Traditional craftsmanship met modern design when Noina and David married, before dawn in the village of Sokgnuluam, Thailand. (Mischief also met intelligence but that’s another story.)

Incidentally, Sokgnulam means "the village of the pythons," but there are very few left so the wedding proceeded peacefully.

Noina’s mother Kumpai liked David very much and thought that he looked splendid in his crisp white linen suit. But David seemed just a bit on the serious side and not very Thai. To alleviate this problem Kumpai had some Thai clothes made for him from her best mudmee silk - made by tying and dyeing the silk yarn by hand before weaving.

                                                                    The women in Noina’s family have been in the silk business for a very long time. Recent finds by archeologists indicate silk making in Thailand dates back some 4.000 years, making Thai silk the oldest in the world.

At least that's what Noina's family says.   

Noina and Sam

Meanwhile, Kumpai’s plan worked. David not only looked better in Thai silk - he also felt better. There was even talk of his becoming a mulberry tree farmer, and taking the late-night shift feeding the silk worms their mulberry leaf rations. Silk worms get very hungry, especially at night.

This talk soon faded, one thing led to another and now Sam Hober has a website. Noina and David share the design work, and David handles the business side of things. In Thailand, Noina's family grows raw silk for our silk fabrics, and does the weaving with help from local artisans. In the south of France we have an old stone house where we relax and work on designs.

The modern Sam Hober business is a merger of two family traditions: the David Hober company, a New York based clothing company with factories in the US and overseas which was founded by David's father Mark Hober in 1959, and on Noina's side the old Mulberrywood silk company, established in 1886 in Isan, Thailand.

Noina, David, Benjamin and Samantha "Sam" Hober

Sa Wat Dee! (A friendly and polite greeting in Thai)

Noina, David, Benjamin and Samantha Hober