Masiri Tamsakul’s striking, colorful fashions seem to literally leap out at unsuspecting Bangkok fashion enthusiasts, their playful, yet elegant lines showing themselves off boldly in timeless designs, ready for urban, resort, and elegant occasions. 

As a child, she enjoyed drawing and sketching, and later developed a passion for advertising, getting her BA in Mass Communications and Advertising from Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn University, and an MFA in Visual Communication from Washington D.C.’s George Washington University. She arrived at Muung-Doo in 1999, where owner Na-Chanok Ratanadaros, seeing her talented eye for design, promoted her to product designer in.  She soon was designing cushions and candleholders for Muung Doo’s housewares line.   In 2001, Muung-Doo decided to go full-force into fashion, and Masiri, who had by this time become enamored of Thai silk, launched her first clothing line at Elle Fashion Week in Bangkok. 

In 2003, after taking a pattern class at Alliance Française, she took all pattern-making and sewing in-house.  Today, she has two pattern-makers and five sewers. 

Khun Masiri’s strength is color and texture, and she eschews seasonal fashions, preferring instead to evolve the line as time goes on.  For this reason, shoppers will be able to buy her fashions with constantly progressing detail work.  “Because colors change subtly each time I buy silk, the creations still look new each time I make them.  I will put only two or three examples of each design in our shops, and if Western shoppers cannot find their size, I can make a design for them, generally in one week.”  In addition, she’s custom-designed for Middle Eastern women, who tend to desire longer skirts. 

Masiri has launched three lines of clothing.   Urban Chic has a teenage look, Elegant Chic can be worn for formal and semi-formal occasions, and Resort Chic is a dressy, exotic line that can be worn just about anywhere. 

She’s been heavily influenced by French design, having traveled there continuously since she was small (her father worked for Air France).  Several of her designs include art-deco influenced motifs, and she’s begun to use “smocking” elastic techniques more and more to allow for greater options in sizing.  She prefers Thai silk, both in one and two-ply.     

While you can see her designs on the ThaiOasis website, Masiri encourages you to visit her shops, where you can feel the rich texture of her garments, and admire the fascinating colors of her palette. 

Design Philosophy 

“People want to wear unique clothes, and that’s why I only put 2 or 3 examples of a design in each store.  I produce one or two new designs each week….. I love changing color schemes.I don’t like the idea of developing season-based fashions.  These are fluid designs, and people like wearing these fashions the whole year.  I don’t like silk to look too traditional… I like to add humor and fun, and reach for the younger generation. Sometimes, I’ll reverse the stitching to make it more funky… I’ll cut out pieces, then stitch them back on.  One of the issues with silk is that it can be stiff… and that’s why I like smocking, to allow the fabric to expand and contact with the wearer. I want people who wear my clothes to feel that they’re wearing an art piece… I don’t want people to wear my designs and feel that they’re out of fashion.” 

See Masiri Tamsakul’s designs at: 

Muung-Doo boutique
Emporium department store, 1st floor
BTS Skytrain Phrom Phong station

Muung-Doo boutique
Bangkok Fashion Society shop
Gaysorn Plaza department store, 2^nd floor
BTS Skytrain Phrom Phong station

Pat and Chai from Headquarter Bangkok

It’s always exciting to see the work of a young, talented designer, and here, the experience for Bangkok fashion enthusiasts is trebled at Headquarter Bangkok, where three extraordinary designers have pooled their creativity to create three distinct, but complimentary lines at their own boutique.  They use high-quality fabric from Japan and Hong Kong, among other places, and are not currently planning for export.  When you wear HeadQuarter fashions in your own country, you’ll be wearing something truly unique. 

Chai Jeamamornrat, 27, was born in Nakhorn Si Thammarat,  has known Patsarun for 10 years.  His father was a tailor, mother a dressmaker.   He holds a BA in Visual design form Silpakorn University, and another BA, plus an MA in the Department of Fashion and Costume Design, in Oslo.  Prior to HeadQuarter, his collections included ‘Mae Fah Luang’ in 2000 and 2002, ‘RIKO’ in 2001, and Senada Sense in 2003, all presented at Elle Magazine’s Fashion Week. 

Patsarun Sriluansoi’s parents encouraged him in his goal to be a designer.  His father was  a civil servant (now a monk), and his aunt was a dressmaker.  Patsarun studied Fashion  Design at LaSalle College in Montréal.  His brand “Realistic Situation”, for men and women, will be sold in HeadQuarter, as well as the GEO store on Sukhumvit 55.  

Sunshine (Jirat  Subpisankul), 27, recived a BA from Bangkok University in Communication Arts, and a BA in Fashion (Womenswear) from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design.  He designed for the Passaya house for two years, sites tribal and Victorian influences.  His collection of 2001 featured Akha-style headgear in a muted palette of colors.  Additional collections show a marked influence of Op Art from the 1960s.  His “Knots” collection for Passaya suggests bondage motifs in the large yarn ropes which adorn his designs.  Additional influences appear to be Japanese-themed bondage cinema (he was unavailable for interviews as we went to press).  

Design Philosophy 

“I am influenced by music and nature.  I like organic life and free movement in light and shadow, reflected light as well.  I try to transfer a concept like Techno music into street clothes…” We are a new generation, and are going to launch something between creativity and commercial… before, I used silk, but I feel the look is an old one.  Today, I prefer cotton, stretched cotton, and linen. I like texture… I experiment with the surface of the textile.  I like prints, wrinkled, layered pleats, matte and glossy.  I call my work ‘Streetcraft,’ using needlework, patchwork, and embroidery. My creations are simple in structure… I tend to use fabric from Japan and Hong Kong, and feel it’s softer and better-woven, due to the higher technology in the looms there. I want to keep everything unique… everything in the shop will be limited edition.  At the same time, we want our fashions to be affordable, so prices will range from 1,000 to 7,000 baht ($25-$175 USD).” 

–  Chai Jeamamornrat 

“I like experimental design… something more fun, the concept is really deconstruction’…  lots of my fashions are meant to be worn wrinkled. Fashion is all about change.  Today, we’re more influence by the media than ever, and world teen culture is becoming [homogenized] as information races from country to country. I am influenced by the politics of the Russian Revolution, and Russian Constructivism from the 1920s.  I like advertising posters from at that time…  black, white, and red, with a masculine look.”  

–  Patsarun Sriluansoi 

“I love going to exhibitions and galleries to discover new hype and talent.  In my leisure time, I avidly read the important style magazines, music, interior and exterior decorating.  I also collect second hand and vintage clothes.” 

– Sunshine 

To see these striking, bold fashions made by these young designers, visit:
Headquarter Bangkok, located on the 3^rd floor of the Siam Centre shopping complex, near the BTS Siam Square Skytrain station

One of the leading lights of the Bangkok fashion industry, Bangkok-born Nat Mangkang chuckles today when he recalls his studies in the field of Human Resources.  “I was always reading fashion magazines,” he remembers, “and I acquired a number of friends who loved fashion as much as I did.”  Soon, his friends were asking him to design clothes for them.  This small but significant endeavor eventually landed him a tiny shop in Siam Square, where he debuted his “Figure” brand.    His Siam Square neighbor was Natthavipha Ruangkritya, who, with sister Mollika, was launching the Kloset fashion brand. 

In 2001, the Ruangkritya sisters moved their operation to the Zen department store, and invited Nat to join them as a designer.  Nat’s first collection for Kloset was the “Country Girl” collection, a whimsical tribute to the American west, and introducing his butterfly motif, to evoke a “soft wing-like natural country girl.” 

Today, Nat’s casual fashions, with their French, Korean, Japanese, Indian, and Thai fabrics, and multi-faceted design elements, are representative of the evolution of his butterfly concept to his “Thumbelina” muse.  Designing primarily for younger women, he utilizes sheer Indian chiffon, hand-stitching, sequined borders, shoe-lacing, and embroidery.  His clothes have become popular in Kloset shops in Central Chitlom, Central Phuket, Emporium, Zen, and the Kloset flagship store in Gaysorn Plaza, and they are exported to Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Design philosophy 

“I envision my Thumbelina concept to make a woman feel like she’s floating on wings, combining cotton with soft chiffon tops, allowing women to have more fun, while still retaining an innocent charm.  I love mix-and-match, with lots of details.  Lots of women love to wear jeans, and I’ve created a softer look through colorful cotton, which I think women will love to wear.”  

At the young age of 30, Nat sees the quality of his clothing becoming more highly evolved through his sales in stores such as Kloset Gaysorn.  “Before, when I had my small shop, I couldn’t afford the best fabrics because the market just wasn’t there.  Now, even though I make clothes for all budgets, I can create intricate, beautiful designs of high quality.”  Nat Mangkang is an emerging, exciting designer whose work will soon, we believe, be seen increasingly in international shows and events. 

Nat’s designs are featured in Kloset shops at the department stores listed above.  For a comprehensive selection, visit the Kloset flagship store, 2nd floor of Gaysorn Plaza.  www.klosetdesign.com

If “doing well by doing good” is a measure of success, Khun Pawinee of Ayodhya must be doing well indeed.  Her Ayodhya designs make resplendent use of water hyacinth, a plant that is normally seen as a fast-breeding threat to navigable waterways.  She employs hundreds of families in processing the vines for production, providing economic solutions for country families and helping to solve a navigation crisis in the bargain. 

Perhaps the most striking element of Ayodhya’s houseware products are the astounding selection of textures, from the cork-like endpieces of the hyacinth that can be found on bowls and rugs, to the intricate weavings found on boxes.  These unique pieces are a feast for the eye, and are displayed in Khun Pawinee’s beautifully designed clean, uncluttered shop interiors in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.

Her story 

Khun Pawinee was born in Bangkok, one of six children.  Her father, a Thai Air Force Marshal, raised the family in an open-minded manner along with Pawinee’s mother, who sewed clothes for the family.  Pawinee began drawing and painting at an early age, and, finding an early affinity for architecture, began drawing trees for her cousin’s architectural plans. 

She entered Bangkok’s Silpakorn University to study interior design and architecture, and received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Decorative Arts in 1976.  She founded Sahacha, Ltd. architectural and interior design firm in 1979.  In 1989, after having spent two years researching the feasibility of utilizing water hyacinth as a commercial resource, she co-founded Yothaka International Co., Ltd., which sells furniture utilizing the plant.  In 1995, she founded Ayodhya Ltd., which distributes water hyancinth-based designs world wide, and operates retail shops within Thailand. 

The water-hyancinth story is a fascinating look at the process of building a sustainable, ecologically-friendly product line that benefits local economies in several ways.  The project began with the Friends of Women’s World Banking Association in Thailand (FWWBT), who funded Pawinee’s research as to the feasibility of using water hyacinth stem as raw material for furniture manufacturing.  The raw material was found in abundance in Lake Phayao in northern Thailand, where its rapid growth presented a generations-old problem in navigating blocked waterways.  Pawinee’s work included studying potential ways of processing hyacinth, investigating the effect of mold on the material, and dealing with variation in color.  

Human resource issues were important as well, in determining the best localities for processing, where workers would be motivated to do the work.  She experimented with sewing, weaving, and placing the material on frames.  Finally, she developed prototype room displays, and opened her first Yothaka shop at Peninsula Plaza, adjacent to Bangkok’s Chao Phraya river. 

In 1995, she opened her first Ayodhya shop, specializing in high-design housewares, including baskets, bowls, placemats, rugs, and small boxes.  Together, the Yotaka furniture and Ayodhya houseware lines have utilized over 7 million meters of water hyacinth, supplied by over 500 families, and processed by over 200 workers.  The material is cut, dried on off-season rice paddies, then woven in the workers’ spare time. 

Along the way, Pawinee’s managed to keep busy working on side projects that interested her, one of which was the traditional Thai design of the Shangri-La Hotel shuttle boat on the Chao Phraya, done in 1990.  She also developed the interior design prototype of  the Jim Thompson shop’s local and overseas branches. 

As an important social contribution, she designed and manufactured handicrafts and furniture using the warehoused products of Her Majesty Queen Sirikit’s SUPPORT Foundation.  The final product was twenty sets of furniture, auctioned to support the Queen’s initiative for training villagers to grow and process native materials, and produce crafts that will economically benefit their families and communities.  The auction raised more than 100 million baht for the program. 

Design philosophy 

“I’m a texture person, and need to see variations… sometimes ceramic textures inspire me, and I test everything myself, from weaving through design.  I always have at least four or five designs in process, then pick the one that interests me the most.” 

“There has to be a lot of balance in selecting a product… can we make it affordable, and also pay our workers well?  We experiment with a prototype for two months to determine if all the factors are there to make the product work, commercially.  Every year, we strive to differentiate our products, looking for new designs, new ways of processing the material…  we have a new collection each year, with our focus on designing exciting products that will appeal to the world market.” 

“I’d like visitors to our shops to appreciate the idea that in buying beautifully designed housewares and furniture, that they’re also benefiting Thai villages and workers, and helping to raise their standard of living.” 

Ayodhya designs are available in Bangkok at: 

Ayodhya
Third Floor, Gaysorn Plaza
BTS Skytrain Chitlom station
Tel: (02) 656-1089 

Ayodhya boutique
Exotique Thai shop
Emporium, 4^th Floor
BTS Skytrain Phrom Phong station 

Panta
Siam Discovery Center, 4^th Floor
BTS Skytrain Siam station
Tel: (02) 658-0415 

Ayodhya designs are available in Chiang Mai at: 

Ayodhya
Nimmanhemin Soi 1
Chiang Mai
Tel: (053) 358-249
GPS:  N18°47.984’  E098°58.062’