FROM DISCARDED MARBLE, PLASTIC BOTTLES, AND FISHING NETS, COMES THE SANSIRI DESIGN COLLECTION, A FUSION OF BEAUTY AND SUSTAINABILITY, THROUGH THE CIRCULAR DESIGN PROCESS
TEXT: SARUNKORN ARTHAN
PHOTO COURTESY OF SANSIRI
(For Thai, press here)
In a world where resources are steadily diminishing, ‘sustainability’ has become a term spoken more widely than ever before. Yet for SANSIRI, it cannot remain merely a decorative phrase or a green theory confined to the pages of a thick book. Instead, it must become an experience that residents and communities can truly perceive, expressed through design that evolves into ‘functional art,’ existing in balance between sustainability and design.
Isaree Nithipipitchai (left) and Benya Singusaha (right)
Today, art4d speaks with Isaree Nithipipitchai, Department Manager – Customer Experience and Partnership, and Benya Singusaha, Deputy Section Manager – Creative Marketing, two key forces behind the seamless integration of aesthetic sensibility and sustainable thinking within the SANSIRI Design Collection. Each project reflects a working process and a spark of ideas that together shape this thoughtful convergence of aesthetics and responsibility.
The Beginning: A Shared Commitment to ‘Sustainability’
“In shaping distinctive experiences for residents, we do more than design living spaces. We translate SANSIRI’s ideas and vision into forms that are accessible and tangible. With a DNA rooted in design leadership, many may already be familiar with our homes and condominiums that respond to contemporary lifestyles. Yet an equally important dimension lies in the continuity of the after-sales experience, which is sustained and attentive to every detail. The ‘SANSIRI Design Collection’ was created to bring together projects developed through meticulous design under the concept of Livable Beauty – functional art, where beauty and usability are seamlessly integrated. It is this integration that defines a residential experience distinctly SANSIRI.” Benya introduces the story of the collection with ease, reflecting the ethos behind it.
With backgrounds in design, Isaree and Benya share a natural understanding of process and development, speaking a common design language from initial concept through to the crystallization of each collection and project. At the core of their collaboration is the search for balance between beauty, function, and sustainability. For them, sustainability should not be positioned as distant or unnecessarily complex. It should be articulated simply, applied in practical ways, and embedded in everyday life over the long term.
For both, good design is not ‘fast fashion,’ shifting with passing trends. It must understand people, generate meaningful value, and endure beyond the moment. This conviction forms the essence of the SANSIRI Design Collection, an approach intended to be genuinely experienced and truly connected with.
Marble Waste to Marble Worth: Transforming Residue into Value
The real estate construction industry is, undeniably, among the largest generators of material waste. Yet guided by its commitment to sustainability, SANSIRI seeks to redirect that excess, reworking byproducts from its own developments into objects of renewed purpose.
One such initiative is ‘Marble Waste,’ a project that extends the life of fragments of surplus marble from interior construction through a design-led approach. Offcuts are transformed into furniture and everyday objects such as candle holders, bookends, coasters, umbrella stands, reframing sustainability through reinterpretation. The project also makes visible the idea that ‘Sustainable is sexy (too!),’ not as provocation, but as proposition. Sustainability, after all, can enhance beauty, lend vitality, and integrate naturally into the rhythms of everyday life.
Reimagining the ‘Move-In Kit’: A Transfer Box Beyond Transfer Day
Ordinarily, the ‘transfer box’ is set aside almost immediately after the signing of ownership documents. SANSIRI reconsiders its lifespan. Through the Move-In Kit collection, the box is reintroduced as an object designed for continued use, serving both residents and their pets, who are acknowledged as essential members of the household. Each piece carries practical functionality for everyday life, while carrying the brand’s identity through a signature monogram print, derived from the SANSIRI logo and intricately woven into textile patterns. The result is a design that is both refined and meaningful.
The initiative extends further through ‘Sansiri Artist-Made,’ which invited five Thai artists to reinterpret the transfer bag through hand-painted motifs. These limited works were presented to the first three residents across six SANSIRI projects.
Benya adds, “We carefully selected each artist’s illustrative style to align with the concept of each project, while allowing them the freedom to design patterns that reflect their individual identity. These were then harmoniously integrated with the character of the development. The transfer boxes in the Sansiri Artist-Made Collection thus became meaningful gifts; unique, one-of-a-kind collectibles while also responding to sustainability, as they are designed for long-term and versatile use.”
Make Plastic Great Again!: Reviving Plastic
A discarded plastic water bottle became the starting point of The Mirage Collection, a collaboration between SANSIRI, the brand FAHCHAK, and PTT Global Chemical (GC). Within the Setthasiri Don Mueang project, plastic waste was transformed into a luxurious outdoor daybed and parasol. Drawing inspiration from the classical language of Georgian architecture, the design reinterprets its form through softened curves that balance feminine and masculine sensibilities.
“The challenge in developing the daybed was that none of the three organizations had expertise in outdoor furniture. We had to work collectively to determine how recycled plastic bottles could be transformed into a textile suitable for exterior use, capable of withstanding sun, rain, mold, and humidity. Numerous prototypes were tested before arriving at the final daybed and parasol, as well as thoughtfully designed fabric bags developed through a circular design approach.” Isaree reflects on a challenge that ultimately led not only to success, but to the meaningful extension of discarded materials.
Because circular design was embedded from the very first day of development through to the end of each product’s lifespan, the furniture does not conclude its story when wear sets in. Its next life has already been considered. In time, fabric from the daybeds and parasols will be upcycled into hamper bags, extending value and reducing additional waste. This design effort, then, is not merely about creating ‘products,’ but about shaping a material life cycle that continues to circulate. Above all, it is about cultivating awareness, allowing residents to encounter and gradually absorb the principles of sustainability in their everyday lives.
When Recycled Fishnets Become Endless Possibilities: From Discarded Nets to New Learning
Stepping beyond the conventional boundaries of a real estate brand, SANSIRI advances its engagement with sustainability through design with Aqua Playground, an art installation at The Society Phuket, the company’s new social space.
In connecting with the Phuket community, SANSIRI collaborated with PIPATCHARA, a sustainability-driven fashion brand known for material innovation. Together, they repurposed more than 1.5 tons of discarded fishing nets from the industrial fishing sector into a large-scale modular sculpture. Inspired by PIPATCHARA’s distinctive Aqua-R-Us collection and enlarged nearly 500 times in scale, the installation invites visitors of all ages to learn through play, reconfiguring its forms according to their own imagination.
Both shared the warm reception to Aqua Playground. “After the SANSIRI team explained the origins and concept of the project, interest came from all directions; children, expatriates, and teenagers alike. International school groups, particularly students involved in environmental clubs, posed thoughtful and in-depth questions about sustainability. Thai students, meanwhile, were drawn to its creative dimension, gradually opening their own perspectives on environmental issues. While their interests differed in detail, what remained consistent was the spark of dialogue. It’s a beautiful awakening of conversation about sustainability among a new generation.”
The SANSIRI Design Collection stands as evidence that when creativity works in concert with responsibility, design becomes more than ornament. It becomes a medium; one capable of transforming waste into tangible art and of communicating a way of thinking. Taken together, these efforts reflect a larger conviction: that the most powerful form of sustainability is the kind that integrates seamlessly into everyday life; beautiful enough to be kept, and compelling enough to endure.
Ultimately, SANSIRI’s movement, articulated through the work of Isaree and Benya, is not a passing environmental campaign. It marks a new position within the real estate industry: an assertion that design and sustainability are inseparable. When a brand is able to translate policies that may once have seemed abstract into experiences that can be ‘felt and used,’ sustainability ceases to be a decorative phrase. It becomes part of a meaningful way of living, one that carries value forward and extends inspiration beyond itself.