Ek Thongprasert

ONE of the biggest problems facing many young talents is that they tend to favour form over function, which inevitably leads to a lack of commercial viability.

Luckily for rising Thai designer Ek Thongprasert, he has managed to find that elusive balance between the two, thanks to his educational grounding - architecture in Thailand followed by a fashion degree from the Royal Academy of Fine Art in Antwerp.

'When I was training as an architect, it was all about being functional,' says Thongprasert. 'I mix that with the conceptual skills that I picked up in Belgium in order to make my designs more saleable.'

Keeping this design philosophy firmly in mind would stand Thongprasert in good stead, especially as he develops his eponymous high-end main line and a second more commercial line called Curated by Ek Thongprasert that was set up six months ago. Both were exhibited at Asia Fashion Exchange's Blueprint trade fair. The former is a high-end label specialising in menswear and women's jewellery, while Curated is a more affordable alternative mixing contemporary art and fashion.

'Every year I produce four collections for Curated and for each collection I choose an artist, study his philosophy and then I translate that into fashion,' he explains.

There are two key reasons why Thongprasert stands out. The first is how commercially viable his designs are - though highly conceptual in nature, they're not only wearable but look comfortable as well. The second is how he has managed to use his designs to convey social messages.

He cites the jacket he wore for the photo shoot: 'When you look at it from the front, it looks simple, but once I turn around, you are surprised by the outstanding details on the back. This jacket was from a Curated collection that was based on the work of Nick Vessel, a photographer who uses X-ray imagery to showcase the idea of inner beauty. I translated that into my work.'

Armed with such intelligence, it is little wonder that this young talent is on the road to success. One can only hope that he manages to stay right on track.

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This article was first published in The Business Times.