Furnishings to make your home feel happy

If you happen to be walking along Sukhumvit Soi 23, keep your eyes open for an attractive treasure trove called Roi-In. Here you'll find plenty of vintage-style wooden furniture and colourful decor items created by veteran designer Nisanath Charoenthaitawee.

After graduating from Silpakorn University 20 years ago, Nisanath opened a production house and busied herself making settings for music videos, movies and advertising shoots. She soon expanded into designing country-style furniture and home furnishings in sweet shades and with hand-painted motifs under the Pumpkin Parade brand. Her products quickly became popular with young people and her business grew.

Then the economy crashed, the Asian tiger lost its growl and Nisanath turned her talents to interior design. For more than 10 years, she designed smart and functional furniture to meet the requests of her customers but found herself becoming bored.

In 2005, she founded the Roi-In brand and launched her first collection of furniture and furnishings at the 2006 Bangkok International Gift and Houseware Fairs. They caught the eye of local shoppers and she opened her shop not long after. Tucked away down Soi Sukhumvit 23, it has limited-edition sofas, chairs, stools, drawers, cabinets, armchairs, benches, coffee tables, dining tables and daybeds.

The focus is on simplicity. For her main materials, she uses old hardwood that's easily available on the local market. 

"My products are simple in design and in terms of technology, but charming and unique," she says. "All products are made from old hardwood. I also use stone and leather."

If you want something smaller to jazz up your home, there's a collection of home decorative items made from hardwood and zinc. You can find glistening zinc magazine buckets, treasure trunks, hand-painted wooden boxes, wooden lamps in the form of a boat or a house, tram-like boxes, wooden trays and frames. 

Nisanath will show her latest designs in the Bangkok International Gift and Houseware Fairs and Baan Lae Suan Fair in October and November. 

For anyone with a good design in mind, Nisanath also accepts custom-made orders.

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Roi-in is at 116/7 Soi Prasanmitr Sukhumvit 23. It's open from 11am to 7pm, Monday to Friday and by appointment on Saturday. Call (02) 662 0132 or visit www.Roi-In.co.th.

1. This unique wooden sofa with a black PVC cushion sells for Bt22,000.

2. An attractive chair made from wood and genuine leather for Bt4,600.

3. A four-seat wooden dining table is yours for Bt19,500. The chairs with a leather cushion are priced at Bt6,800 each. 

4. These cute hand-painted wooden boxes are inspired by animals and priced at Bt2,400 and Bt3,500.

5. These eye-catching tramlike boxes cost Bt2,200.

6. A boat-shaped lamp goes for Bt3,500.

7. A collection of glittering zinc boxes cost from Bt1,300 to Bt1,500.

8. This chest of drawers costs Bt19,000.      

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