Memories are made of this

You can see them all over the tourist areas of Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Phuket – kitsch elephant dolls, tacky tuk tuk key rings, tasteless Temple of Dawn magnets and cheesy “I love Thailand” T-shirts. Mass produced and not made to last, they are nonetheless snapped up by visitors wanting to take home something from their holiday in Thailand. 

The Culture Ministry, though, has other ideas. It feels that a souvenir should be much more, a memento of places seen and experiences enjoyed and has set out to make that notion a reality with the opening of Bundanthai Centre at Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre. 

The Centre of Thai Inspiration, as it’s called in English, has invited designers to design creative keepsakes that reflect the unique Thai elements of each province. Their prototypes are currently on display at the show “Decoding Souvenir Design” at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre.

“The centre aims to inspire people to merge the charm of Thainess with cutting-edge design. This is a pilot project and aims to offer ideas of how we can present the identity of each place. The prototypes on show are examples of visual translations and should serve as a base for extending creativity,” says Dr Apinan Poshyananda, permanent secretary to the ministry.

Tourism is one of the few bright spots for Thailand during the current economic slowdown with the total number of visitors in the first seven months of this year reaching 17.5 million and generating some Bt800 billion according to the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism and Sports.

Fresh, unique and more sophisticated mementoes could help generate more income for the country.

Celebrated typographer Pairoj Teeraprapa was one of the designers invited to contribute to the project and has responded by simplifying the fauna and flora patterns from temple murals and architecture together with Thai vernacular font for tote bags, notebooks and pins to represent Thailand and Bangkok. The chicken stucco adorning the Ratchadapisek Bridge in the northern province of Lampang inspired Theerawat Pojvibulsiri of Assumption University to create a repetitive red-and-green chicken pattern for a scarf.

Meanwhile, the embroidered animal patterns of tung – the hanging flag used in ritual ceremonies at Wat Nong Bua in Nan province – were a source of inspiration for Arwin Intrungsi from Silpakorn University to create pixel-like animal figures for scarves, T-shirts, cushions and bags. You’ll also find a coffee cup rendered with an indigo dragon pattern taken from Wat Sra Bua in Phetchaburi province by Pairoj Pittayamatee.

Kham Jaturongkakul simplifies the primitive animal figures of temple murals in the northeast province of Khon Kaen for T-shirts, notebooks, and ceramic dolls. As Samut Sakhon is known as a good source of mackerel, Paiwate Wangbon offers shoulder bags printed with a bamboo basket design to match the bag charm in form of a mackerel.

“Identity is the key word to differentiate ourselves from others. Look around your origins – places, neighbours, household utensils – and you will see the unique local identity. To me, Thai art is perfect for promoting that identity. The decorative elements and murals at temples are patterns you can simplify for a new character. That’s much more original than using free-download clip art,” says Pairoj, who is known for his old-fashioned graphic design style and the Thai Fah Talai Jone font he created for director’s Wisit Sasanatieng’s 2000 film “Fah Talai Jone” (“Tears of the Black Tiger”).

Pairoj runs a souvenir shop called Chonabod on Sam Sen Road that offers appealing handcrafts and graphics inspired by the rural lifestyle. His wares, which range from cotton T-shirts, bags, ceramic mugs to postcards and calendars have an old-fashioned appeal with their natural materials and earth tones.

Little wonder then that Pairoj has come up with unbleached fabrics, recycled paper, rustic silkscreens and rubber stamps in designing the souvenirs to represent Thailand and Bangkok.

“To me, the charms of Thailand are its handicrafts, its nature and agriculture as well as low-tech relaxation, fun and joyfulness and we have to mix these to find the right balance. Tourists always look for something that they don’t have in their countries,” he says.

Theerawat visited more than 40 temples in Lampang province to find unique local elements that could represent this northern province. He took pictures of the decorative elements in the floral patterns at Wat Pha That Lampang Luang, the swan design from Wat Pong Sanuk, the white chicken stucco at Ratchadapisek Bridge and the decorative car parts of song taew (shared taxi pick-ups).

“The pictures of selected elements are then simplified with Photoshop and Illustrator to obtain attractive clip art that can be rearranged to form new patterns. The repetitive pattern of the chicken, for instance, is used in red and green, which are the colours in the murals at Wat Pong Sanuk. Other elements are done in indigo and adorn white ceramic coffee mugs, plates, vases and wall clocks,” he explains.

The distinctive, ancient Tai Lue-style wall murals at Wat Phumin and Wat Nong Bua in Nan province served as the inspiration for Arwin.

“The murals depict scenes from the jataka tales along with numerous scenes of Lanna daily life in truly unique styles. The most famous mural is the scene of Pu Man and Ya Man, as the Tai Lue men and women were known, whispering to each other but I’ve opted for the less-known scenes of people smoking. The pictures are simplified using contour lines and printed on a chewing gum box, the inside of which has cigar-shaped chewing gum. The box makes for a small and cheap souvenir and its packaging not only boasts the simplified lines of the murals but also provides a brief history,” says Arwin, adding his clip art of Nan is available for free download at www.SiamType.com.

Pairoj Pittayamatee has also drawn on architecture as well as 17th-century temple murals for his souvenirs representing Phetchaburi province. He applies the mural dragon pattern at Wat Sra Bua, a blend of Thai and Chinese elements, in indigo to a white ceramic coffee cup. The swan design from Wat Koh Kaew and other mural patterns from Wat Yai Suwannaram are simplified into T-shirts.

“The temples in Phetchaburi are living treasures of works by Ayutthaya-era masters. The design patterns are unique in their complex yet freeform styles, which we can distort for a more contemporary look,” says Pairoj, also from Silpakorn University.

Paiwate and his team are in charge of designing keepsakes for 22 provinces and have decided to pick the characteristics of a tourist attraction for each province. These include Nakhon Sawan’s Bungborraped Freshwater Aquarium, Nakhon Nayok’s flower market, rare pink dolphins (sousa chinensis) spotted at Khanom beach in Nakhon Si Thammarat and Yaring Old Palace in Pattani.

“The contour lines of rare fish in the Bungborraped Freshwater Aquarium can be applied to cushions so that when these are arranged together they form a large fish. Pattani’s Yaring Old Palace is also unique for its combination of Thai, Muslim, Chinese and European architecture and its beautifully fretted wooden vents and gables can be transformed into interesting patterns for printing on scarves, cushions and shirts,” says Paiwate.

Silawat Virakul and Suvaroj Poosrivongvanich of Lightfog Creative and Design are in charge of creating souvenirs for another 50 provinces. Their designs are based on playful gimmicks and the possibility for industrial production.

To represent Suphan Buri province, they have come up with a black hat with buffalo horns to remind people of the Thai Water Buffalo Preservation Village. A pencil case in the form of a train symbolises the River Kwai Bridge in Kanchanaburi. And cat-shaped cushions, neck pillows and sleep masks are inspired by the felines at Baan Maew Thai (House of Siamese Cat) in Samut Songkhram.

 

 

Sense of identity

>>> The show “Decoding Souvenir Design” ends today at Bangkok Art and Culture Centre on Pathumwan intersection (National Stadium sky train station). It’s open from 10am to 9pm. Call (02) 214 6630-8 or www.BACC.or.th.

>>> The show will move to Hof Art Gallery (between Sukhumvit Sois 69 and 71) from August 23 to September 1. Visit www.Hof-artbangkok.com.

>>> Bundanthai Centre is on the second floor of Ratchadamnoen Contemporary Art Centre on Rajdamnoen Klang Avenue. Call (092) 965 6366 or Visit www.Bundanthai.com for details.