August 2006 128th Issue
Hua Hin Events
ANTHONY KELLY SINGS HAPPY BIRTHDAY FOR KEN AT CRAWFORDS, WHO LOOKS CONCERNED AT THE POTENTIAL FIRE HAZARD THAT WAS HIS CAKE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY KEN!
CAN SHE CUT IT? YES SHE CAN! NAM CELEBRATING HER BIRTHDAY AT COCO 51 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY NAM!
EYES DOWN FOR A FULL HOUSE AT THE EVASON AS MARTIN COUNTS THE CANDLES ON HIS CAKE - MANY HAPPY RETURNS!
SOME DEFT FOOTWORK WAS ON DISPLAY AT THE OBSERVER SPORTS DAY, HELD FOR THE STAFF AND FRIENDS ON 1ST JULY. THE EVENT FEATURED A TAKRAW COMPETITION, HAMPERED SOMEWHAT BY AN EARLIER DOWNPOUR, BUT MUDDY FUN NEVERTHELESS!
Hua Hin Online Community
We start this edition on a sad note and would like to express our deepest regrets at the loss of Joe Smith, our thoughts are with his wife Wendy and two daughters Hannah and Rachel. Many of his friends and colleagues paid their respects on the forum to a man that lived his life in the fast lane.
Property still dominates discussion topics as many people are now looking to rent in the wake of the recent government shake-ups. There are still many die-hards that feel that individual buyers will not be affected. The net result seems to be many concerned new property owners and a number who have simply pulled out of buying their dream home in Hua Hin. It is unlikely that this was the intention of the crackdown, however there will always be casualties when regulations are enforced, it has yet to be seen who will suffer the most.
Plenty more on the weather as people plan their holidays in the wet season, luckily Hua Hin is one of the driest cities in Thailand though this is hard to believe when it does rain here! We have a few images of the floods online now as the new Hua Hin photo gallery has finally been launched. It can be seen at http://photos.huahinafterdark.com, this long awaited section will be available for members to submit their own images.
Local events and clubs have been active with a number of parties, pool, darts, book clubs and even Hua Hin Dog Rescue Centre activities. The boards are a great place to meet people in Hua Hin with like-minded interests.
Some good questions have been posed to the long-term expats regarding their general feelings about life in Thailand. There are also a number of topics regarding that little number that affects us all: age.
Following the world cup the forums were inundated with chat about the events and England's demise. Congratulations to the winners, Italy.
We would like to welcome our latest sponsors, Buddha & Buddha art gallery with the most impressive collection of Buddha images and art in Hua Hin. We also finally have a freshwater fishing venue up along the Pala-U road called the Hua Hin fishing lodge. Look forward to a sunny day and getting up there to check it out.
HHAD forums are the definitive online message boards and discussions for the area, there are sections for finding and booking accommodation, seeking out bargains, and exploring the local area and beyond. There is also a nightlife section for the night owls, a restaurant and feeding guide along with an online meeting point for visa runners and clubs. The ever popular “Ask the expats” section is great for quickly getting the answers you need from the people that live here. Logon and find out what is happening in Hua Hin:
www.huahinafterdark.com/forum
Hua Hin Radio
A question for Observer readers; what is the newest and most exciting thing to happen in the Hua Hin area this year?
Answer: Our new local radio station, Surf 102.5!
Yes, broadcasting from Petchaburi to Prachuap, Surf is the only International music radio station in Hua Hin and the surrounding areas. Founded originally in 2005, and owned by two Thai brothers as part of the Visitor Media Company, in the last few months the station expanded to incorporate both Thai and International DJs, playing a wide range of musical styles daily from 6 am to 12 midnight. Surf have got a licence to air 24 hours per day, and will no doubt expand into the wee hours at a later date to cater for all those night owls. In July 2006 the station started broadcasting on 500W of stereo power, and will soon also be available via a listen live link on www.huahinradionews.com . Surf 102.5 is a commercial station relying on advertising revenue but with a stated aim to keep advertising at only 10 minutes per hour.
Current Advertisers
Tesco Lotus
Starbucks
Major Bowl
Major Cineplex
Black Canyon
Pizza Company
Hua Hin Ham Bacon and Meat Company
Siam Property
Sizzler
Pure Electric
SGA Flights
Privilege Travel
Col 's Fish and Chips
Ford
TOT
Orchid Homes
And many more…
One of the station's slogans is ‘By the people, for the people', with listener feedback always welcome, and requests and dedications taken on 032-534302. There are currently three foreign DJ's and a number of Thai DJ's who will be more than happy to play the music you request. Any experienced or budding DJs are also welcome to contact Surf, as they are always looking for new talent, and there are plans to develop the scheduling as the station grows, including phone-ins, and specialized shows. They are planning a huge beach party, with live DJ's in the near future, watch this space.
Schedule
06.00 to 13.00 DJ Jew, Easy Listening (soon to be re-scheduled)
13.00 to 16.00 The Afternoon Slot
Hip Hop with Mr G
16.00 to 19.00 (every day but Friday) 16.00 till 17.30 (Friday)
The Drive Time Show
Eighties, Nineties and Naughties with Matt Lavender
17.30 to 19.00 (Fridays) The Evening Session
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday
The Top 20 with DJ Nat
19.00 to 22.30 The Evening Session
Tuesday, Thursday, Sunday
Soul, RnB, Blues as deep as you like it with Dr Dave Soul Monsta
22.30 to 00.00 The Midnight Hour
Jazz with DJ Jew
International news on the hour from the BBC
DJ profiles
DJ Jew - Deputy Managing Director
Born in Ayutthya
The ‘stop gap guy' DJ's at those unsociable times when no one else wants to! You'll never hear him speak on air, he leaves that to the other guys, he is a music only man.
Likes Jazz
Hobbies – music, travelling
Favourite food – fish, seafood
Would like Surf FM to be an International station in 5 years time.
Matt Lavender - General Manager
Background, born in London but grew up in Birmingham UK .
Travelled over land and sea, (without planes) from Birmingham (UK) to Sydney ( Australia ) before eventually settling in Thailand .
Worked for Suan Dusit Rajabhat University in Hua Hin before being offered the position of GM at Surf.
Been DJ'ing since the age of 14.
Musical influences, early house, old skool hardcore, breakbeat anything originating from the glory years of 91-94.
Showtime – 4pm till 7pm, playing 80's, 90's and naughties.
Working for Surf is the ideal job for me because finally I get to use the education and qualifications I obtained in combination with my passion for music everyday.
Hobbies – DJ'ing, Travelling, Juggling, Dance Music Production.
Favourite food – Kaao Kaa Muu.
Where will Surf FM be in 5 years – We will be a 24 hour National radio conglomerate with huge listener numbers and advertisers who are fighting for advertising air time.
DJ G
‘Man of Mystery'
Background – Islington, London , 2 ½ years in Thailand
Musical tastes – Hip Hop, RnB
Show time - 1pm - 4pm everyday
Hobbies - music, sport
Favourite song of the moment – Busta Rhymes, Love My Bitch
Why do you like to DJ – ‘My love of music'
Where will Surf be in 5 years - Biggest station inThailand
What's the best thing about Surf FM? – ‘It's got me!'
What do you like most about Thailand ? ‘Weather, beaches and food'.
Favourite food - Pad kaprao.
Painter Decorator/Bedroom DJ
Dr Dave Soul Monsta
‘Mod at heart'
Background – Born Oldham, Manchester , England
Musical influences – Northern Soul, 60's RnB, Blues, 60's Garage, ska and reggae
Hobbies - classic scooters, good music
Playing on stereo now – Paul Weller
Show time 7pm - 11pm Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays
Best thing about Hua Hin – ‘The King lives here and he used to have a Vespa'
Where will Surf FM be in 5 years – ‘International'
‘Brought up with Scooters and rallies, Northern Soul Tamla Motown and all nighters, it's a passion not a fashion'
Club DJ and promoter around the north of England
‘DJ'd with Geno Washington, Edwin Starr, just to name a few, the list is so long and my memory is past remembering'.
Favourite place in the world – here.
Favourite food – Penang Curry.
DJ Nat
Born in Bangkok , moved to Cha-Am 6 years ago.
Currently working at Somtawin School and DJ'ing on Surf for fun.
Likes Hip Hop.
Show time 5.30 pm until 7pm on Fridays.
Top 20 show, anything from top 20 Madonna songs to top 20 rock anthems.
Hobbies – modern dance
Favourite food – Somtam
Hua Hin Regatta
The Hua Hin Regatta will take place on 2 nd to 6 th August 2006,at the Hua Hin Naval Yacht Club, near Klai Kang Won Royal Palace . It is being organised by the Yacht Racing Association of Thailand (YRAT), in conjunction with the Royal Thai Navy, Tourism Authority of Thailand and the District Authority of Hua Hin. The Regatta is classified as a Category C event, and the classes racing are as follows:
Thailand Open Championship races – Optimist, Super Mod, Platu (one design)
Vega Rudder races – Laser, 420, 470, Fireball, Catamaran, Platu (one design)
The schedule is as follows:
2 nd August 0800 – 1800 Registration
3 rd August 0900 – 1800 Registration
1300 Practice Race
1800 Skipper Briefing
1900 Opening Ceremony & Welcome reception
4 th August 0800 – 0900 Registration
1000 First warning signal of the day for Thailand Open Championship races
5 th August 1000 First warning signal of the day for Thailand Open Championship races
6 th August 0800 Start of the Vega Rudder Race
1800 Prize giving
1900 Closing Party
For more details please contact YRAT in the following ways:
Telephone: 02 475 5455 (also fax)
02 472 0852 (also fax)
02 466 6687
Email: sail@yrat.or.th
Website: www.yrat.or.th
Or contact the Regatta Office at the Naval Yacht Club, Hua Hin:
Telephone: 032 514210
Joe Smith R.I.P
It is with the deepest regret that we announce the death of Joe Smith, victim of a road accident on July 2 nd 2006. The Observer team wishes to pass on our sincerest condolences to Joe's family, and in particular his wife, Wendy, and their two daughters, Rachael and Hannah.
Joe and his family moved to Hua Hin in late 2004 to take over the go-kart track, which they renamed JWS Motorsport. They quickly became part of the community, hosting and participating in many local events, both at the kart track and elsewhere. Joe had been a successful kart driver in the UK, and always displayed his will to win, but also always with a smile on his face. Friendly, outgoing and generous, Joe will be missed by everyone who knew or met him; he lived life to the full, with the pedal to the metal, and he didn't waste a second. He will be remembered forever.
A reception mass was held on 12 th July and the Funeral service the following day in Luton. If anyone wishes to pay a tribute to Joe the family have requested that donations are made to the motor trade charity BEN. A service will also be held in Hua Hin once the family returns.
The following are a selection of tributes paid by friends and acquaintances on the Hua Hin internet message board as per the wishes of his wife; details of a local service will also be posted there.
JD - Joe was a winner with a beautiful family, who last month put a spread on at the track for my wedding that was second to none. Have some great photos and memories of the man.
He always looked out for me and has been a great help for me in the past, a source of friendship and companionship that seldom comes around. A friend of old again rekindled, to wait again for another time. An Anum Cara, to quote my ancestors.
You will not be forgotten Joe. See you again sometime, someplace, maybe on another shore. R.I.P. Mate.
Ken - This is so sad. My very deepest sympathy to Wendy and family. Although disappointed with the result, he was still very cheerful when he left Crawfords last night. We talked a little about the game and he thanked me for reserving his normal table. What an absolutely terrible thing to happen to such a good guy.
Dr dave - Joe your calls with requests for help when you couldn't fix the Karts will be missed, so will the “hairdryer” comments about the scooters, but you knew who to call to help get your “GO” karts back on the track.
“Another time another place my friend and keep the pedal to the metal all the way”
This is a very sad day for not only Wendy and the two children Joe has left behind but for the whole of Hua Hin.
JW - Wendy, Rachael and Hannah,
Joe was a good friend who I enjoyed many beers and laughs with. I will miss him very much - we were both petrol heads.
You have good friends here and can lean on us anytime you need to.
My thoughts are with you.
Dionne - We at the Volkswagen Group in Milton Keynes were deeply saddened and shocked by the untimely death of Joe, our deepest sympathy goes to Wendy, Rachel, Hannah and all of Joe's family on their recent loss. Joe was a fun loving guy who was always up for a laugh; he will always be remembered for his whit and determination to succeed in life. Our thoughts are with you x
David Lingham - Joe was a business colleague and became a friend. We shared a love of karting and over 8 years competed together in the UK in over 120 events around the country. We won many races together and even three championships. Many times we shared the journey to the tracks and over time I really got to know him. I found him fun and he always wanted to push the boundaries - and I know he would have done anything for me.
When he told me he was planning to go to Thailand to see about buying a kart track, my initial reaction was one of horror but as the idea sunk in I could only wish him luck. At the end of the day he was "living a dream". I though it was wonderful that Wendy and the girls supported him. I know he thought the world of them.
Many of his colleagues and friends in the UK are horrified and shocked and I know many of us will want to find a special way of keeping him in our thoughts.
This is just a small selection of the many heartfelt words expressing their shock and sympathy.
Buddha and Buddha
Is a new Buddha-Art Gallery that is located right between the Chiva Som and the Hyatt Regency, at Takiab Road in Hua Hin.
At the gallery you will find a wide variety of Buddha images and art in many styles, made out of stone, bronze, terracotta, wood and other materials and in highly decorative quality. Each piece has its own beauty.
From antique Burmese to modern Thai Buddha sculptures.
The Dutch owner Mark Zwarts is very happy with his new shop, “I collected Buddha images for a long time and it has always been my dream to turn my hobby into my work, and I am still fascinated with my total collection”.
The Gallery is open every day from 9 am until 7 pm.
For more information call 05-2950010 or 05-2933867 or see their webpage:
http://www.huahinafterdark.com/buddha-buddha.htm
This shop you don't want to miss when you are in Hua Hin.
Mothers Day
Although the rest of the World celebrates Mothers day in May, here in the Kingdom of Thailand this celebration takes place on August 12th, which is also the birthday of her majesty the Queen of Thailand, Queen Sirikit.
Her Majesty Queen Sirikit was born on Friday, August 12,1932, as the eldest daughter of His Highness Prince Chandaburi Suranath and Mon Lung Bua Kitiyakara. Her Majesty was born with the royal title of Mon Rajawongse and Her name "Sirikit", which means "Glory to the Kitiyakara Family",was given by His Majesty Fing Prajadhipok (Rama VII ). Apart from being a royal wife and mother, Her Majesty the Queen also dedicates her tireless efforts for the betterment of the Thai people and the entire nation. The Queen spends much time travelling to rural areas to find sources of supplementary income in the off-season or in areas affected by droughts or floods. In order to help poor people in rural areas make both ends meet, The Foundation for the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques (SUPPORT) was established on July, 21 1976 under Her Majesty's patronage. The foundation has achieved remarkable success, today thousands of rural folks and their families are benefiting from Her Majesty's countless efforts and initiatives.
As a tribute to Her Majesty's boundless contributions for the happiness of the entire population and the prosperity of the nation as a whole, August 12 is now a public holiday. This year as the 12 th falls on a Saturday the following Monday August 14th is a holiday throughout the Kingdom, so all government offices are closed and you can expect traffic jams all around as holiday makers pour to and from the capital for their 3 day weekend jaunts to the beach.
“Spirit of Being”
"Spirit of Being” is the title of the solo exhibition of Bangkok-based Australian artist, Adele Perry. In this Exhibition Adele captures the unique and distinct styles of dress and jewellery of Thailand 's various Hill Tribes. Adele uses watercolour paint and ink to reflect the vibrant colours and patterns inherent in Hill Tribe costumes. "Spirit of Being" pays tribute to these indigenous people's traditions, their unique costumes and their strength of beliefs.
Having been a fashion designer in Australia for over thirty years, Adele has had a working appreciation for the artistic creation of original clothing, jewellery, embroidery and weaving styles. Her travels through remote areas of Northern Thailand inspired her to document and paint these remarkable aspects of Hill Tribe culture. Adele comments "I simply wanted to capture and share the spirit of these amazing creations and traditions." She uses a rich yet subtle colour palette of watercolour paint to capture the intricate details of patterns and textures. With ink she enhances movement and a pleasing three-dimensional appearance, giving the paintings a translucent and ethereal quality.
Australian born Adele Perry has been living in Thailand for over four years. Her passion for painting, clothing and interior design began at eleven years of age and eventually led her to complete a Degree in Fashion Design. Having spent over thirty years as a successful Fashion Designer in Australia , frequently traveling the world for inspiration and market trends, Adele is now retired and relishing her time spent discovering the magnetic charm of Thailand and the Thai people. She finally has time again to focus on her great love of painting.
Two of Adele's paintings will be auctioned with all the proceeds being donated to the Rotary Club of Charoen Nakorn to be awarded to Thai orphaned and under-privileged children. One painting will be auctioned at the exhibition opening on August 3, and the other painting as a silent auction, running until the end of August.
The exhibition runs from 1 st to 31 st August at The Rotunda Gallery, Neilson Hays Library, 195 Surawong Road , Bangkok . Tel: 02-233-1731. Opening hours are: Tue – Sun 09:30 - 16.00.
Arts & Culture
Symbolism, Art Nouveau & Les Nabis
The third of our ongoing features on art movements continues chronologically with Symbolism, Art Nouveau and Les Nabis. Most people will have come across the first two names without really knowing what they are all about, while the latter is little known outside art critics' circles, but all of them have had significant influence in art, whether as a stepping stone onto new movements or as permanent ‘styles'. Next month we continue the journey with Expressionism and Fauvism.
SYMBOLISM
Symbolists believed that art should aim to capture more absolute truths, which could only be accessed by indirect methods. Thus, they wrote in a highly metaphorical and suggestive manner, endowing particular images or objects with symbolic meaning. The Symbolist Manifesto (‘Le Symbolisme', Le Figaro, 18 Sept 1886) was published in 1886 by Jean Moréas. Moréas announced that Symbolism was hostile to “plain meanings, declamations, false sentimentality and matter-of-fact description,” and that its goal instead was to “clothe the Ideal in a perceptible form” whose “goal was not in itself, but whose sole purpose was to express the Ideal”:
In this art, scenes from nature, human activities, and all other real world phenomena will not be described for their own sake; here, they are perceptible surfaces created to represent their esoteric affinities with the primordial Ideals.
French Symbolism was in large part a reaction against Naturalism and Realism, movements that attempted to capture reality in its particularity. These movements invited a reaction in favour of spirituality, the imagination, and dreams; the path to Symbolism begins with that reaction. Some writers, such as Joris-Karl Huysmans, began as naturalists before moving in the direction of Symbolism; for Huysmans, this change reflected his awakening interest in religion and spirituality.
Symbolist movement in literature has its roots in Les Fleurs du Mal (The Flowers of Evil) by Charles Baudelaire. The aesthetic was developed by Stephane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine during the 1860s and 70s. During the 1880s, the aesthetic was articulated through a series of manifestoes and attracted a generation of writers.
Distinct from the Symbolist movement in literature, Symbolism in art represents an outgrowth of the more gothic and darker sides of Romanticism; but where Romanticism was impetuous and rebellious, Symbolist art was static and hieratic. The works of Edgar Allan Poe, which Baudelaire translated into French, were a significant influence and the source of many stock tropes and images.
ART NOUVEAU
Art Nouveau (French for “new art”) is a style in art, architecture and design that peaked in popularity at the beginning of the 20th century. Other, more localized terms for the cluster of self-consciously radical, somewhat mannered reformist chic that formed a prelude to 20th-century modernism, included “Jugendstil” in Germany and the Netherlands, named for the snappy avant-garde periodical Jugend (‘Youth') or “Sezessionsstil” (‘Secessionism') in Vienna, where forward-looking artists and designers seceded from the mainstream salon exhibitions, to exhibit on their own in more congenial surroundings.
In Russia, the movement revolved around the art magazine World of Art, which spawned the revolutionary Ballets Russes. In Italy, “Stile Liberty” was named for the London shop, Liberty & Co, which distributed modern design emanating from the Arts and Crafts movement, a sign both of the Art Nouveau's commercial aspect and the “imported” character that it always retained in Italy. In Catalonia, the movement was centred in Barcelona and was known as “modernisme”, with Antoni Gaudí as the most noteworthy practitioner.
Though Art Nouveau climaxed in the years 1892 to 1902, the first stirrings of an Art Nouveau can be recognized in the 1880s, in a handful of progressive designs influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, such as the architect-designer Arthur Mackmurdo's often-illustrated book cover design for his essay on the city churches of Sir Christopher Wren, published in 1883. Some free-flowing wrought iron from the 1880s could also be adduced, or some flat floral textile designs, most of which owed some impetus to vegetal-derived patterns of High Victorian design.
The name “Art Nouveau” derived from the name of a shop in Paris, Maison de l'Art Nouveau, at the time run by Samuel Bing, that showcased objects that followed this approach to design.
A high point in the evolution of Art Nouveau was the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris, in which the “modern style” triumphed in every medium. It probably reached its apogee, however, at the 1902 Turin Exposition in Italy, where designers exhibited from almost every European country where Art Nouveau flourished. Ironically, Art Nouveau made use of many technological innovations of the late 19th century, especially the broad use of exposed iron and large, irregularly-shaped pieces of glass in architecture, but by the start of the First World War the highly stylized nature of Art Nouveau design — which itself was expensive to produce - began to be dropped in favour of more streamlined, simply rectilinear modernism that was cheaper and thought to be more faithful to the rough, plain industrial aesthetic.
The entrances to the Paris Metro designed by Hector Guimard in 1899 and 1900 are notable and famous examples of Art Nouveau.
Dynamic, undulating and flowing, curved “whiplash” lines of syncopated rhythm characterize much of Art Nouveau. Another feature is usage of hyperbolas and parabolas. Conventional mouldings seem to spring to life and “grow” into plant-derived forms.
As an art movement it has affinities with the Pre-Raphaelites and the Symbolism (arts) movement, and artists like Aubrey Beardsley, Alfons Mucha, Edward Burne-Jones, Gustav Klimt, and Jan Toorop could be classed in more than one of these styles. Unlike Symbolist painting, however, Art Nouveau has a distinctive visual look; and unlike the backwards-looking Pre-Raphaelites, Art Nouveau artists quickly used new materials, machined surfaces, and abstraction in the service of pure design.
Art Nouveau in architecture and interior design eschewed the eclectic historicism of the Victorian era. Though Art Nouveau designers selected and “modernized” some of the more abstract elements of Rococo style, such as flame and shell textures, in place of the historically-derived and basically tectonic or realistic naturalistic ornament of high Victorian styles, Art Nouveau advocated the use of highly-stylized nature as the source of inspiration and expanded the “natural” repertoire to embrace seaweed, grasses, and insects. Correspondingly organic forms, curved lines, especially floral or vegetal, and the like, were used.
Japanese wood-block prints with their curved lines, patterned surfaces and contrasting voids, and flatness of their picture-plane, also inspired Art Nouveau. Some line and curve patterns became graphic clichés that were later found in works of artists from all parts of the world.
Art Nouveau did not negate the machine, as other movements such as the Arts and Crafts Movement, but used it to an advantage. For sculpture the principle materials employed were glass and wrought iron, leading to sculpture-esque quality even in architecture.
Art Nouveau is considered a “total” style, meaning that it encompasses a hierarchy of scales in design — architecture, interior design, jewellery, furniture and textile design, utensils and art objects, lighting, etc.
2-dimensional Art Nouveau pieces were painted, drawn, and quite popular in printed material like advertising, posters, labels, magazines and the like.
Glass making was an area in which the style found tremendous expression — for example, the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany in New York and Émile Gallé and the Daum brothers in Nancy, France.
Jewellery of the Art Nouveau period revitalised the jeweller's art, with nature as the principal source of inspiration, complemented by new levels of virtuosity in enamelling and the introduction of new materials, such as opals and semi-precious stones. The widespread interest in Japanese art and the more specialised enthusiasm for Japanese metalworking skills, fostered new themes and approaches to ornament.
For the previous two centuries the emphasis in fine jewellery had been on gemstones, particularly on the diamond, and the jeweller or goldsmith had been principally concerned with providing settings for their advantage. With Art Nouveau, a different type of jewellery emerged, motivated by the artist-designer rather than the jeweller as setter of precious stones.
The jewellers of Paris and Brussels created and defined Art Nouveau in jewellery, and in these cities it achieved the most renown. Contemporary French critics were united in acknowledging that jewellery was undergoing a radical transformation, and that the French designer-jeweller René Lalique was at its heart. Lalique glorified nature in jewellery, extending the repertoire to include new aspects of nature — dragonflies or grasses — inspired by his encounter with Japanese art.
The jewellers were keen to establish the new style in a noble tradition, and for this they looked back to the Renaissance, with its jewels of sculpted and enamelled gold, and its acceptance of jewellers as artists rather than craftsmen. In most of the enamelled work of the period precious stones receded. Diamonds were usually given subsidiary roles, used alongside less familiar materials such as moulded glass, horn and ivory.
LES NABIS
Nabis (or Les Nabis; the prophets, from the Hebrew term for prophet) was a group of young post-impressionist avant-garde Parisian artists of the 1890s that influenced the fine arts and graphic arts in France at the turn of the 20th century.
Les Nabis originated as a rebellious group of young student artists who banded together at Académie Julian in Paris, France. Paul Sérusier galvanized Les Nabis, and provided the name and disseminated the example of Paul Gauguin among them. Pierre Bonnard and Edouard Vuillard became the best known of the group, but at the time they were somewhat peripheral to the core group.
Meeting at Académie Julian, and then at the apartment of Paul Ranson, they preached that a work of art is the end product and the visual expression of an artist's synthesis of nature in personal aesthetic metaphors and symbols. They paved the way for the early 20th century development of abstract and non-representational art. The goal of integrating art and daily life was a goal they had in common with most progressive artists of the time.
Nabis artists are noted for the variety of media in which they worked. In addition to the fine arts, they worked in printmaking, poster design, book illustration, textiles, furniture and theatre design.
Their emphasis on design was shared by the parallel art nouveau movement. Both groups also had close ties to the Symbolists.
Next Month: Expressionism and Fauvism
Fashion part II
The second and final part of our look at the world of fashion, following last month's look at some of the top designers, encompasses the origins of today's fashion world, a small insight into the workings of the industry, and a focus on the efforts by Thailand to promote it's own designers, brands and rejuvenate the fashion industry here with the Bangkok Fashion week concept.
Fashion and design is all around us nowadays; what you are wearing right now was at some point designed by someone, whether you are in genuine Armani or Boss, or just a plain t-shirt. Or you might be wearing a watch, carrying a suitcase or smelling sweetly because of one of the fashion designers. Some people can't abide designer labels and steadfastly avoid them, but that, in itself, is a form of fashion, or anti-fashion rather. Whatever your opinion there is no denying that the fashion world has had a remarkable affect on, and has been a mirror to, modern culture, from art to music to movies.
The first fashion designer who was not merely a dressmaker was Charles Frederick Worth (1826–1895). Before the former draper set up his maison couture (fashion house) in Paris, clothing design and creation was handled by largely anonymous seamstresses, and high fashion descended from styles worn at royal courts. Worth's success was such that he was able to dictate to his customers what they should wear, instead of following their lead as earlier dressmakers had done. With his unprecedented success, his customers could attach a name and a label to his designs once they learned that they were from the House of Worth, thus starting the tradition of having the designer of a house be not only the creative head but the symbol of the brand as well. (Foreshadowing another contemporary trend, the House of Worth remained in business long after its founder's death in 1895, continuing until Worth's great-grandson closed the house in 1952.)
Modern fashion design is roughly divided into two categories, haute couture (French for ‘high sewing' or ‘high dressmaking'), and ready-to-wear. A designer's haute-couture collection is meant exclusively for private customers and is custom sized, cut and sewn.
To qualify as an official “haute couture” house, a designer or company must belong to the Syndical Chamber for Haute Couture, a Paris-based body of designers governed by the French Department of Industry that includes American, Italian, Japanese, and other designers as well. In France, the designation “haute couture” is protected by law. A certain number of formal criteria (number of employees, participation in fashion shows...) must be met for a fashion house to use the label; a list of eligible houses is made official every year by the French Ministry of Industry. The haute couture houses belong to the professional union, the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. As of 2006, official Haute Couture houses include: Chanel, Christian Dior, Jean Paul Gaultier, Givenchy, Valentino, Christian Lacroix, Adeline André, Frank Sorbier
Foreign members in 2006: Giorgio Armani Prive and Versace are also shown during the couture shows, as foreign members invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne
The French term for ready-to-wear (not custom fitted) fashion is prêt-à-porter. Every haute couture house also markets prêt-à-porter collections, which typically deliver a higher return on investment than their custom clothing. In fact, much of the haute couture displayed at fashion shows today is never sold; it is created to enhance the good name of the house. Falling revenues have forced a few couture houses to abandon their less profitable couture division and concentrate solely on the less prestigious prêt-à-porter. These houses are no longer considered haute couture.
COUTURE COLLECTION
A haute couture house must show collections twice yearly with at least 35 separate outfits in each show. It is often shown on the catwalk and in private salons.
Ready-to-wear collections are not custom made. They are standard sized which makes them more suitable for larger productions. Ready-to-wear collections can also be divided into designers/createur collections and Confection collections. Designer/createur collections have a high quality, a superb finish and a unique cut and design. These collections are the most trendsetting compared to Haute Couture and Confection. Designer/createurs ready to wear collections contain often concept items that represent a certain philosophy or theory. These items are not so much created for sales but just to make a statement. The designer's ready-to-wear collection is also presented on the international catwalks by people who do fashion modelling.
For all these fashion houses, custom clothing is no longer the main source of income, often costing much more than it earns through direct sales; it only adds the aura of fashion to their ventures in ready-to-wear clothing and related luxury products such as shoes and perfumes, and licensing ventures that make the real money. Excessive commercialisation and profit making can be damaging, however. Cardin, for example, licensed with abandon in the 1980s and his name lost most of its fashionable cachet when anyone could buy Cardin luggage at a discount store.
The 1960s also featured a revolt against established fashion standards by mods, rockers, and hippies, as well as an increasing internationalization of the fashion scene. Jet travel had spawned a jet set that partied - and shopped - just as happily in New York as in Paris. Rich women no longer felt that a Paris dress was necessarily better than one sewn elsewhere. While Paris is still pre-eminent in the fashion world, it is no longer the sole arbiter of fashion.
Confection collections are the ones we see most commonly in our shops. These collections are designed by stylists. The brands that produce these collections aim only for a mass public and are in general not searching for new grammar for the language or a new point of view on/of fashion.
Although many modern fashion designers work in a “traditional” way -- making clothes that are fancy and expensive, but still based on standard/traditional construction and design concepts - some designers have broken these “rules” over the years. These include some now-deceased designers such as Elsa Schiaparelli, who worked in the thirties, forties, and fifties; Japanese designers Yohji Yamamoto, Comme des Garcons, and Clarence Davis from the early eighties to the present; and designers from the mid-nineties onward. An example of a modern-day rule-breaker is Martin Margiela and Warmenhoven & Venderbos. These designers approach clothing, Fashion and lifestyle from new angles and explore also the boundaries of Fashion itself in order to create new concepts and views for fashion design. Their collections are not only restricted to garments (ready to wear as well as couture) and other fashion-related products, but also contain work in other media. The works of this breed of designers can also be placed in a certain Art movement.
Most fashion designers attend art school. Fashion design courses are considered applied arts just like graphic design and interior design. The types of fashion designer - stylist versus designer - are often confused. A stylist inspires his/her designs on existing things, trends and designers collections. A designer starts from scratch; he/she develops a unique concept and translates this into garment collections, other lifestyle related products or a statement in various other types of media. Some designers approach their work just as a fine arts painter or sculptor.
However, there are types of fashion designers that only design clothing and are against any form of publicity, these are call anti-fashionism/anti-fashion, namely Maurizio Altieri of Carpe Diem; he doesn't advertise, and refuses all editorials in defiance of the standards of the fashion.
Inspiration for fashion designers comes from a wide range of things and cannot be pinpointed exactly. However, just like all artists, they tend to keep an eye on things going on worldwide to inspire themselves towards making their future lines. Most fashion designers are besides trained in designing also trained as pattern makers and modeleurs. A typical design team is made up of one or more: designer(s), pattern maker(s) /modeleur(s), sample maker(s), buyer(s) and salesman (men). For presentations and catwalk shows the help of hairdressers, make-up artists, photographers, modelling agencies, the model and other support companies/professions is called upon.
THAI FASHION : Bangkok Fashion City 2006. Political uncertainty in Thailand has also led to some doubt over whether the Thai fashion initiative, Bangkok Fashion City, will continue beyond 2006. There is no doubt that the shows have been successes, although there have also been questions about the timing of them every year, as they don't fall conveniently for either designers or buyers. Thailand has got a plethora of good, young designers and design companies, but prior to Bangkok Fashion City, there was no focus every year within Thailand, and it would be a great shame if it were not to carry on.
Bangkok Fashion City is a joint government-private effort started in 2005, which aimed to put Bangkok among the world's fashion elite. The government has given 1.8 billion baht (44.1 million dollars) and the private sector 488 million baht towards the project, which organisers have said includes the creation of a fashion school at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.
“I'm not saying it's going to be Paris, Milan, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Bangkok today, (but) eventually, eventually,” said Tinakorn Asvarak, a fashion show organiser and member of the week's designer selection committee when the 2005 show kicked off. “But if you don't walk forward, everybody will walk past our neighbours and accept them and we'll be left behind.”
The week is also about combating the wide perception of Thai fashion being only Thai silk and cotton and imitation designs, added Tinakorn, “We have a bunch of Thai designers who have brand identities, who have capabilities in production, and also have their own original designs.”
The 2006 show comprised five days of runway shows by top local designers plus several more by fashion students, nearly 50 trade booths, a number of lectures and workshops. The grand finale was Fly Now's always-extravagant show, followed by a euphoric after-show party. However, those involved - insiders or onlookers - might wake up finding themselves struggling with the question of whether the show will go on. The government that funded this initiative is in limbo, and any new government, whenever it gets elected, may well have higher priorities than the fashion industry.
Ponlawat Sookcharus, chairman of AV Projects, organiser of Bangkok Fashion Week, said this year's show was quite different from the one staged last year. “For BFW 2005, we focused on the elegance of the whole event. We wanted visitors to feel its grandeur so that they would have a good impression and give the event exposure,” he said. “This time, it was more amusing, more tangible, intimate and colourful. It was created under the concept of ‘Fashion Festival', so every aspect was more festive.”
Obvious changes included improvements to basic facilities that visitors complained about during the previous event, such as moving the registration area to an air-conditioned indoor convention centre and increasing the between-show intervals to let viewers breathe a little longer without being forced to rush from one runway to the next to keep track of the shows
“Both international visitors and locals said the organisation had improved a lot for the second event,” he said.
The catwalk shows were as stellar as ever. In addition to presenting quality pieces by top-notch fashion houses like Fly Now, Kai, Grey by Greyhound, Issue, Nagara, Sretsis, Headquarter and Boudoir, plus an opening show by HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana, most of the designers incorporated lavish presentations to wow viewers, the media and international buyers. “Designers put a great deal of creativity into their shows,” said Ponlawat. “For example, Grey put on a very raw outdoor show that the international press and buyers really liked. It's rare to see such extreme creativity, even on top runways like Milan and London.”
Despite the uncertainty of the country's political situation, BFW 2006 drew several members of the international press as well as numerous buyers, especially those from unfamiliar markets such as Macau and Kuwait, a result of the relentless promotion of the event. However, in the eyes of the local populace, for whom fashion can be a distant, irrelevant aspect of everyday life, such an event during a time of crisis might have seemed inappropriately festive. Understanding from the public, Ponlawat believed, was key to the possibility of staging future events as well as the development of the fashion industry in general. “An export value of over 300 billion baht per year is not little, and that's what Thailand has earned from its three fashion segments - garments, leather wear and accessories. The problem is, over 100 billion baht comes from manufacturing for other [non-Thai] brands, which is an unreliable source of income because China is offering cheaper labour as well as a larger variety of materials.”
Ponlawat believes the only way out is to add more value to Thai products by injecting more creativity into the product and marketing own brands. “We might produce clothes for others at a price of 200 baht per piece, but if we add more creativity or design into the piece, we can sell it under our own name for 2,000 or 20,000 baht. Manufacturing for others is a risky business if there's an economic crisis in a couple of years, but if we have several brands of our own, the risk will be less when it comes to competing with other manufacturing countries. That's why the government has to communicate more with the public about the need to support the fashion industry.”
If Bangkok Fashion Week 2006 should become the final official fashion event in the capital, it's likely that the 320 million baht spent on the past two events will have been for nothing. “First of all, it will affect the image we're trying to project as a fashion hub,” he explained. “We've been telling others that we'd have a fashion week and sending out invitations to many honourable guests. They've been impressed with our two fashion weeks so far and want to come back, but we don't have an answer yet as to whether there will be another fashion week - this makes our attempt to convince others of our image as a fashion city unconvincing. It will be a big loss for us if we don't do it again.”
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