Bangkok Trip Post #1: Celebrating Thai Designers

Flying off tom for another trip. Thought I’d blog about my Bangkok trip. Playing catch up.

Bangkok was a little too “City” for me – hustle, bustle, hot, packed. Plus I’m not really the shopping kind. I like shopping but not all the time, and often it is the last on my priorities on trips. Don’t think I’ll want to visit in another 10 years at least. Heh.

Saving grace for the trip was the local Thai design – Suan Lum Night Market + 2nd level on Siam Center. Wonderful. Suan Lum Night Market was like a Haji lane enclave – just that it was outdoors. People dressed the same. There were self designed clothes, interior decor items (retro!) and the highlight for me: jewellery. My fingers are so thin and can’t find rings in Singapore (costume jewelery) that fit me. Happy to find them in BKK + also funky ones too! Was inspiring just to walk down that lane – and enjoy the creativity of the Thais. My fussy brother finally bought something at ANR @ Siam Center. That floor housed more upmarket and established local Thai designers – nice, very nice. Nearly succumbed to buying an expensive pair of orange shorts. Tried on a short dress made of Satin-Silk – Gorgeous feel; too bad it did not fit

Check my ring out:

ANR

Nearly bought this…

New Kid on the Block

This is such an overdue post.

my designerish brother highlighted to me this new cafe – “Hairloom and Caramel”. Ooh, from the blog the place looks like a cafe in Sydney. The fabric on each chair is totally different, the plates are vintage & mixed and matched. Lovely. What was interesting was that it was BOTH a cafe and a hairdressing salon.

Popped by with some friends – the concept is really cool – loved the VitaPlum drink (Vitagen + plum smoothie). The pasta and sandwiches were ok. Love the colours in the place. One of the founders Kuanth – does good design + illustrations. Singapore got talent.

Warmth.

Talk about helping the homeless. Providing warmth in a practical way.

Snurk (Dutch bedding designers) recently partnered with foundation for homeless youth SZN to create a line of Le Clochard sheets and pillows that look like cardboard. They say that a portion of the proceeds go directly to SZN, who will use the money to build housing (as reported by Lost @ E Minor). Nice Touch.

All In One

Thanks Simin for buying this for me from Tokyo

My mom looked at it and went ‘huh’? What is this? Sometimes I chuckle the fact that my mom still does not get this ‘artistic’ side of me.

I totally loved this ‘gadget’! Packaged together, the sponge accessories can be separated to a bangle and also a ring… and if you want more variety, you can remove the black bits too. Ingenious! Love these things… think I’ll be super hyper in Tokyo… Pei Pei has already warned me……….

Realised the designer Masako Ban designs really spiffy bags too…

Old to New

I love the old-new use of the past and make it modern.

Who would imagine Clifford Pier now transformed to a modern swanky Chinese Restaurant “One on the Bund”? Love the East-West combi.

Miss the 798 area in BJ… next time when I’m in SH, I’ll visit their latest muse – bomb shelters into ba

Cool pix from Kino Arcade