Nutthida “Eve” Palasak

Founder, FoundIsan/Zao/Zao Larb

Industry : Lifestyle

Graduating with a degree in fashion promotion from the UK, Nutthida, or Eve, used to travel to Paris or Tokyo to keep updated with the fashion scene. That was until family obligations required her to move back to Ubon Ratchathani. Selling harvesters to local agribusinesses left her uninspired, as did a successful soy milk store that she opened as a case study for her students at Ubon Ratchathani University. Only when she was invited to help select local handicrafts for exhibiting overseas did she discover the amazing world of Isaan textiles. During a trip around the northeast to train weavers, she found a piece of fabric with a love message “forever waiting” woven into it by a woman whose lover never returned, and Eve realised she had found what she had been waiting for. She created Foundisan as a non-profit organisation that promotes local crafts re-interpreted as quality products for modern international markets. Her products–mats, wall hangings and shawls–are interwoven with love messages in the local Isaan dialect. She also focussed on Isaan cuisine, opening Zao in Ubon, then in Bangkok, offering authentic Isaan fare using local ingredients. Her latest restaurant is Zao Larb in Bangkok.