ASA Journal 15/2023
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138<br />
professional / studio<br />
How did “Studio Locomotive”<br />
start?<br />
I got a degree in interior design from<br />
King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology<br />
in Ladkrabang’s Faculty of Design, Art,<br />
and Design. I worked in a design shop in<br />
Bangkok after I graduated. While working<br />
there, I was part of a team that handled<br />
hotel projects. Most of the projects we<br />
worked on then were renovations for<br />
restaurants and hotels. I worked there<br />
for more than five years. During that time,<br />
I also worked on a small job renovating<br />
an old Phuket hotel. Since I live in Phuket,<br />
it gave me a chance to go back there.<br />
So, I quit my job and started my own<br />
business. Since I thought it might be<br />
hard to start an office by myself, I asked<br />
a friend who had also graduated from<br />
KMITL to help me set up the studio.<br />
At first, there were only two of us, but<br />
then young people started coming.<br />
There used to be two people doing it.<br />
Now, there are nine.<br />
How do you arrange and manage<br />
work for each project?<br />
Regarding the team’s younger members<br />
—those who have been with us for more<br />
than 1-2 years—each will have their<br />
project to manage, but they will still<br />
report to me and my partner, who cofounded<br />
the studio with me. I will do the<br />
schematic design and overall design<br />
direction in each project. Still, throughout<br />
the production phase and presentations,<br />
the junior members of the team will<br />
adopt the direction that I set to continue<br />
developing. Those who have prior knowledge<br />
and understand our design<br />
approach will be assigned to our office’s<br />
design direction to further work on the<br />
design. After that, the team member in<br />
charge of that project would come to<br />
take care of the designs, and my partner<br />
and I came to help look at the quality of<br />
the details and the contractor’s manner<br />
of working. Regarding site monitoring,<br />
my partner and I will alternate, as will<br />
the team member in charge of that<br />
project.<br />
Do you have a design approach<br />
or philosophy for “Studio Locomotive”?<br />
When opening the office, I often think<br />
about why we design. Even when I began<br />
to work continuously, I kept asking this<br />
question. And then, I started to believe<br />
that our design is a communication<br />
Saffron Cruise by Banyan Tree Bangkok<br />
Our role is to bring our abilities, collect all<br />
we have, and present them most effectively,<br />
and with the best it can be, to present to<br />
those we communicate with.
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