We gather to honor Carol Cassidy, an American weaver and great friend of mine who has spent more than a decade in Vientiane, Laos. Carol Cassidy is today the most prominent of the Good Americans continuously working with artisans of the Developing World. She lived and worked with rural artisans in many parts of the world. For decades now she has lived in Laos to design and direct weavers and dyers revitalizing ancient craft traditions. She has helped increase local pride in these ancient arts and, in doing so, earned recognition and international exchange for a small, remote land.

In recent years she has frequently left Laos to direct a Cambodian weave workshop set up to train amputees who are victims of the hundred thousand land mines still bedeviling this war torn land.  Because these physically challenged people are also discriminated in employment because of their disabilities, their long-term, gainful employment with “Weaves of Cambodia” creating Carol’s beautifully colored silks is particularly meaningful.  Like Jim Thompson in Bangkok before her, Carol Cassidy in Laos is now legendary to visitors and expatriates alike as the local toastmaster.Global travellers find their way to her Studio in Vientiane and are charmed by her passion for weaving. Best of all, she is a fine designer sympathetic to the people she works with. Year in, year out, she brightens the world with her colors,creativity and compassion.

Jack Lenor Larsen