“Hammock making is an extremely technical handicraft” was one of the first things Swiss Engineer, Peter Schmid, imparted on me as we drove from Chiang Mai airport on our first meeting some years ago.
When I had first found the hammocks at a store in Koh Phangan, Thailand, some years earlier the only thing I knew about their production was that they were handmade in the northern jungles of Thailand. Fast forward a few years and I was hearing the real story from the inventor and hammock guru himself.
Peter is originally from Zurich, Switzerland, well known as the headquarters of the famous Swiss banks. When he finished school he did a Diploma in Organic Chemistry and a 4 year apprenticeship as a Laboratory Technologist. From there he did a Diploma in Textile Management and Engineering at the STF Swiss Textile Academy. Following his schooling he did a 2 year internship at Niederlenz Weaving, a specialist weaving shop. The highlight of his textile career was the internship at Niederlenz.
In those two years he worked as an assistant to the master weaver, and they did a lot of exotic work including glassfibre, multilayer, tublar, dialysis filters, blood filters and other hugely complicated stuff.
For the past 30 years Peter has worked as the inventor and engineer, overseeing the production of these amazing hammocks. In that time he has tried and tested every possible material for its hammock making capabilities. He has invented the world first acrylic yarn hammock and even developed his own unique hammock weave known as VWeave.
Peter and his wife Nee continue to produce hammocks and their appetite for coming up with new design patterns and ideas is as strong as ever. Peter also trains new weavers and helps them move from amateur to novice. There isn’t a thing Peter doesn’t know about textiles or hammock making and we are very lucky to have his experience and know-how behind the project.
They make sure everything runs smoothly so that you can relax in the worlds most comfortable hammocks.
The complete story about how Peter brought these hammocks to Northern Thailand is coming soon.
