A conversation with Doonyapol Srichan on blending Thai heritage and global influences to create meaningful designs that resonate across cultures and lifestyles.
Doonyapol Srichan, Founder and Creative Director of PDM Brand, merges tradition with innovation, crafting designs that honor Thai heritage while embracing global influences.
PDM’s first product, Phrom, reimagines the traditional Thai floor mat with a contemporary design that resonates globally. Guided by the philosophy “Product Design Matters,” PDM collaborates with fashion, furniture, and lifestyle brands to adapt its distinctive designs into products like chairs, bags, and coasters.
Inspired by the craftsmanship and storytelling inherent in Thai design, Doonyapol also draws from global influences, such as Scandinavian minimalism, to create pieces that feel both familiar and fresh.
Through a meticulous creative process, he balances client expectations with his vision, delivering designs that are both functional and meaningful.
As part of our Thai Design in Focus series, we recently caught up with Doonyapol to learn more.
Traditional Thai design is a big influence on my work at PDM. It’s not just about aesthetics, but about craftsmanship and storytelling through design. Our first product, the Thai floor mat, is a perfect example of this. We took the traditional mat and gave it a twist — improving its quality and adding a contemporary design that resonates globally.
While we honor Thai heritage, we also draw inspiration from other cultures, such as Scandinavian design. Our mat’s pattern designer, Finnish artist Sini Alto, brought in a minimalist Scandinavian approach, blending perfectly with the Thai materials to create something that feels both familiar and fresh.
Thai design is unique because it captures the essence of luxury, tradition, and nature in a way that few other cultures can. It’s deeply rooted in craftsmanship—wood carving, silk weaving, and intricate metalwork—all of which we try to preserve in our contemporary designs.
What sets Thai design apart is how it blends these elements with the country’s spiritual and natural environment, creating a warmth and harmony that is both functional and meaningful. It’s about more than just how something looks; it’s about the story it tells.
My creative process at PDM is built on a strong foundation of research and testing. One of the key aspects of our approach is something we call “post check.” Before we dive into full production, we take the time to test our designs with real people to see how they react and what they think.
“What sets Thai design apart is how it blends these elements with the country’s spiritual and natural environment, creating a warmth and harmony that is both functional and meaningful.”
This helps us gauge whether the design truly resonates and meets their needs. It’s an invaluable step that allows us to refine and tweak the design based on real feedback, rather than just assumptions.
By doing this early-stage testing, we’re able to shorten the overall manufacturing process and focus our time and energy on what really matters—creating something that is both good for the consumer and aligns with PDM’s philosophy.
“It’s about more than just how something looks; it’s about the story it tells.”
This also allows us to strike a balance between client expectations and my own vision, because we can quickly adjust and evolve the design based on both our internal standards and external feedback.
It’s a collaborative, iterative process that ensures the final product is something that truly works.
For me, sustainable elegance is about creating products that last—both in terms of quality and design. We want to make pieces that are functional and beautiful but also respectful of the environment.
Our focus is on durable, natural materials that age well over time while ensuring that the design remains timeless. We aim for pieces that feel at home in any space, without falling prey to trends.
This approach allows our work to be both functional and a piece of art that can be cherished for generations.
At PDM, we do what I like to call “hack Thai” design. It’s about taking something traditional—like a piece of Thai heritage—and adding a modern twist to it.
We respect the techniques, materials, and stories that come with Thai craftsmanship, but we always look for ways to make it relevant today.
We balance tradition with contemporary trends by staying true to our roots but not being afraid to innovate. The result is a product that speaks to both Thai culture and the global design landscape.
We embrace technology as a tool for growth.
For example, we use design programs to experiment with textures, generate backgrounds, and test out ideas that wouldn’t have been possible with traditional methods. But at the core, we believe in the human touch.
“We balance tradition with contemporary trends by staying true to our roots but not being afraid to innovate. The result is a product that speaks to both Thai culture and the global design landscape.”
Technology can help us push boundaries, but it’s our craftsmanship, intuition, and cultural connection that truly make our designs stand out.
One project that’s especially meaningful to me is the Sunny Table. It’s a flower-shaped table inspired by the simple Thai street food tables you see in local markets.
We took something that’s so familiar and reinterpreted it with a fresh design perspective — using modern materials and elevating its functionality.
It’s a great example of how we can take everyday objects from Thai culture and reimagine them in a way that makes them relevant to contemporary design.
Something symbolic of Thai design that visiting Thailand should see:
The elephant pants — so soft and iconic. Tourists love them, and we’ve given them a modern twist with contemporary graphic patterns at PDM.
A Thai designer or artist you’d love to collaborate with or you have been inspired by:
We would love to collaborate with various artists who share our values — there’s no one specific, but it would be great to work together on something that blends artistry with our design philosophy.
Your go-to source for creative inspiration in Bangkok:
The old towns, like พาหรุ ดั, where you find a mix of materials. It’s a great place to explore textures and see how people live their everyday lives, which always sparks new ideas.
