"One Bangkok" reinforces its vision of evolving Bangkok by continuously driving the city through creativity at Bangkok Design Week 2023 for the second consecutive year, under the theme "urban‘NICE’zation: City-Friend-Good." One Bangkok has shared the concept of creating a collection of public seating, which will be a key element in delivering a better public space experience for the city. Additionally, a public forum was held to discuss ideas about public realms and to reveal some details of the arts and culture activities within the project to the public for the first time.

         Worawat Srisaan, Deputy CEO of the One Bangkok project, spoke about the project's vision in supporting Bangkok Design Week, stating, "One Bangkok places great importance on the concept of sustainable urban development and has continuously supported arts and culture while enhancing the quality of life for city residents. We are committed to moving the city forward in a friendly manner through art, promoting the economic value of creativity for the city and community, and creating a leading business district that serves as a global destination for all lifestyles. A crucial component of this is over 50 rai of public and green spaces that everyone can access, designed to be a relaxation point in the city and a recreational area, providing experiences of art and culture through public artworks and various art programs throughout the project, with the hope of enhancing the quality of life for people in terms of social opportunities, using public art as a voice to communicate important ideas from artists to society, reflecting the identity and stories of the area, and contributing to the development of artists while promoting the creative industry."

Jarintip Chumuenwai, Chief Curator and Executive of Arts and Culture for the One Bangkok project, emphasized the idea of developing a quality city through public realms and the arts and culture activities of the One Bangkok project during the public forum titled Public Realm | Public Art | Public Culture, stating, "Good city design should facilitate quality lifestyles and develop a good environment through the arts and culture programs of the project, adding color to everyday life with art and culture. Recently, in collaboration with THINKK Studio, we organized the exhibition "Seatscape & Beyond Open Studio," showcasing a collection of public seating designed by the ten winning teams of the One Bangkok Urban Furniture Competition 2022, allowing visitors to experience prototypes and the development process behind the winning designs. Additionally, three special awards for outstanding development were announced from the ten teams, creating pride among the new generation of designers who have gained experience working on a global project like "One Bangkok" over the past six months. All designs will enter the production process, installation, and be utilized in the public spaces of the One Bangkok project moving forward."

Ploypan Teerachai and Decha Arjjananun, designers and founders of THINKK Studio, the consultants for the One Bangkok Urban Furniture Competition 2022 "Seatscape & Beyond," shared insights about the standout qualities of the ten winning teams, noting that they are a new generation with open-mindedness and innovative creativity, utilizing new tools and technologies, and exploring unexpected mechanisms in their design thinking and processes, as well as daring to use unconventional materials in their furniture components.

"During the workshop, we focused on providing detailed, step-by-step knowledge to ensure that the ten winning teams understood the system and could plan their work professionally, from material usage, properties or standard sizes of materials, to the production process, learning about the limitations of their work to produce tangible pieces while retaining the advantages of the conceptual design in their imagination."

In addition to the "Seatscape & Beyond Open Studio" exhibition and the public forum, the One Bangkok project also organized a public event called "Seatscape & Beyond Presentation," providing a platform for festival participants to view the final presentations of all winners to select the top three projects with the best development, competing for special cash prizes totaling over 300,000 baht. The judging panel for this event included numerous leading design experts, such as Worawat Srisaan, Deputy CEO of the One Bangkok project, Surapol Uthinthu, Director of External Coordination at Thai Beverage Public Company Limited and Director of eisa (Education Institute Support Activity), Wannee Pornprapa, Managing Director of P Landscape Co., Ltd., M.L. Pawinee Santisiri, Managing Director of Ayodhya Trade (93) Co., Ltd. and founder of the AYODHYA brand, Pichit Veerangbutr, Deputy Director of the Office of Creative Economy Promotion, Jarintip Chumuenwai, Chief Curator and Executive of Arts and Culture for the One Bangkok project, and Jeramye Pitakwong, Managing Director of Media & Event Business at Amarin Printing and Publishing Public Company Limited, among others.

            Join us in exploring the imaginative world of public seating design that will be produced, installed, and utilized in various areas throughout the One Bangkok project during Bangkok Design Week 2023, on display from today until February 12, 2023. You can follow One Bangkok's activities at the area in front of the Central Post Office in Bang Rak and find more details about the winners' works at www.onebangkok.com/urbanfurniture and other communication channels of the project.