Indawgyi's Award Winning Textile Shop

A Hidden Treasure

In the southern village of Mainaung, one of Indawgyi Lake’s most unique treasures sits quietly at a roadside shop. ‘Shwe Inn Lekket Than’ is an award-winning women’s co-op textile store that features a variety of traditional Shan-ni, Kachin, and Burmese designs.

The storefront is facing the main road in Mainaung Village, and it has all the colorful fabrics on display.

An Indawgyi Visionary

Malar Aung, the founding designer, is a local Shan-ni woman who opened the cooperative in 2015. The main product she makes is the longyi—a sarong that men and women wear throughout Myanmar. The patterns and colors on a longyi are important indicators of ethnicity and, to some extent, geography. With Indawgyi Lake as a majority Shan-ni area, this textile shop has become an important source that supplies the region with authentic Shan-ni designs. These longyis are sought after for everything from formal pagoda festivals and weddings to everyday use in the home. High-quality Kachin and Burmese longyi patterns are also sold since a number of visitors from the nearby Kachin and Burmese communities in Kachin State and beyond visit the store.

Real artistry and creativity goes into every design. Malar Aung says she is inspired by patterns she sees in everyday life. Her most popular male longyi pattern is derived from the old rupee coins that were used in Myanmar for roughly a century up until the 1950s. Red and green, the Shan-ni colors, are part of the original plaid design, and an intricate gold rupee diamond fills in all the gaps. This was a fresh take not only on the Shan-ni traditional pattern but also for all male longyi designs which earned the “Special Technique” Award from Amarapura in Mandalay, a highly respected textile region of Myanmar. Since then, Malar Aung has replicated the award-winning design in a number of color palates and styles that fit anyone’s preference.

Thread by thread, an employee works methodically on a design featuring the traditional Kachin diamond pattern.

Visiting Malar Aung

From Lon Ton Village, you can reach this special store on a bicycle (45 min.) or a motorbike taxi (15 min). Once you arrive, Malar Aung will show you the workshop where both handmade and machine-made designs are produced every day. In addition to a large variety of women and men’s designs, she sells unique accessories like handbags, wallets, and hats that can only be found at Indawgyi. It’s the perfect place to get yourself a treat or gifts for friends and family!

This original Shan-ni male longyi design earned Malar Aung recognition in Mandalay’s Amarapura region. It is in such high demand, they are now producing by machine and making in a variety of color palates.

Many of the shop’s Shan-ni designs are bold and colorful. The lines are typical of Shan women’s patterns while diamonds are the norm in Kachin women’s patterns.