Bangkok Design

Book excerpt: Global design is being spiced up by fresh flavours from Bangkok. Today's young Thai designers create contemporary furniture and interior textiles that appeal to the most sophisticated international tastes, but using tropical Asian accents. The Thais' favourite ingredients are natural materials, fine craftsmanship and inspiration from local culture, which they mix using the kind of eclecticism that makes Thai cooking so delicious. This elegant book goes beyond conventional guides on interior design style to focus on the designers themselves, their philosophies, and how they interpret their unique culture in design. Bangkok DESIGNis the first book of its kind, exploring the acclaimed new furnishings from Thailand and the inspiration behind them. This book profiles 36 of the best Thai designers, showing how they translate their own culture and personal experiences into original products. This group explores a wide variety of styles - minimal, expressionist, modernist, neo-traditional, retro and pop - but each designer has an individual signature. The profiles include several studio artists whose work either has decorative characteristics or else comments on design-related issues like cultural identity and sustainability. This inspiring book, beautifully photographed by Robert McLeod and Lucidly written by award-winning author Brian Mertens, will appeal to interior designers, architects and collectors.