Founder, The Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Women, Vientiane
Chanthasone Inthavong is the founder of The Houey Hong Vocational Training Centre for Women in Vientiane, Laos. Established in 1998, it aims to empower rural women by offering them training in weaving, natural dyeing, tailoring, and also aims to revive the traditional crafts of Laos. She has been involved in various exhibitions of Laotian textiles across the world, including in Tokyo (1992), and Yokohama (multiple times), Japan, in Seoul, South Korea (2014), in Plombières-les-Bains, France (2015), and in Singapore (2016).
Inthavong is also active in efforts to improve children’s education in Laos. In 1982, she founded Action With Lao Children, an NGO that promotes literacy, which not only publishes books, but also sets up libraries in schools to promote reading and learning. Recently in 2015, Inthavong established the Houang Khao Nursery, Kindergarten and Primary School in her hometown of Vientiane. Having studied in Japan in the 1970s-80s, she now lives and works in Tokyo.