The heterogeneization of a tourist art

The process of transformation of a simple craft to a highly diversified tourist art is investigated through the example of the pottery production of Dan Kwien in Thailand. It was found that outsiders to the locality were the principal initiators of innovation and diversification. While production for the traditional internal market was not discontinued, new types and styles of products were introduced, as innovators competed to secure external audience. Consequently, local pottery production moved away from orthogenetic to more heterogenetic products. These developments raise questions relating to the "authenticity" of products for the tourist and export markets and to the possible message conveyed by them to the external audience.