniture designed to be inherited rather than replaced.
Client testimonials
Reserved for future client testimonials, once available.
Press & collaborations
Reserved for future press or collaboration features.
How would you like to begin?
Share your project directly, or talk it through first with a short call.
Submit Your Project
Share images, dimensions, and details now. No call required to get started — we will review and follow up with feasibility and a quotation.
Book a Call
Schedule a short consultation to talk through your idea, budget, and timeline before sharing details in writing.
Book a Design ConsultationThank you for sharing your project.
We will review the information and contact you regarding feasibility, next steps, and any additional details required.
Prefer to talk it through directly? Book a design consultation at a time that suits you.
Book a Design ConsultationTell us about your piece
You do not need complete drawings or exact measurements to begin. Share what you currently have, and we will help identify the next information required.
Lannateak
Custom teak furniture inspired by your vision and handcrafted in Chiang Mai.