Get to know the main creative venues of Bangkok Design Week
2020

‘Why – Where – How’ – meet 4 latest Bangkok’s creative districts

 

Bangkok’s prime location is the definition of Thonglor-Ekkamai area (Sukhumvit Road Soi 55 – 63). It is not only the heart of various lifestyle businesses; the land value of this neighbourhood is also widely known among Thai and foreign investors. This side of the city is full of top properties and real estates, lifestyle shops, community malls and country’s leading creative studios. Thonglor and Ekkamai is, therefore, the selling point of Bangkok for business and modern lifestyle. 

ThongEk Creative Neighbourhood, founded by a group of entrepreneurs and designers in the district, aims to enhance the business operations and urban living through working in a cluster of local creative industry. The collaboration supports business movement while nurturing the local community from changes of modern business and consumer behaviour. Stand-alone business can no longer survive, but a powerful network is required for the business to flourish and sustain.

Thonglor-Ekkamai the source of creative power

Anupol Yooyuen (Ta), Metchanun Suensilpong (Mark), and Yossapol Boonsom (Yos), the three design entrepreneurs of ThongEk Creative Neighbourhood are the main players behind the Thonglor-Ekkamai creative production of Bangkok Design Week 2020.

Ta is the Design Director of Mobella Galleria Ltd. Mobella is a leading Thai brand producing and selling unique furniture for over six years. Mark has managed the design team of kenkoon, Thailand’s modern outdoor living furniture brand sold worldwide for around the same time, while Yos has been the Managing Director of a landscape architecture company called Shma Ltd. for twelve years. 

The three entrepreneurs want Thonglor-Ekkamai to be the centre of lifestyle business and design as well as the prime location for top property projects. They believe in the power of creativity and a strong network group, which will enhance business opportunity and become a source of inspiration for all creative minds to grow together. 

“Thonglor-Ekkamai creates a mystical energy for designers and creative minds to produce their works wondering around green spaces in the area. The changes of day and nightlife, a diverse community, and a variety of business contribute to a vibrant lifestyle of the neighbourhood. This implements many creative and inspiring works to be created here” said Yos. Ta stated that “my work involves working with Thai designers on Thai inspired furniture designs. Mobella was not widely recognised when we first started. We decided to add our brand into this big picture of Thonglor-Ekkamai, an intense design district and the heart of lifestyle shops, in order to grab the attention of Thai and foreign clients on the unique work by our Thai designers. Moreover, Thonglor-Ekkamai is a neighbourhood with diverse residents, lifestyle, shops and restaurants that all fit as our target market, so we chose to have our office here.” Mark added that “inner Bangkok used to be Sathorn or somewhere around that area. When the population grew and the land became more expensive, people started to move to Sukhumvit area building modern houses and properties of their own. With a large number of foreigners living around this area, more and more shops and restaurants opened and expanded into the district. This creates a unique charm of Sukhumvit, a mix between the Western world and the Japanese style from the characters of local residents of the area. Many global furniture and lifestyle brands with top quality also have their branches and shops here on Sukhumvit Road making it a very interesting creative community.”

Changes and attractions of Thonglor-Ekkamai

Thonglor-Ekkamai is considered to be one of strongly growing and changing districts. Nowadays, many property and real estate projects are underway including mega malls, restaurants, coffee shops, night clubs and bars. A large number of foreigners and tourists such as westerners, Japanese, Chinese or Korean residents flock to the area. This results more traffic jam and higher living expenses in exchange for a “chic lifestyle”. However, the plus side of this story is the people of this neighbourhood. Thonglor-Ekkamai has not just grown; they have been around for a long time with their own history and stories to tell. The district naturally grows into its unique character through the old and new period creating it truly interesting and exceptional. The question is how we manage these changes for a sustainable growth at a suitable pace within the district.

ThongEk Creative Neighbourhood…a community of designers and creative minds

One of Thonglor-Ekkamai distinctive characters is its community of designers and creative minds working in the district for a very long time. There is a loose network within this group, yet there has been no major collaboration. However, with more challenging business environment today, they began to partner and collaborate in order to survive and grow. When a stand-alone business strategy no longer works, a strong business network is the true answer to move business forward. This was how ThongEk Creative Neighbourhood started. ThongEk Creative Neighbourhood is a group of Thonglor-Ekkamai’s vibrant business entrepreneurs and experts from a variety of leading business including furniture and lifestyle entrepreneurs, restaurant and café owners, architects, landscapers, interior and graphic designers. 

Thonglor-Ekkamai has now moved towards a strong community of creative neighbourhood gathering friendship and business partners for a better opportunity. Ta emphasises “I am an entrepreneur who focuses in business operation. We basically evolve around great designs in order to move the brand forward. At the end of the day, we are designers who sell products. This idea of a creative neighbourhood brought us all together. We believe that working alone is no longer the trend. It can be difficult and exhausting. We, then, came up with this concept initially for business opportunity and brand marketing. However, we found that the group also creates a complete cycle of business in the area. We want to make Thonglor-Ekkamai a more appealing area to live in. For example, a client could walk into Yos’s Shma Studio. Yos could later recommend that client to have a good coffee at my furniture showroom – Mobella’s. I could also send the same client to Mark’s kenkoon to have a look around. This gives a full circle helping more local business exposure. This also has positive impact towards non-design businesses in the area. As a friendly and positive atmosphere is created, it helps all business to grow together. A number of seminars or small talk sessions inviting local designers to tell their interesting stories have also been organised. We have done Openhouses for students to learn and be supported by us.  We want to present interesting information or hidden stories of the district for other people to learn about this neighbourhood. It would be nice to let them see Thonglor-Ekkamai as something more than just a place to hangout for food and drinks.” 

Yos has been in charge of bringing together a group of local designers, architect, landscapers, interior and graphic designers, media designers, curators and more. “ThongEk Creative Neighbourhood was started from challenges and problems we have seen in the area for the past ten years. We often create our designs for other districts. Then when we look around our own neighbourhood, we realise that we also have many unsolved problems in our own area. Therefore, creative tools could be solutions to a better living for everyone in the area. We were surprised to find out that every one of us in the group has their own business that caters for change. Many of our neighbours work in many different types of designs making us a single eco-system of creativity. Neighbour here used to know each other by names, but this collaboration changes everything. It brings business opportunity and offers a healthier lifestyle in the district. This never happens so I strongly believe that this network works. It will eventually create a power of unity responding to every challenge and drive the creative business of the area forward.” 

Discover Thonglor-Ekkamai from a new perspective. This district does not only serve as a nightlife hangout area, but it also offers an opportunity for a genuine business partnership at Bangkok Design Week 2020. Thonglor-Ekkamai is now full of limitless opportunities of Bangkok. It unlocks creative thinking within the district and reflects strong potential of being a creative district that grows and drives Thailand’s creative economy.

 

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