Bangkok Design Week 2026 returned for its ninth year last month. This year, BKKDW2026 claims that, the festival is a systematic platform driving the city-level creative economy. Organised by the Creative Economy Agency, the event asserts that designing is a practical tool which must be applied to elevate standards, create new opportunities and forge new pathways for survival of the city, the economy and Thai businesses.

The heart of Bangkok Design Week is an experiential framework built around three main dimensions – Creative Talent, Design Business and The District, which reflect its role as a city-level economic platform. Creative Talent showcases creative potential and supports idea development while Design Business opens pathways for business connections and international collaboration. The District revitalises urban districts and reactivates their economic life.

Held until Sunday, the event presents over 350 creative programmes in many districts including Charoen Krung, Phra Nakhon, Pak Khlong Talat, Bang Lamphu and other areas throughout Bangkok. Here are some highlights.

**Venue: **Suphan Classic Home, Bang Pho **Title: **Made In Bangpho

Bangpho is well-known as a woodworking community. The exhibition "Made In Bangpho" explores the question: What is the brand identity of Bangpho? Pimpipat Hongdulaya, a designer of Primary Workshop, explained that the project began as an experiment when she brought an old chair to handicraftsmen in Bang Pho for repair and discovered that the chair could be fixed in one day (the exhibition displays the chair brought for repair).

"Bang Pho’s furniture is unique and is not limited to woodworking; it offers a complete range of products. However, the furniture market is competitive and there are many affordable options available online. The project team discussed whether Bang Pho’s craftsmen should focus on repairs, as the craftsmen can complete repairs within a day, or on branding which highlights key strengths such as warranties or educating customers about craftsmanship," said Pimpipat.

Besides the repaired chair, the exhibition also displays a limestone-like sheet.

"As Waste Matter is an architectural studio that repurposes sorted food waste, such as seashells and eggshells, into construction materials, we are interested in mixing sawdust with coffee grounds and calcium carbonate from eggshells to create a limestone-like wall decoration. This material could possibly be worth 2,000 baht per square metre."

"Made In Bangpho" is open to feedback that can help organisers reach a conclusion about Bangpho’s brand identity. Visitors can scan a QR code and leave their comments.

‘Open Airwaves’.

**Venue: **One Bangkok Title: Open Airwaves

Aspiring musicians and DJs who want to share their demos, write or record songs at a quality recording booth, should visit "Open Airwaves" at One Bangkok from 3pm to 9pm. At the exhibition, there is a recording booth equipped with microphones, songwriting tools and a camera which will capture music enthusiasts’ special moments. Participants do not need to have experience. There will be team members to assist them. Highlights from "Open Airwaves" will air on facebook.com/bangkokcommunityradio.

Venue: One Bangkok Title: NKUST x SU in Partnership with One Bangkok

National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology in Taiwan and Silpakorn University collaborated at the exhibition "Green Craft x Life Aesthetics x Local Culture".

Students from both institutions teamed up for a project and used local materials from their countries to design and create products.

Students who worked on the project "The Representation Of Dessert Culture Via Tableware Design" explained that they designed craft packaging for four kinds of desserts: steamed, baked, fried and syrup. While Thai students created rattan trays and covers, Taiwanese students chose bamboo as their main material for their containers.

Students used recycled plastic and colourful 3D printing technology for product design of the project "Reinterpreting Food Culture Into Tableware Collection". Inspired by Isan woven baskets for holding sticky rice, Thai students designed a utensil holder and a condiment holder. Meanwhile, Taiwanese students designed food containers inspired by xiaolongbao steaming baskets.

‘Central Park Design For Bangkok’.

**Venue: Central Park ****Title: **Central Park Design for Bangkok

"Central Park Design For Bangkok" exhibits the history of the land where Central Park is located. As the mixed-use development project is located in Silom, the exhibition explained that the name of Silom came from the word meaning windmill. In the mid 19th century, the area was an open farmland and had many canals where windmills pumped water for rice fields. In 1971, the Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel was opened as Thailand’s tallest building at that time with 23 storeys.

Nuntinee Tansrisakul, an experienced designer, explained that Central Park has on display distinctive architectural elements, such as zig-zag facades, angular facades, crisscross escalators and curved columns. These elements were created as interactive block building activities where visitors can make their own creations from the blocks.

As the 7 rai rooftop park is one of the highlights of Central Park, a corner of the display showcases information about it. The exhibit claims that this 11,200m² green park produces enough oxygen for 700 to 1,000 people to breathe all year round and neem trees, mok trees and other species help filter PM2.5 around the clock.

**Venue: **Grand Postal Building, Bang Rak **Title: **Fascinating Bangkok – Art Empowers Enterprises

Nanhai district in Foshan, China is known as the hometown of Wong Fei-hung, a martial art master and folk hero. Additionally, the district is famous for its traditional lion dance. "Nanhai Good Gifts Exhibition", which is a part of the exhibition "Fascinating Bangkok – Art Empowers Enterprises" displays various merchandise from Nanhai.

An exhibitor introduced two products: fabric pouches and traditional female undergarments. The fabric pouches are inspired by traditional Chinese fabric pouches and the designs were created based on hand-drawn illustrations on paper which were scanned and digitised by a digital knitting machine. Subsequently, the machine printed the details of the drawing directly on the fabrics.

Traditional female undergarments were worn by women in the royal court during the Ming Dynasty. They were made of silk which made them comfortable to wear. The designer brought back these traditional garments because she wanted women today to have the opportunity to wear undergarments previously reserved only for women in the royal court.

The Chinese exhibitor hopes that this exhibition will encourage Thai designers to collaborate on a design project with them.

‘Daydream’ by A440 Sound Lab.

**Venue: **Marshall Livehouse **Title: **Daydream by A440 Sound Lab

After a long day, visitors can take a rest at the "Daydream" exhibit. Located at Charoen Krung 36, "Daydream" resembles a bedroom in a dim light. A silhouette background of the city with a moon revolves behind a bed. Visitors will hear serene music which consists of acoustic sounds, synthesised sounds and ambient elements that help them feel calm.

Pongtorn Techaboonakho, a member of A440 Sound Lab, said visitors are welcome to stay at "Daydream" as long as they want. They can lie down on the bed as well if they wish.

"We created an atmosphere by collecting sounds around us such as vehicles, city sounds, water sources and oceans. This 30-minute sound begins with chaotic noise and ends with peace; the sound loops repeatedly. We mixed natural sounds with electronic sounds using synthetic machines. We repeatedly tested our experimental sounds and made changes until we felt that the sounds were calming and peaceful."

I-Stamp.

Venue: The Grand Postal Building **Title: **I-Stamp

I-Stamp is a souvenir stamp set that lets visitors create their own stamp set using their photo. A set of four stamps costs 60 baht and a set of 12 stamps costs 120 baht.

For more information, visit bangkokdesignweek.com.

‘The Representation Of Dessert Culture Via Tableware Design’.

‘Reinterpreting Food Culture Into Tableware Collection’.

Fabric pouches at ‘Nanhai Good Gifts Exhibition’.

Traditional female undergarments at ‘Nanhai Good Gifts Exhibition’.

photo courtesy of CEA