The moment I entered the house of Apisake Kosihadej, a 36-year old award-winning Thai interior designer, I’m greeted with, “Momo destroyed all my certificates and I had to throw them away some time ago… Come in!” I take off my shoes and enter his house only to be greeted by a grumpy-looking Persian cat while, from the corner of my eyes, I see another cat dashing upstairs.
Also known as Mix to his friends, Apisake Kosihadej brings me a soft drink and invites me to take a seat at his work station. “This is my home office,” Mix says while waving his hands around a cacophony of interior design books, albums and magazines. “Let me show you what I’m working on at the moment.”
While he opens the files on his laptop I have a look around and realize that this so-called home office is more like a very personalized home-cum-studio. Works in progress on a pin board, framed photographs of past projects, an area full of pens of every possible kind, stationeries and graph-paper litter an opposite desk. And, of course, all around the floor, a never-ending proof that there’s another “master” in the house. Momo’s sand-box, feeder, climbing props and toys are strewn here and there. I look for the two cats, but they’ve both disappeared.
“My first venture in the design business was as a jewellery designer,” Mix answers my question about the beginnings of his still-young career as an interior designer. “It was a family business and I was involved in all the design, production and sales process but I wanted to do something on my own.”
“I was young and still am [he laughs] and I wanted to try and carve my own path in life,” he continues. “I couldn’t have done that by solely depending on my relatives.”
So, after about a year of working in the family business, he associated with a friend and they started their own gemology business. “We designed our own jewelry using precious stones and tried to infuse our own style and concepts in the product,” Mix explains. Obviously, what they were doing was closer to art than business and they soon realized that they could not make enough money so the two partners parted ways and continued on their own journeys of self-discovery.
One night, as he was having some drinks with a designer friend, Mix had an epiphany. “We were sitting around a small table when I noticed that the top surface of the table was swollen from all the hot and cold drinks that had been placed on it. ‘Why can’t they just make proper furniture?’ I thought to myself.”
From that one thought, Mix and his friends decided to open a furniture company with the mission of creating quality, durable and fashionable furniture. But, like in most businesses, partnerships don’t always survive so Mix left the company and started his own. “As now I was all by myself, I could implement my own ideas without having to put them to gain the partners’ votes of agreement.”
That was the beginning of FullHousePlus, an interior design company owned, managed and operated by one person only: Apisake Kosihadej.
At the same time he also started submitting his best furniture designs to various competitions run by TV shows and design magazines and, not long after, he became noticed. “I won a few awards, among which was the Young Designer Award, and I was featured in Home Decorative Design, Thai Fusion, Room, Daily Beds, ISME, and Talent Thai.”
For those who are in the interior design business, these names of magazines, TV programs and projects will be easily recognized as the zenith of a designer’s achievements. “I could have easily got myself a well-paid job at a big company in Bangkok and enjoyed the money and status but, at the same time, living a miserable eight-to-four life in a cubicle,” Mix declared when asked about the challenges he faced at first.
“My wish was to use my passion and talent the way I wanted to. If I failed, then I could always apply for a job and move on in life. But if I hadn’t ever tried to build my own company, then I would’ve regretted that for the rest of my life.”
Surprisingly enough, Mix also confessed that he still does have tons of regrets. “I come up with what I think is a great idea but, for various reasons, I never manage to follow through with it and try it out. But the reverse side of the coin is also true. When I think I came up with a brilliant idea and it turns out to be a total failure, then I just wish that I had spent my time on a totally different project.”
Swamped in more work that he can actually handle all by himself, Apisake Kosihadej keeps a low company profile on the internet. Clients reach him via recommendations and word-of-mouth while the work that he creates speaks for itself better than any fancy website. Still, for business inquiries, you can contact him on 081-686-9554 or visit his Facebook page.
Mix’s advice for young designers
1. Believe in yourself and have the guts to follow your dreams and ideas. If you don’t try you won’t succeed. And even in failure you will succeed.
2. Be aware of your environment. Out of all my projects, the ones that won me awards, recognition, fame and even money were all inspired by things that I noticed in my travels or my daily life. Watching villagers separate thread for their loom gave me the idea for an outdoor chair. I built a multipurpose lamp by simply observing a fisherman using a traditional fishing net. I made a decent amount of money by designing and producing an armchair inspired by canom chan, a layered Thai sweet.
3. Don’t follow any trends. On the contrary, make the trends. Become the tip of the spear, not the foot soldier holding the shaft of the spear. Be inventive and innovative. Think outside the box. Don’t follow patterns, rules and templates. Design everything from scratch and the results you’ll get will make you a better designer even if the finished project ends up gathering dust in the corner of your workshop!
Mix’s tips on generating ideas
– Get out of the house and explore the world around you.
– Travel on budget. Sleep in tents.
– Listen to the sounds of nature. Watch the river flow.
– Read books. Read comics. Flip through design books, magazines, and artistic albums.
– Go on an adventure. Do something new. Surprise yourself. Challenge yourself.
– Listen to music. Sing in the bathroom. Fool around with a musical instrument.
– Play a sport. Anything goes:archery, golf, basketball, table tennis.
– Sketch. Sketch. Sketch! Every day. Do it for fun!
Where to tune in with like-minded people:
Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC)
TCDC Bangkok
Located on the 6th floor of the Emporium Shopping Complex, TCDC is the place for all designers (young or seasoned) to meet, do research, and exchange ideas. Visit their permanent and temporary exhibitions, get a membership card, browse their library of 34,000+ books in both Thai and English, flip through 200+ titles of magazines and journals, rent their multimedia, and check out their online database. Open from every day of the week except Monday from 10:30 to 21:00. Free entry. Website: www.tcdc.or.th
TCDC Chiang Mai
Offering pretty much the same opportunities for people interested in design like the headquarters in Bangkok, TCDC Chiang Mai is located behind Muang Mai Market and is open every Tuesday to Sunday from 10:30 to 18:00. Free entry. Website: www.tcdc.or.th/chiangmai
Bangkok Art & Culture Center (BACC)
Occupying one side of downtown’s Siam intersection, BACC is an institution that aims towards bringing into the public’s eye the latest trends in contemporary art. Art, music, theatre, film, design are all well-represented in a great variety of programs and events. It’s also a great place for people interested in the world of art and design to network as well as make use of their library, studio, and galleries. BACC is open every Tuesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 21:00. Free entry. Website: www.bacc.or.th
Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA)
Built by Boonchai Bencharongkul, a Thai businessman, MOCA’s mission is to preserve and protect Thai art and culture and to offer young Thai artists and designers a springboard to the world of contemporary arts. The exhibitions curated there, the films and documentaries they play, and the events they organize are well worth a visit by anyone who wishes to better understand the trends in today’s Thai art. MOCA is situated in Bangkok’s Chatuchak district. Entry fee: 180 baht for adults, free for children. Website: www.mocabangkok.com
Photography by Jojit Pangilinan
A much shorter version of this article was initially published in Mango Metro (November 2014, Vol.8, No.12)
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