My Thai

April 2015, By Nicole Langelier.

It is no secret that most of the furniture sold in Australia these days is made over seas – in Asia specifically – primarily China. Although the quality of some things has improved tremendously (not the sad, sorry want to be ‘Eames’ chairs of course), there is something about that ‘Made in China’ label that still makes many people recoil just a little bit. Everyone wants it to say ‘Made in Italy’, but the likelihood of that is slim these days.

Well the good news is that there is a new player in town – Thailand – and its full of wonderful surprises. Unlike the Indonesians who are a one and and a half trick pony – producing cane furniture by the container load peppered by their twist on Danish modern replicas – Thailand is full of innovative originals of great quality to boot.

The Thailand International Furniture Fair (TIFF) wrapped up in May, and was awash with hungry Australians – not hungry for some fresh Pad Thai (well maybe that too), but hungry for fresh innovations in the furniture world. I am not the only one who is tired of looking at the same old replicas, and the Australian furniture retailers are onto it. The Aussies arrived in hoards to snap up some very cutting edge and well crafted contemporary furniture designs at amazingly reasonable prices. This is high design for those that can’t usually afford high design.

On a recent visit to Click On Furniture in Melbourne (www.clickonfurniture.com.au), a store that formerly sold only replicas but has now changed their business model due to the replica market being over saturated – I was whisked from one new piece of furniture to the next by the friendly store manager. “It’s all from Thailand!” he exclaimed excitedly (to be clear – not all their furniture is from Thailand, but the new pieces he was showing me were).

I flipped and turned and wiggled the chairs and stools checking the quality (fantastic by the way), I admired the variety of colours things came in – but mostly I admired the great design. It was exciting. I was excited to finally have affordable, quality, great contemporary design that everyone and their dog did not already own.

Click On Furniture are not the only retailer selling Thai products, and after the turn out at this years TIFF, containers full of quality cutting edge design should be pulling up at our shores any minute now – and I myself can’t wait!

Above is a little taste of the clever Thai designs from MilliMatter.com.