Bagging it for life

The perfect store for anyone with tree-hugging leanings, Green Thai Product shop on the third floor of Bangkok Art and Culture Centre is where junk from construction sites, factories and garbage dumps is reincarnated as eye-catching fashion accessories.

Ripped paper finds new life in a funky handbag and foil packaging becomes a functional pencil case. A bracelet is fashioned from recycled papers and inner tubes chucked aside by cyclists evolve into coin pockets. The designers get all the inspiration they need merely by watching the rest of us being wasteful.

Green Thai Product is an environmentally friendly product-design brand operated by Ruamkid 99 – a consulting firm that advises on and handles corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. 

“Our firm previously focused on organising corporate outings linked to environment-related activities and our clients frequently required eco-friendly souvenirs to distribute as part of the events. We looked at the tonnes of pet food packaging and foil packets being disposed of every year and came up with the idea of transforming them into functional but stylish bags, document and business card holders and notebook covers. After receiving orders from large corporations, we decided to go the retail business by promoting recycled art,” says managing director Poj Keawchaaum.

Pet food packaging and foil packets remain Green Thai Product brand’s main materials though they also produce handbags from liquid detergent and fabric softening containers. 

The shop doesn’t limit itself to just Green Thai Product stuff, as Poj is constantly scouting for more local products that meet his functional and eco-friendly criteria. The shop has an eco-friendly vibe with wooden shelves and tables and paper tubes offering bright ideas to save the environment. 

Among them are Tua Pen Not’s handbags – collages of rice sacks, fertiliser bags and flour bags that are hand-made and padded with fabrics and finished with zips, so buyers are assured of good cutting and durability.

The Remaker is another standout with its fashion gear and home decorative items made from used clothes, old billboards and discarded inner tubes. On offer are smart handbags and shoulder bags made from denim, leather jackets and pants, black pencil bags, vases and vivid wallets. 

Osisu’s handbags are concocted out of shredded paper and plastic while their purses are made from colourful ripped plastic bags. 

There are also long necklaces made from waste plastic snack packaging from the Friends International group with the funds going to help needy children, and mixed bead bracelets and necklaces fashioned from old magazines. 

 

EAGER FOR ECO

Green Thai Product is on the third floor of the Bangkok Art and Culture Centre opposite MBK mall. It’s open daily (except Monday) from 10.30am to 8pm. Call (086) 141 7385 and check the “Green Thai Product” page on Facebook.