Taiyepmai - ไตเย็บใหม่

The shop opened in 1908 in the same location as today and was originally started by Mr. Kittipong’s dad and brother named Mr. Taiyep who both migrated to Thailand from India. Mr. Kittipong started working in the shop straight after graduating and later took over the business with help from his nephew.

The shop specializes in handmade glass imitation buttons that mainly come from Germany, which has a rich history of manufacturing buttons or “glasknöpfe” in German. The buttons come in various forms with artificial pearls and gemstones, but the most popular ones are the deep black versions.

Mr. Kittipong was born in the apartment above the shop and later lived there with the whole family until his mother became too old to climb the steep stairs. They therefore moved outside the city, but he is now thinking about moving back to the shop due to the increasing traffic. In order to keep burglars and other unwelcome guests out of the shop, his dad installed a hatch on the floor so he could keep a close eye on the precious buttons 24/7.

The button production has unfortunately stopped, and the last batch arrived around 40 years ago. So the shop is either closing or completely changing after selling the last inventory. Mr. Kittipong has therefore started to explore new business opportunities and aims to attract tourist shoppers by selling old images of mainly classic icons such as Elvis and Cliff Richard.