Grace and fun and freedom

American writer Brian Mertens has spent his 10 years in Bangkok admiring Thai culture.

American writer Brian Mertens has spent his 10 years in Bangkok admiring Thai culture, and in 2005 showed how much he'd learned by co-authoring "Architecture of Thailand" with architect Nithi Sthapitanonda.

Now, adding to that loving look at humble houses and splendid temples, Meterns has produced "Bangkok Design: Thai Ideas in Textiles and Furniture", which pans delightfully from minimalism and expressionism to classic and kitschy.

Everything - and everyone - is beautifully photographed by Robert McLeod, who also calls Bangkok his home.

With text in English, the handsome, 224-page book profiles 30 local designers and several foreigners - among them Nithi Sthapitanonda, Ou Baholyodhin, Suwan Kongkhunthian, Udom Udomsrianan, Swai Silpavithayadilok, Jitrin Jintaprecha, Angus Hutchenson, Chulaphun Chulanond and Ploenchan Vinyaratn.

"It's not meant to be comprehensive," Mertens points out. "It's a broad sampling that shows a variety of what Thais have been doing in furnishings over the past 10 years.

"And it's also got some fine art with decorative character-istics. The book emphasises designers who show innovation in terms of form, materials, sustainability and individual style. There's less emphasis on pure 'function', since nowadays people want design to be more than that, especially in decorative categories like furniture and textiles."

Among the classic designers, the author praises ML Pawinee Santisiri for her Ayodhya vases, which use just enough material - woven water hyacinth - and craftsmanship to replicate the sublime shape of a Sukhothai-period stone pot.

In the expressionist category, Saiyart Semagnern's "Forest Chair" is singled out for giving new life to old buffalo yokes. The "kitsch" factor in the baskets woven from multicoloured plastic earns Anusorn Ngernyuang of Reflections a place in the book.

"In general," says Mertens, "there are at least two outstanding characteristics of Thai furnishings design.

"First is resourcefulness - the designers' ingenuity at innovating with the materials and technologies they have readily at hand. They excel at using local handicraft techniques to transform natural materials or reclaimed materials into modern designs you haven't quite seen before.

"Second is a remarkable talent for creating designs that combine grace and refinement with a sense of fun and play and freedom."

Mertens points to Suwan Kongkhunthian of Yothaka for helping pioneer the use of woven lipao reeds in his cosy chair, and Udom Udomsrianan of Planet 2001 for coiling rattan into a seat that's as simple as it is eccentric.

Then there's the genial sanook that Chaiyut Plypetch of Propaganda displays in his "Mr P" creations - a little naked fellow puts his penis to helpful use in a lamp and a key ring and dispenses sticky tape from his mouth.

Another key factor is ensuring that the products "communicate" with the users.

Eggarat Wongcharit of Crafactor warrants applause for his dual sofa and Vasarely-style op-art "painting", playfully named "Sylvia Cristel". When you sit on its flexible spandex, hundreds of red elastic buttons stretch out, so your own movements help create a work of art, visible in a mirror attached to the base.

The textiles artists included are Ploenchan Vinyaratn of Beyond Living - who makes crimped and crinkled collages - and Tinnart Nisalak of Jim Thompson, a master of layering thick and thin silk thread of varying textures and colours.

There's also conceptual artist Montri Toemsombat, who in 1988 assailed consumerism with clothing made from fabric spun by silkworms before they morphed and flew away. It was in sharp contrast to the usual process of boiling the cocoons to kill the larva before unwinding the strands for spinning.

"I didn't want to define 'design' too rigidly, limiting it to industrial design or commercially produced objects," says Mertens.

"There is a lot of overlap between fine art and decorative art in Thailand - artists like Thaiwijit Poengkasemsomboon creating functional or decorative objects.

"Montri's work is gallery installations and performance art with a strong conceptual focus, but most of it involves textiles and most of it is meant to raise philosophical questions about consumerism, sustainability and how we live our lives.

"Around the world these days, you see more and more blurring of lines within the field of design itself - design objects that are intended to provoke questions and commentary, rather than serve functional needs. It's making the field more interesting."

Also in the book is the famed and acclaimed Thawan Duchanee, who utilises items from his large collection of animal skins, bones, horns and claws in his furniture and other ornaments.

Mertens says the essence of both of his books on Thai architecture and design is the same - the local sense of beauty.

"When you learn about Thai architecture and when you look closely at modern Thai design, you enrich your sense of what's beautiful and meaningful everywhere here, whether it's rural crafts or temple decorations or the seemingly ordinary things you see in the street."

"Bangkok Design: Thai Ideas in Textiles and Furniture" is published by Marshall Cavendish Editions and costs Bt1,495 at all leading bookstores.

Khetsirin Pholdhampalit

The Nation