Tradeshows

Issue07 : 07 July 2014


Chanchalad Khanjanawong, the lead designer of Grey Ray

Energy crisis and waste are the undeniable bi-products of rapid consumerism. Grey Ray Stationery questions this, and puts an eco-friendly ideal into action.

From the automobile industry to an ordinary 2B pencil, all products need both natural resources and energy. However, as Japan's 2011 Fukushima nuclear crisis demonstrated, our demand for more energy is not necessarily safe. The 2011 catastrophe also marked the trigger for Thailand’s premier stationery design brand – Grey Ray Stationery ­– to create products that were less wasteful on the planet’s depleting natural resources.

"If my generation doesn't do it now, then who will start?" asks Chanchalad Khanjanawong, the founder, managing and creative director of Grey Ray Stationery.

With 16 years’ experience as an art teacher at his own artHOUSE academy and a background in decorative art, Khanjanawong had observed his students' wasteful behaviour while using their art tools.

"I saw how art students sharpen their 8B pencils unnecessarily long, and then they just break and waste the soft pencil lead without much thought about this,” he explains.

Issue06 : 23 June 2014

In this modern age, everything appears guaranteed by some organism – be it the FDA, ISO or some other acronym. But how do we know our beds and pillows are good enough, well just look for the DEmark.


Airee Daybed, an example of how good bed is designed

It’s not hard to find awards and contests in the highly competitive lifestyle industry. We usually find the most innovative, most energy saving and most creative products on the shelves. But as we spend an estimate 30% of our lifetime sleeping, it is a bit strange there are not more bed or pillow awards. This is when DEmark comes in.

Started in 2008, a DEmark (Design Excellence Award) is accredited based on three criteria – creativity, utility and environmental awareness. What makes DEmark unique is the variety of products that can gain the award from notebooks to computer fonts and beds. It also helps create awareness that everyday items can be creative.

“When people see DEmark, for example from a showcase in BIG (Bangkok International Gift Fair), they have confidence in the product,” says Tanawat Manovachirasun, designer of Yothaka, a furniture maker and many-time DEmark winner, adding that DEmark has helped boost Yothaka trade volume fourfold.

Issue04 : 26 May 2014

We are all surrounded by designs but sometimes it takes one person’s vision to see them. Horizon Thailand talks to the visionary Anon Pairot.

“We are surrounded by designs, yet we don’t realize it,” says Anon Pairot, the lead designer from Anon Pairot Design Studio. To illustrate his point he picks up the handle of a coffee mug that is made from a plastic bag to protect customers from the heat, as is the widespread practice in Thailand. This simple innovation, he says, is proof that Thais have natural brilliance for designing. “But we call that folk wisdom,” he adds.

So when the DITP contacted Pairot to organize a showcase of Thai designers called Asia Talents at the BIG+BIH 2014 (Bangkok International Gift Fair & Bangkok International Houseware Fair 2014) held this April, he readily agreed.

Pairot saw in Asia Talents an opportunity to promote the export of creative products. “People want to hear about the past,” he says. “But what motivates people to attend business is the future.” He believes that design can fuse both sides of the story together.

Issue05 : 9 June 2014

design thailand buadesign hoursewareBIG & BIHs Asia Talents 2014 award winner buaDESIGN is transforming everyday Thai outdoor design into life-long handcraft art.

This year might just be the one for Thai furniture design to break away from the image of heavy, ornate Thainess and embark upon something fresh and exciting. Following its success at the Bangkok International Gift Fair and Bangkok International Houseware Fair 2014 in April (BIG+BIH), where it won the Outstanding Asia Talents of the Year 2014 award chosen by ELLE decoration magazine, buaDESIGN is ready to present a totally unique concept of Thai furniture to the global market.

The company’s design philosophy is all about simplicity and the ability to merge in well with any ambience. “Our commercial furniture has a mild Thai identity that can be displayed anywhere, says Pariwat Leesakul, co-founder of buaDESIGN. We think that our designs are unique, but they shouldn’t be too different from others.”

Beautiful, durable, and affordable are the keywords Leesakul uses to describe his design concept. “We aim to produce something that will be strong and last long,” he says. The brand uses high quality Siamese Sal wood to produce the outdoor benches, chairs and table sets in its GOMES, NARIN, buaSTEEL and buaSTONE series. All are handcrafted.

Held from May 24 to 28 at Bangkok’s IMPACT Arena, Thailand’s major food fair has now matured into a regional event.

In just a few years, Thailand’s major food convention has turned into a truly international event. Now approaching its 10th anniversary, THAIFEX has seen a surge in bookings from international vendors – up a massive 40 percent from 2013. All are keen to show their speciality wares to increasingly sophisticated Southeast Asian buyers, who are seeking an ever more diverse range of food and beverage products from a host of countries around the world.

Launching the 2014 exhibition at the Nonthaburi headquarters of the DITP on April 29, the Department’s Director-General Nuntawan Sakuntanaga announced that Thailand was well on the way to accomplishing its goal of being the regional food hub.
“Thailand wants to be a one stop service - whatever you want we will have it,” she said.

Foreign exhibit numbers at THAIFEX will rise from 600 last year to 890 this year, Michael Dreyer Asia Pacific vice president of Koelnmesse, told Horizon Thailand. “It was little bit of a surprise for us actually given the political situation,” he said, before attributing the rise to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) being around the corner and Thailand’s strength in food production, as well as being a hub for both importing and re-exporting to other countries in ASEAN.

Dreyer noted that Thailand already has sufficient infrastructure to achieve the DITP’s goal. “You have the warehouses you have the refrigeration and you have the knowhow about hygiene and food safety,” he said. “People are looking for a base to use for the bigger [ASEAN] market which is coming up next year.”

Drawing on his long experience in the event business Dreyer added that THAIFEX has now reached maturity. “It seems that last year THAIFEX got over that hurdle, now people are coming and they are asking what can we do, how can we get in,” he said.

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