The Krama is not a mere scarf in Cambodia. It is first of all always a cotton or silk checkered scarf with fringes. It has then many uses in everyday life, such as shading from the sun, carrying infants against the shoulder or being used as a towel. It also has more mind-bending uses such as serving as a string to collect firewood, as a weapon in Cambodian martial arts or as a makeshift sachet to cook rice. It has above all a strong symbolic importance as the distinctive sign and scarf of belonging of the Cambodian people. “Krama” means “scarf” in Khmer.

Passed on as a cultural heritage in Cambodia for centuries, the Krama is worn by every Khmer, in the city as well as in the rice-fields. It is known as the soul of the Khmer people so much it is run through with its values, made of dignity, optimism, courage and thirst for life, and paves its history, from the Angkor kingdom to present day.