Interior design:
Hidden, neglected Thai comparative advantage?
By Jon Fernquest |
Interior design, an export industry?
In today's interconnected world of outsourcing, this is definitely a possibility.
Also a good reason for relaxing List Three restrictions on foreign employment in Thailand under the Foreign Business Act, or so an article in today's Bangkok Post business section argues.
Design is already proving to be a Thai comparative advantage in the international marketplace as evidenced by the thriving Thailand Creative & Design Center (TCDC) upstairs at the Emporium on Sukhumvit.
Interior design and architecture have potential but are currently neglected areas of design in Thailand.
Read an article about another foreign interior designer with headquarters in Thailand.
Read an article about foreign architects participating in the design of state-of-the-art Thai buildings.
DESIGN
Local designers making their mark
NINA SUEBSUKCHAROENMonday April 21, 2008
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Thai designers have an edge because they deliver what is promised, says Mr Mauriello.
While Thailand has made its mark in various areas internationally, interior designers are often overlooked and unsupported, says Breton Mauriello, the chief executive officer of DWP Cityspace.
Mr Mauriello, who has been in Thailand for 13 years, says that interior design companies locally have an edge over their counterparts overseas because they deliver what is promised.
While a quintessential Thai design or look does not exist aside from the country's cultural heritage, local designers do have a flair for using a contemporary Asian style similar to that found in Vietnam, Singapore and Bali. What sets them apart from their regional competitors is their ability to deliver other types of designs besides those considered to be Asian.
"It's very important that we have moved beyond the Asian contemporary look, that Thailand's designers can deliver world-class award-winning designs. Maybe the design is done here but the projects are all over the world," Mr Mauriello said.
Underscoring this is the expansion of DWP, a Thai-owned company with Board of Investment approval. It now has a staff of 350, with 140 in Thailand and the rest spread across 11 cities in nine countries, including Hong Kong, Vietnam, Singapore, India, Bahrain and Dubai.
"It's a real success story and nobody says it," Mr Mauriello said. "That's why when we got BoI approval, and I did a presentation to the BoI, they said, 'Why should we give you BoI privileges?' And I said, 'Do you understand what we are doing, the significance? We are a service industry, we are selling Thai brains, not Thais making Christmas trees or Thais making shoes anymore.'
"We win awards in New York, London, Hong Kong for designs that came from here, from people that are sitting here, and for me I am proud of that. I am also proud of my other companies in Vietnam."
In Vietnam the company has 130 people, followed by 35 in Bahrain, 25 in the UAE and 30 in Singapore. DWP is big in Vietnam because it initially formed an alliance with other interior design firms that eventually merged into one company called DWP Attitude.
As expected, the Vietnam-based company brings in the most revenue after Thailand since the economy is booming. "Vietnam is Thailand 15 years ago before the crash," Mr Mauriello said.
Singapore has proven to be a much tougher market to break into because it has a long-established reputation for being a design centre, " but we are determined to break that", he said.
The slowdown in Thailand in the past two years led the company to sharpen its focus on other markets, but Mr Mauriello said this was a natural response for any company with international ambitions.
"If we do a corporate office for Reuters, we also want to be able to do Reuters in Singapore and we need people in Singapore who can do it," he said.
However, in the Thai market, while corporate work has been slow, demand in the hospitality industry has been booming.
DWP coped with the slowdown in three strategic ways, including diversifying its client base. "We were large in corporate offices four or five years ago, banks and corporate offices, then we opened up retail, residential, hospitality," Mr Mauriello said. "We went and got some of the best people from our competitors, spent a lot of money in Thailand in the belief that we could take it forward and we have been successful."
The second strategy was to merge its regional operations into one company comprising units in Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong. The third was to bring the work back to Thailand.
"From here we are working on hotels in Shanghai, and on a hotel in India even though we have an India office, because the knowledge is here," Mr Mauriello said.
"What wins a project and keeps suppliers coming back, where we make the money, is the concept, the creativity."
While DWP does help overseas clients source furniture and other materials, often it suggests doing so locally. If they fail to find what they are looking for, then he recommends suppliers in Thailand because both the price and quality are good.
Mr Mauriello sees room for more good interior designers in Thailand, and he regrets that the government seems to have neglected this industry. "I know the government has the big creative design centres and they talked about making materials and designing things, but they missed interior and architectural designers; they didn't talk about us," he said.
Mr Mauriello urged authorities to help liberalise the industry. "For instance, architecture is still restricted and I don't think that's great," he said. "To a point I understand it, many countries do it, but I think there is room to bring in international architects, to give them special dispensation, to allow them to practise here. Because with them might come some other knowledge that we might need to make the next step." ]
(Source: Bangkok Post, business section, 21-04-08, page B3, NINA SUEBSUKCHAROEN, temp-link)
Vocabulary:
design - planning the appearance, function of products (product design) or the arrangement of rooms, furnishing, and decoration in buildings, offices, and houses (interior design) (See Wikipedia)
designers - people whose profession is design
interior design - the art of designing and decorating the insides of homes and apartments, "not to be confused with interior decoration, interior design draws on aspects of environmental psychology, architecture, and product design in addition to traditional decoration" (See Wikipedia on interior design and interior decoration and a list of Wikipedia articles on interior design)
outsourcing - hiring a company in another country at lower cost to do work that used to be done in the company (See Wikipedia on outsourcing and offshore outsourcing)
the Foreign Business Act - the basic law covering foreigners doing business in Thailand, also covers working in professions
List Three - the list of occupations, professions, jobs, and businesses restricted to foreigners in Thailand, part of the Foreign Business Act
comparative advantage - the foreign trade activities that a country is most efficient at doing (See The Economist glossary)
making their mark, made its mark - become well-known and famous for something
have an edge - have an advantage
overlooked - do not notice something that is important
counterparts - a person in a different organisation or company who performs the same function as you do
quintessential - the perfect or typical example of
quintessential Thai design - the perfect example of Thai design
have a flair for - have a natural ability to do it well
a look - a style or appearance (for example, a modern look for the interior of your home, or that look is already a little dated)
the Asian contemporary look - a style of interior design that is currently very popular in Asia
moved beyond the Asian contemporary look - try something new and different from the currently popular "Asian contemporary" style
Board of Investment (BOI) - an agency of the Government of Thailand to promote investment in Thailand, provides investment information and services for investors, as well as many incentives (See Wikipedia and website)
privileges - a special advantage or right that only a few have (See glossary)
what we are doing, the significance, the significane of what we are doing - the importance of what we are doing
service industry - the part of an economy that provides services, this share grows relative to manufacturing and agricultural as an economy develops, includes services such as healthcare, tourism, restaurants, insurance, advertising, transport and logistics, distribution and sale of goods, wholesaling and retailing, entertainment (See Wikipedia and list of services)
formed an alliance with - join with another company to do business together
break into a market - when a company starts producing goods and services in a market
tougher market to break into - it is more difficult to start doing business and succeed in this market than other markets
a reputation - being known or remembered for something good or bad (See glossary)
long-established reputation - people have known about you for a long time
focus - pay special attention to one thing (rather than get distracted by many things)
sharpen focus - increase focus
sharpen its focus on other markets - investigate other markets in greater detail (in order to enter these markets successfully)
the natural response - a reasonable and expected response in the situation
ambitions - the things you want to achieve
a company with international ambitions - a company that wants to do business overseas
corporate work - contracts with large companies to do work (often at their overseas offices in many countries)
the hospitality industry - includes businesses such as hotels, food service, casinos, and tourism (See Wikipedia)
cope with - deal with the problem, solve the problem
coped with the slowdown - deal with the slow economy, and the problems doing business it creates
diversifying - increasing the variety (to be safe)
diversifying its client base - increasing the variety of different companies and people it does work for
merge - join together into one
comprising - having as members
one company comprising units in Vietnam, Singapore and Hong Kong -
wins a project - offer the successful bid for a contract (in competitive bidding)
keeps suppliers coming back - happy customers (suppliers) continue to "come back" for more repeat business
creativity - the ability to create new and interesting ideas, especially artistic ideas (See Wikipedia)
source - to get a product or basic material needed in your business from somewhere
source furniture and other materials - find places to buy the furniture needed in interior design
urge - try hard to persuade to do
authorities - the government, the people who control the rules and regulations
urged authorities - tried to persuade the government to do
liberalise the industry - reduce restrictions and regulations that make it difficult to do business (See glossary)
to a point - to a certain amount or level, but not beyond this
there is room to - a certain action or behaviour is possible or feasible (given the current situation)
give them special dispensation - give them special permission to do something normally not allowed
practise a profession - carry out the activities of a profession (doctors practice medicine, lawyers practice law, architects practice architecture, etc)
allow them to practise - allow them to carry out the activities of their profession and earn money from it
