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Tuesday August 22, 1:10 AMNew exhibition spaces encourage Thais to think outside the box
The outrageous outfits come from the mind of Vivienne Westwood, grande dame of British fashion, who has a retrospective at the nine-month-old Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC). But organizers do not want Thais to simply admire the ripped t-shirts, rubber shoes and tartan ensembles -- they hope visitors will soak up some of the eccentric designer's punk spirit. "This exhibition is a good exhibition for the Thais to study this wonderful mind," Pansak Vinyaratn, TCDC chairman and adviser to the prime minister, said at the opening of the show. The exhibit charts Westwood's rise from working class girl to successful designer to the rich and famous, and is one of a number of shows that organizers hope will change the face of Thai design. When it opened, the TCDC set itself the task of not only attracting the best international talent, but encouraging Thai designers and businesses to develop local design into a marketable international brand. Paravi Wongchirachai, knowledge and curatorial director of the TCDC, hopes the center will provoke debate among Thais on the kingdom's unique cultural and artistic history. "Our aim is to make Thai designers feel confident that their very own culture, with all its strengths and shortcomings, all its beauty and ugliness, has something very substantial to offer as a basis for creative work," he says. The TCDC was the idea of Pansak and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who, after he took office in 2001, was keen to promote Thai design as a sophisticated export product. In November 2005, the TCDC opened on the sixth floor of the Emporium shopping mall. The stylish space boasts pale wood floors and black walls, with flashes of gold and greenery highlighted by industrial-style lighting. The center includes a permanent exhibition entitled "What is Design?", a gallery hosting visiting shows, and an extensive library of over 15,000 books on design and creative thinking. The opening exhibition, Isan Retrospective, showcased design from rural northern Thailand and aimed to spark debate among Bangkok urbanites. "The question is how does a so-called backwater yield so much creativity?" Paravi says. After the Isan show came The DNA of Japanese Design, followed by an exhibition from Finnish textile design firm Marimekko. Paravi says that all the exhibitions were chosen to provoke and inspire Thai designers, and he hopes Westwood's rags-to-riches tale will resonate with visitors. "We want people to see she didn't go to art school but she took her own angst and sense of rebellion and turned that into creativity," Paravi says. "The message is do not underestimate what you have." Brian Mertens, a Bangkok-based author who is currently writing a book on Thai design, says the challenge now for the TCDC is to convince businesses to tap into Thailand's creative wealth. "Many Thais have long recognized the nation's potential to excel in design, but Pansak was the first top government official to focus on it in such a big way," he tells AFP. "It's about developing an inherent local potential, upgrading existing industries, and reviving local ownership of manufacturing in a place where so much of it is foreign owned." At the Westwood exhibition, which runs until September 24, Thais and tourists wander past attractions including the towering heels that caused supermodel Naomi Campbell to come crashing to the floor at a fashion show. Aspiring fashion designer Nattariya Sukampeeranon, who is studying communication arts at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, feels inspired by Westwood's unconventional approach. "She doesn't care what other people think, and because she doesn't care she can be a good designer," says Nattariya. But she says that before Thai design can move forward, people need to start thinking outside the box. "Thai people have their own culture and this makes a frame around them, they cannot think differently," she says "They should break down the walls and go outside." |
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