How does being Thai affect your design?
Being Thai has no effect on our designs actually. Our products have distinctive quality and character. We’re asked by our customers often if our products are really Thai made and the answer always makes them go wow.

How do you think Thai fashion customers have changed their perception toward Thai designer brands?
I think it’s getting better than before. There are a lot of Thai designers that are accepted worldwide. Each brand has their own concept and distinctive design, so there is now more customer awareness.

What should we expect from your next collection?
We’re starting our customization service in July, and there will be more professional looks coming up at the end of this year.

How does being Thai affect your design?
Each designer is rooted in a different culture. We draw differently, see differently and the time, culture and environment we grow up with affects how we create things. Pink in Thailand is possibly different from pink in Japan. What I mean is the Thainess has already been buried in our mind and soul, so our design obviously reflects our Thainess too.

How do you think Thai fashion customers have changed their perception toward Thai designer brands?
We’ve been receiving much more attention. Most of the brands are becoming more distinctive and fresh ideas seem to pop up every day, not to mention how the cutting quality has been improved. Projects like the Bangkok Fashion Society (BFS) or Bangkok International Fashion Week (BIFW) also help Thai brands gain more awareness and attention from the customers.

What should we expect from your autumn/winter collection?
We went out on the Columbus Cruise for summer, and so we’re continuing our journey to the forest for autumn/winter. The main story will revolve around a caravan, hunting and camping in the wild.

BK: How long have you been selling fried pork?
Boy: About a year. I was a messenger for a company in Thong Lor before I decided to start helping my aunt sell fried pork. But the stall has been around for almost six years.

BK: Was it a hard decision to quit your job?
Boy: Not at all. It’s a family business and it’s fun because I get to talk to customers. I like jobs where I can talk to people. I persuade passersby to try my fried pork by talking to them in a friendly manner.

BK: What’s your daily routine like?
Boy: I sell fried pork every day except on Sundays, from 5am-6pm. We have Mondays off every two weeks. Weekdays are busier than Saturdays, though. Our customers are all ages from teeangers to people in their 60s. There are celebrities too, like DJ Chao Chao and Tong Tong Mokjok.

BK: Have you ever tried fried pork from other vendors?
Boy: No. But there are many vendors that have tried to make fried pork like ours. I’m confident in our fried pork, though, because each day I am able to sell 90 to 100 kilos [1 kilo is B340]. What’s special about Moo Tod Chao Wang is that the pork is soft and tasty. My family now has 16 branches, including Silom and Klongsan Pier.

BK: Are your stalls affected by the economy?
Boy: Yes. When the price of pork increased, I had to raise the prices a bit. I got fewer customers but I can still keep selling constantly. The palm oil is also expensive at B60 a bottle.

BK: Do you have any other dreams?
Boy: Like everyone, I want a good social status and good well-being for my family. If I have enough money I would expand this business and have more branches. I would also have new stalls under my own name and set it up in busy areas.

BK: If you were not selling fried pork, what would you be doing? Do you think you will be doing this forever?
Boy: I would go back to my previous job. I only came to help my aunt because there were not enough people. This is a family business and I think I should keep doing this until the next generation can take care of themselves. Interview by Sasinipa Wasantapruek and Aimmarin Siritantitam

I was born in the USA as my parents were living there at the time. My father had won a doctorate scholarship so he brought my mother with him. We came back to live in Chiang Mai when I was three.

I formed a secret gang called “Men in Black” to agitate at my school when I was in grade 11. I did it because I didn’t like that our school had accepted twice as many students as they could manage. Many of them had connections with school officials.

We climbed the school wall to break in at night and put up posters saying “no privileged children” on the wall. The teachers knew who did it but they had no evidence, so we didn’t get caught.

I started listening to music because my father listened to an English radio station in Chiang Mai where he was a newsreader. The station played international songs.

The first album I bought was Mariah Carey’s Music Box. I remembered that I went to the record shop intending to buy an international music cassette without knowing any of the singers. I ended up picking Mariah’s album just because she looked so pretty—well, back then she did.

I instantly fell in love with her music after I played the cassette. After that, I bought all of Michael Jackson’s albums and started to buy music regularly.

I started to play drums in grade nine after I asked my senior at school if I could play in his band. I also taught myself to play guitar mostly from Tommy Emmanuel’s finger-style music. I formed a vocal group with four of my friends.

I never studied music formally but I tried to listen and wrote down the notes.
I sang and played percussion in a pub every night during university. But it became impossible to do so in junior and senior years because classes were tough. Plus some of the professors were friends of my father, who is also a professor there. So I couldn’t skip class after playing music all night.

I became a member of ETC when the former lead singer of the band, Deer, got a record deal with another band, Acappella 7. The head of the band asked me to fill in. It took four years for us to have our first album in 2004.

I play drums very well when I’m heartbroken. Once my friend told me I played so beautifully that it sounded like the feelings came out of the drums. That’s what I love most about music. It’s an emotional outlet.

I’m very glad that Sorayuth Sutasanajinda [Channel 3 anchor] chose our song as Lin Ping’s song. At some concerts, the audience even asks us to play “Lin Ping’s song.” That’s pretty funny actually.

I personally think Lin Ping and our song, “Sing Mee Chee Wit Tee Riak Wa Hua Jai” (“A Living Thing Called Heart”), are perfect for each other. Plus, we’re from Chiang Mai. A Chiang Mai panda and a Chiang Mai band, it’s like we were destined to meet! But I’ve never seen her.

The first days of my monkhood were really confusing when I was ordained earlier this year. I was so worried about my work. I couldn’t rest my mind. All my life has always been so busy.

My advisor monk told me to practice meditation. It allowed me to look into myself and discover the cause of my suffering. It was like waking up in the middle of an invigorating waterfall. It was the brightest moment.

I wanted to stay in the monkhood a little longer but I had to get my projects done. Now I still try to find some free time to practice meditation.
I want to enhance my music skills as much as I can. I also focus on getting better at drums because I want to be a professional in this field.

We’re releasing our songs in EPs because we feel that every song in the album is single-worthy. We don’t want any of them to be left out. Our new album, PUSH, is out next year.

I hate exercising in fitness centers. It always makes me feel uncomfortable. I love wake-boarding. If I’m free, I go for half a day. I love the water, the sun and the vastness of the sea.

If I were the governor of Bangkok, I would implement ways to improve fast transportation. I might build a special motorcycle lane and create a formal motorcycle taxi system.

I want to be like Joey Boy. He has achieved all that he has wanted and has become an expert in the field he loves. He no longer makes music just for money, but because he truly loves it and wants to help others. I want to be like that too. Interview by Kanyanun Sunglaw and Nuchanat Prathumsuwan

Your latest exhibition deals with the misled youth roaming around Bangkok's streets. Why did you choose to focus on these kids?
I feel like street kids are viewed as ghosts socially. No one can see them, like air. Like stars, if you lose one, nobody cares. But their youth is very pure and very alive. The kids in YOUTH are dangerous, but I want to make them look fun. I don't want to make people feel pity. I am interested in their smile, rather than how poor they are. They have a hard life, but they still have a smile. They have fashion and style. They do their hair and they have hormones. Youth is fun.

What kind of gear did you use for the YOUTH Exhibition?
A FujiFilm camera I got in Japan for 1000 baht and some expired film.

Why such low grade equipment?
I wanted to link it with [my subjects' lives]. They don't know death. They don't know time. Time and death don't matter. In their lives, everything isn't perfect, so I don't want to use perfect equipment.

The expired film gave the photos a very ghostly, enchanted feel. Did you plan on this? Did you retouch anything?
All of my photos and the ones in YOUTH are analogue and never retouched. I think they way the photos turned out is charming. But it was all by chance. I never think, “today, I want to shoot this.” I just bring my camera with me everyday and see what comes of it. I don't know the effect of the camera. I follow the idea and make it happen.

Your unorthodox style has created some very original photos. What is your technique?
My technique is less about photo skill, and more about communicating with people to share something with me. I want to find ways to open my subject's hearts. The essence of a photo is something I put on film. That's what a photo is. It's not about quality. Quality doesn't mean photo. If you can print it, see it and feel something, that's a photo.

Your subjects are dangerous people in dangerous places. Has anything ever happened to you?
Thailand has a poem, “If you want a tiger kid, you should go to tiger mountain.” If you want to document violence, then go to the ghettos. Two years ago I was taking photos of motorcycle taxi guys. I couldn't say I was a photographer because I was undercover. Somebody saw my flash and hit me on the head and I was knocked out.

How would you describe your art?
I never say I'm an artist. I'm a photographer. I follow ideas. I don't follow the camera. I can use any camera to make a photo. My background in fashion and my fashion sense makes my photos different than other journal photographer's. After that, I just have fun meeting strangers on the street.

Is your work political?
My work is political. Photography is how I make my point. I think all violence comes from politics in some way. Politicians never make people think about education. Education is very important, especially for these kids. They're always like “make money, make money,” but money comes from education too.

When did you realize that you wanted to be a documentary photographer?
During my Bachelor's degree, I focused on being a fashion photographer right up until my exit thesis. I changed my thesis last minute to documenting what I knew best: my hometown, Bangkok.

What was your upbringing like?
My family wasn't rich, but they gave me good advice. It was hard going to University. I couldn't go out with my friends because I never had money. That's why I didn't start smoking and drinking. I think I'm lucky.

YOUTH is on display from Jun 4-26 at BKK Arthouse, 3/F, BACC.

Opened last summer, Talad Rod Fai (the train market) has quickly become the new beloved weekend night market and an essential spot for vintage shoppers. Located on Kampangpetch Road, not too far from MRT Kampangpetch, Talad Rot Fai’s many stalls offer fashion, décor, toys and more, but unlike its older brother, Ratchada Night Market, Rod Fai Market has a more casual vibe and isn’t quite as packed. And even if you’re into buying secondhand stuff, you can still stroll the stalls with friends, sipping some cold drinks or snacking on some food and just enjoying the evening breeze and old school music.

In the wide open space available, most of the products are laid out on the ground or are hanging off the owners’ retro cars. Used clothes in good condition or even brand names start from as little as B100. Accessories like sunglasses and vintage suitcases start from B2,500. There are also some unsual finds that you never knew you even wanted, like 20-year-old knives for B29, American license plates from various states, a B300 baseball bat in different colors, an odd B50 cylinder-shaped carton that was used as a paracetamol container and even toothpaste and soaps from decades past. And if you love collecting merchandise from brands like Coke, Pepsi or Heineken, there are plenty to choose from. Mechanic tools, vehicle spare parts, 70s cars and bicycles are all available as well.

Not all this junk is just for decoration though. Rot Fai Market is full of old gadgets like fans, radios, telephones and film cameras from when you were still in kindergarten. And the shops in the old train warehouse are full of 70s-90s furniture: sofas, chandeliers, dining tables, and sets of china and even barber shop chairs—everything you need to open your own retro bar.

And if that gets you hungry and thirsty, try grabbing a cup of foamy Thai iced tea, vintage style soda and cocktails at one of the garage-style bars. Or take a seat on the wooden platform near the railway at the back of the market to grab a bite.

Kampaengpetch Rd., 081-920-3972. MRT Kamphaengphet. Open Sat-Sun 4pm-1am but most of the vendors won’t get there until 5:30pm.