How can you create a 1,000 square meter boutique in Bangkok (Thailand), and more precisely in the Ploenchit district, the commercial heart of the city, when you are a luxury multinational like Dior? How to articulate globalization and localism? Cultural sensitivities are now at the center of concerns for groups in the sector. For Dior, whose new Asian address opened on December 8, the answer lies in the celebration of Thai know-how within a hybrid place combining art of living, design and fashion.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers Sleeping Armani, eating Dior: home, strategic business for luxury players
Read later
To do this, the house asked around ten renowned artists to create works and installations intended to occupy this space. The brand notably solicited Wishulada Panthanuvong, artist and environmental activist, who creates very colorful giant sculptures from recycled materials; Eggarat Wongcharit, furniture designer; Vassana and Savin Saima, specialists in basketry, or Boonserm Premthada, architect and artist who works with biomaterials.
Dior also commissioned several creations from Korakot Aromdee, a figure in Thai interior design, known in Southeast Asia for his lamps, furniture, spinning lighting fixtures and bamboo installations. The artist has completely covered the walls of the Café Dior, nestled in the heart of the boutique, with his creations, drawing relief murals in which birds, flowers and delicately sculpted arabesques slide. He also decorated Dior’s medallion benches and chairs.
Tying and smoking
It was the house that approached the artist, interested in his work of figurative sculpture (representing animals, in particular). During the visit to his studio, the teams discovered his specific know-how: twists of bamboo smoked over a wood fire, using the traditional Thai technique. A very specific smoking process which preserves the quality of the bamboo and makes it more durable. The resource is popular in Thailand, used to create baskets, mats, flooring and even building materials.
Korakot Aromdee made a name for himself with his distinctive tying techniques, inherited from his grandfather. The designer was born in a fishing village in Phetchaburi province, where he learned to repair bamboo fishing gear and knot hemp thread to make traditional kites. “My grandfather made me many kites with different types of knots, which I adapt and transform into my artistic creations today,” he explains.
To design this vast installation, the artist not only used bamboo, he enriched his vocabulary with other organic materials such as Donax canniformis (a robust plant from the reed family), sedge (a cutting grass), rushes, banana or pineapple leaves, rattan and lianas.
Korakot Aromdee enlisted the help of around ten local groups, each specialized in weaving and knotting these very specific plants. « My collaborative research work with Silpakorn University [également connue sous le nom de l’université des beaux-arts de Thaïlande] allowed me to participate in design classes to preserve and support Thai craftsmanship. Thanks to this, I was able to delegate numerous sub-projects to local communities, helping to increase their income,” explains the artist.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers “Bamboo Revolution”: story of a plant that fascinates
Read later
For example, he worked with basket weavers from Bang Chao Cha village in Ang Thong province who specialized in weaving bamboo for the royal plowing ceremony, which in Bangkok marks the start of the rainy season and rice planting. Korakot Aromdee also turned to fishermen from Pak Poon village in Nakhon Si Thammarat province for their skill in processing and weaving banana peels into floral designs. The designer adds: “Thanks to this carte blanche, our artisans can learn to adapt, by combining local art and French style. »
