Nancy Chandler
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Photographer - Ludovic Cazeba |
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| American artist
Nancy Chandler has been creating unique maps, cards
and gifts celebrating life in Thailand since the early
1970s. |
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| A native of
San Francisco, her unique style has been influenced
by her parents, her early years in the design business
in the US, and a year she spent in Nepal before moving
to Thailand in 1969. In Thailand, her work took many
forms, from t-shirt and logo design to the maps and
cards she is recognized for today. |
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She now spends much of each year in the US with her youngest daughter, Kim, a high functioning Down Syndrome young lady (and an artist as well - see www.art-exchange.com for her latest work and some of Nancy’s too!). Nancy does however
return to Thailand annually on research trips and
to visit friends and family, including her two other
daughters, Nima (now her business partner) and Siri
(a kindergarten teacher at the International School
of Bangkok).
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| Childhood Influences
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Nancy inherited much of her sense of style and whimsy
from her parents, interior designers Maurice and Winona
Sands. She recalls them flipping through magazines
when she was child, discussing not the stories or
pictures, but good layout, colors and fonts. The family
was also known for its witty, hand-lettered holiday
cards, often incorporating personal touches in unusual
ways.
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| University and
On-the-Job Training |
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| Nancy majored in Art
History at the University of California at Berkeley.
She worked on campus after graduation at the student
union Graphic Arts department, producing posters
for on-campus activities. After marrying Albert
Chandler in 1963, she moved back east where he
was finishing law school. There she took on several
freelance jobs and spent a year working with Art
Designers in Alexandria, Virginia. |
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| Nepalese Influences |
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In 1966, inspired by the example set by some of Al's
law school classmates, the young couple signed on for
a year of volunteer work in Kathmandu, Nepal, under
the auspices of the Maxwell Foundation-Syracuse University
Public Fellowship Program. After moving into a charming
Nepali farmhouse with mud floors, Nancy realized several
of her art supplies had gone 'missing' enroute. Turning
to the local market for replacements, she discovered
the bright hues of the puja powders, colors which continue
to influence her work to this day.
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While not officially working, Nancy's sketches of Nepalese
characters and scenery
caught the eye of other expatriates.This led to commissioned
work, which was the young couple's only income during
the 6 months after Al's assignment was completed. (They
had decided to stay on longer for the birth of their
first daughter before moving back to the US.).
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Life in Thailand |
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Only eleven months after returning to the US, however,
Al and Nancy moved back to Asia. Al had landed a job
with a young law firm in Bangkok. In June 1969, with
their second daughter well on the way, the family relocated
to Thailand. Little did they know Al would later decide
to establish his own firm in Bangkok in partnership
with a Thai colleague only a few years later, making
Thailand the family home.
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| Upon her arrival, Nancy
began illustrating for the American Women's Club
Sawaddi magazine as a volunteer. Her work was subsequently
published in Living magazine and the Bangkok Post.
In the early 1970's, at the suggestion of a friend,
Nancy began designing Thai greeting cards for expatriates.
In 1974, she established Nancy Chandler Graphics
Ltd. Her first map of Bangkok was published that
same year and her map of Chiang Mai followed in
1981. |
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| While researching
her maps was great fun (see photo below), at the same
time, Nancy was working on a variety of projects. |
| For the Royal Varuna Yacht
Club, she produced t-shirts, brochures and humorous certificates
for graduates of the junior sailing program. A job for
the International School of Bangkok led to her signature
series of murals depicting Thai temples and river scenes,
which she would personalize for friends on special occasions
- adding buildings, banners and silly comments representative
of their time in Thailand. For others, Nancy created area
maps, |
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| moving and birth announcements, anniversary
cards, advertising art, logo and package designs. |
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"The joy of working in Thailand
was the huge variety of jobs I was able to do,"
said Nancy. "If I had been in America, I
would have had to have been specialized."
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| In the late 1980s,
Nancy began experimenting with new methods, including
etchings, watercolors and collage. She teamed up with
other artists to establish the Inky Fingers Inc. collective,
exhibiting locally. |
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| Associations she
was actively involved in, besides the American Women's
Club, were the International Women's Club, the Bangkok
Women's Forum, Soroptimists International Bangkok, the
National Museum Volunteers, the Neilson Hays Library and
the International School of Bangkok board. |
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| Nancy set up a second home in Marin County, California, in 1987, where Kim was to finish high school and later community college. In the meantime, Nancy maintained an active interest in her Thai business, returning every year for up to two months. In 1997, she teamed up with her eldest daughter Nima who now manages the business year-round from Thailand, which remains the family's home and a continuing source of inspiration to them both. |
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| The Chandler Girls with Shawlada Daomanee, long-time ‘general manager’ of Nancy’s business. From left to right: Siri, Nancy, Kim, Shawlada and Nima. |
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Nancy and Kim still visit Thailand annually at year-end (see them above doing ‘research’ by elephant in Chiang Mai in early 2007) and their home in Mill Valley is cluttered with books and sketches on all things Thai. Nima meanwhile has been entrusted to do most of the map research these days, leaving the best new Thai restaurants to Nancy, Kim and friends to ‘taste test’ each year. |
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Frequently
Asked Questions:
How did Nancy Chandler's Map of Bangkok and Chiang Mai begin?
When and why did Nancy get into the greeting card business?
Scroll down for answers!
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Nancy Chandler's
First Map of Bangkok
In early 1974, the American Women's Club of Thailand (AWC) asked
Nancy to draw a small map showing the location of all major
markets in Bangkok to accompany an article in the club's Sawaddi
magazine.
Fascinated by Chinatown, however, Nancy and the article's writers
began to talk of drafting a more detailed map, taking notes
on each little shop and the best noodle stands for 'snack breaks'.
When they got to the Weekend Market (then at Sanam Luang), Nancy
began sketching a second map in an attempt to make some sense
out of the chaos that was the market.
The result: Instead of a quarter page map of the city, Sawaddi
published a fold-out centerfold map covering the Weekend Market,
Chinatown and Central Bangkok in extensive detail.
Demand for the map was such that the AWC had to reprint the
issue twice, after which the club suggested Nancy begin publishing
the map independently. In mid-1974, after forming her own company,
Nancy released her first edition, pictured above.
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Nancy Chandler's
First Map of Chiang Mai
First published in 1981, Nancy Chandler's Map of Chiang Mai
was borne out of a combination of frustration and opportunity.
In 1980, the artist visited Chiang Mai with her two young children.
She bought the only map and guide available, but found out the
hard way that what looked like a pleasant four-block stroll
for the family was actually a mile long trek.
By coincidence, the AWC was about to devote an entire issue
of Sawaddi to Chiang Mai and asked Nancy to do a simple map
of the city. Nancy used this excuse to meet Roy Hudson, the
author of the one and only guidebook of Chiang Mai
at that time. She asked if he would mind if she did her own
map, and if he would act as her collaborator. Surprisingly,
he agreed.
Roy subsequently introduced her to other "colorful local
characters, each with their own favorite noodle stand"
as Nancy puts it. They became her eyes and ears in Chiang Mai,
contributing much to the first edition of her northern map,
which she also personally researched on foot and by bicycle
(see photo at left).
Times may have since changed (you can no longer safety tour
the town by bicycle) but Chiang Mai remains a favorite getaway
of Nancy's, a city she visits each year without exception.
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Nancy Chandler's
First Thai Greeting Cards
Back in the late 1960's, American artist Judy Sponaugle founded
a batik factory in central Bangkok. Attracting a regular expatriate
clientele, she heard the same complaint every holiday season:
There was no place in Bangkok one could buy Chrismas cards.
That changed when Judy met Nancy. In 1970, Judy's House of Jute
(later Jutik) became the exclusive outlet for Nancy's first
Thai greeting card designs, black line drawings printed on colored
paper such as the one above.
While many of Nancy's original cards are no longer in print,
some have been redrawn and reprinted in color in recent years
such as the design below. Visit our holiday
greeting cards page to see if you can identify it in its
current version!
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