ART4D SPEAKS TO WICHA WORASAYUN, GENERAL MANAGER OF TOSTEM, LIXIL (THAILAND) PUBLIC COMPANY LIMITED., ABOUT THE DESIGN CONCEPT BEHIND TOSTEM’S BOOTH IN ACT FORUM’19 AS WELL AS THEIR PHILOSOPHY THAT LIES BEHIND EVERY TOSTEM PRODUCT
(For Thai, press here)
There are times when temporary works of architecture are purposefully designed for booths at trade fairs and expositions, which are realized mainly for the sake of sales promotion. Inevitably going forth with such intentions ensue in massive, visually striking built structures created to effectively attract the attention of visitors. Nonetheless, the design of the booth by TOSTEM and its long time collaborator M Space brings a different approach to The International Architect Forum and Building Technology Exposition or ACT’19. By incorporating the wooden joint system, the design enables the 8-meter high structure to be dissembled, made smaller, expanded and even reused for future projects, consequentially reducing the amount of waste left unused after the event is over.
“Environmental responsibility is one of the things we, TOSTEM, as a company that manufacturers construction materials, prioritize,” explained Wicha Worasayun, Country General Manager of TOSTEM brand under Lixil Thailand Public Company Limited, about the concept behind the design of the booth, the brand’s third collaboration with M Space.
Apart from the flexible adaptation of spatial capacity it is able to offer, the wooden joint system is interesting for the way it incorporates Thai and Japanese carpentry techniques, rendering the joinery details where wood and steel merge seamlessly. “The idea behind such details is that we want to show the visitors the perfect combination between wood, steel and aluminium, which are all elemental materials of TOSTEM ’s products,” Worasayun further added that such design aesthetics perfectly encapsulates the Thai-Japanese characteristics of the brand itself.
“While we are a Japanese brand, we have a manufacturing base in Thailand, and throughout the 30 years we have been very open to feedbacks and suggestions from actual users. We’ve continually been improving and developing our products to have the functionalities that fulfil the demands of the local users as well as the country’s contexts, be there the climate, or the functional and aesthetic preferences of both Thai architects and consumers.” This is the reason why TOSTEM turns a section of their booth into a small cafe for architects, users and TOSTEM’s staff to exchange their thoughts and have their questions answered.
2019 marks the year where TOSTEM continues to make itself better known and accessible to the Thai market and its consumers with the opening of the brand’s DEMO ROOM is Chiang Mai and Phuket. We are eagerly awaiting to see what new techniques and innovations that TOSTEM’s future projects will bring.