Published on August 18, 2005

Britain’s acclaimed ‘Wallpaper’ magazine counts many Asians among its true-blue fans, but are there enough to support the Thai edition debuting next month?

Call them “Wallpaperians” or “Generation Wallpaper” if you like, but fans of lifestyle bible Wallpaper share one characteristic: they refuse to be followers when it comes to trends.

They all adore the sophisticated lifestyle. They are young, affluent and well educated – so well educated that one wonders why they would need a Thai edition of the magazine rather than the London original.

The man with the best answer ahead of Wallpaper’s Thai debut next month is its editor-in-chief, Kris Kiattisak. He’s been a die-hard fan of the British Wallpaper since it first appeared in 1996.

“English is not a barrier for Wallpaper readers here,” he says, “but hopefully fans like myself will buy both copies, because they can find unique content in our Asian edition. They’re not identical, and that’s why we also have an English summary of content for those who read the UK version.”

The Thai Wallpaper is being presented as an “Asian” edition for two reasons. First, it is the first Asian edition of the magazine, which is owned by Time-Warner (and only the second foreign version after Russia’s).

Second, the local edition is designed to reflect the lifestyle of all Asians, not just Thais.

“We can look at Asia in a different light [than London],” Kris says, “and that’s important for them and us. Our strength in Asia will be their strength and their strength builds ours.”

But 70 per cent of the content in the Asian Wallpaper will be reprinted from the British edition.

Wallpaper UK is revered in some circles for its trend-setting designs. Some see it as the voice of a generation, even if it does reach only 85,000 readers. Kris is hoping the Thai edition will serve all Wallpaperians (that’s the word he uses) well, but especially those in Asia.

The Wallpaper Generation has nothing to do with “Generation X” or any other such handy pigeonhole. This “generation” has become defined by its level of income, its furniture and its fashion, and in the way it has combined all these things into a sophisticated way of living.

“The magazine will be for those who love a challenging lifestyle and always seek out new things in life,” says Kris. “They are also broadminded enough to accept things they don’t like – they’ll look at them and question why they don’t like it, but they won’t reject it.”

With such distinctions in mind, he says, Wallpaper will shun the well-trodden path of other magazines. Everyone covers the annual Milan Fair of furniture and home decor, for example, but Wallpaper will be looking for the fair that no one has been to, that few people have even heard of.

“Our readers might never consider visiting this fair, but we want to offer them something different – because we’re the leader.”

The charm of Wallpaper UK – its unpredictability – will extend to the Thai version as well, Kris vows.

“Any attractive person has lots of surprises up their sleeve, and no one can guess what they’re up to.”

Thus Kris is unfazed by Wallpaper UK’s switch in focus from architecture, which was the forte of long-time editor Tim Clark, to fashion.

The shift, which has drawn criticism from some readers, has been attributed to fashion-minded Jeremy Langmead, the former editor of the Sunday Times Style section and Nova magazine who took the helm at Wallpaper in 2002.

“I think Wallpaper is just learning how to communicate with more people as it enters its second decade,” Kris says. “The focus may not be solely on architecture any more, but the heart of the magazine is still there – it’s still a design-based lifestyle magazine.”

Kris fell in love with Wallpaper the first time he saw it and continues to refer his university students to it.

“Its trend-setting nature was so outstanding. It always creates a new trend rather than following another. It highlighted the retro and minimalist looks almost a decade before they became the hot trends in home styling.”

The perception that Wallpaper is heavy on architecture and design is wrong, he says: “It’s strictly a lifestyle magazine.

“Wallpaper’s uniqueness is in the clever blending of lifestyle into architecture, interior design, fashion and travel. For instance, the fashion pages will blend lifestyle and interior design, while the food features will incorporate travel and interior design. Each page is interdisciplinary.”

Nontawat Charoenchasri, who is creative director for the Asian Wallpaper, notes that the simultaneous planning of pictures and content sets it apart from other magazines. The conceptual design has to extend to photos that help tell the story.

“Perhaps we understand what makes Wallpaper what it is, and that’s why we won the right to do the Asian edition when we made the pitch last November. Our competitor didn’t show a true understanding of the magazine.”

The Thai editorial team spent three days at the London office in February, studying the process and being impressed.

Nontawat has already earned praise in return for a feature on “Space” that’s appearing in

Thai edition’s debut issue, which involved a grand reincarnation for two rather dull museums at Chulalongkorn University.

London is even more delighted with the debut’s special feature on “30 Inspiration & Trend Creators”, which profiles such art and culture luminaries as Klaomard Yip-intsoi, Gridthiya Gaweewong, Nagara Sambandaraksa, Duangrit Bunnag and Pomtaweesak Rimsakul.

Published by Media Expertise International (Thailand) Co, Wallpaper will have a cover price of Bt120 – quite a difference from the Bt500 you pay here for the UK edition, but perhaps wisely inexpensive considering the niche market it has in mind.

The editorial team is hoping the niche will widen, improving Wallpaper’s chances of attracting generous advertisers, and hopefully ones whose print ads will match its stylishness.

Not only will the editors be screening out adverts that jar with the magazine’s look, they’ll be ignoring advertisers’ requests to publish PR fluff.

“That won’t be possible for us since we don’t have the kind of social pages that other magazines do,” says editorial director Dhepprathan Hemmuang, who’s worked at How-to, a day, Summer and Esquire.

Firm in their convictions, Kris, Nontawat and Dhepprathan face something of an uphill struggle in persuading advertisers to invest money without any expectations of peripheral perks.

That’s a battle for later, though. First they have to convince Generation Wallpaper that the Thai edition is just as worthy as big brother UK – then the rest of the country that it’s time for them to wallpaper their world too.

Veena Thoopkrajae

The Nation

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