Old bricks get a vivid new life

ARCHITECT DUANGRIT Bunnag, who has designed many posh resorts at home and abroad, wanted to build a new office for himself, still in Bangkok but somewhere quieter than the Siam Discovery complex.

He spent two years poring over a map of the city, searching for a place of shade and tranquillity. Finally he placed a red mark atop the location of an old warehouse next to the Klongsarn Market on the other side of the Chao Phraya River. This would be the new home of his firm, DBALP Architect, and – as things turned out – the Jam Factory, where anyone can pop in with friends, see some art, have a snack and maybe even buy some furniture.

“Initially I just wanted to expand my office because my staff had increased, but I also dreamed of having a place big enough for my company, a restaurant and a store, all in the same place,” says Duangrit. 

“Thonburi is far from downtown, but it’s full of inspiration. I can work in a shady garden and enjoy a more rural way of life, a slower rhythm of life. When we’re still rookies in our careers, we prefer to work in busy places that stimulate our creativity, but as we get older and everything gets more stable, we want a place where we can just sit back. The surroundings still have a crucial influence on our work.”

The other draw in Thonburi was cheaper construction costs, but it still took Bt20 million to modernise four old warehouses while maintaining the airy, rustic-loft appeal. Duangrit wanted to keep as much of the original structure intact as possible to show off the charming architectural techniques used in bygone days.

The exterior is simple but smart, the walls black metal sheets and glass in contrast with the white roofs and grassy courtyard. Inside, it’s wood and metal from floor to ceiling, with bright hanging dome lamps all round. 

“The Jam Factory is sort of our playground,” Duangrit says. “We want it to be a leisure place for the community. We’re turning the courtyard into a public space and plan to host small book fairs, open-air theatre and a market.”

One of the warehouses is home to Candide Books and Cafe, which moved there last month from Tanao Road and is already becoming popular among young artists and bookworms from the neighbourhood. 

Duangruethai Asanachatang of Readery, a publishing house and online bookstore, is in charge. She chose the shop’s name, borrowing the title of Age of Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire’s celebrated novel. “I love ‘Candide’,” she says. “It’s all about positive thinking.”

With more space – 100 square metres – the bookstore has room for reading areas both indoors and out, complete with comfy sofas and chairs. The shelves are piled with books on social issues, Thai translations of great novels and non-fiction and selected titles from small local publishers like Salmon, Matichon, Saengdao, Typhoon, Gamme Magie, Read Journal and Same Sky.

Laid out on one of the wooden tables are “Candide”, “A Wild Sheep Chase” by Japan’s Haruki Murakami, Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “Le Petit Prince” and Nobel laureate Naguib Mahfouz’s “Fountain and Tomb”.

“I offer a diverse range of books from different local publishers,” Duangruethai says. “Not much of it sells as quickly, though, as Tom Plate’s ‘Conversation with Thaksin’ from Matichon, which completely sold out in just a few days after I uploaded pictures of it to our Facebook page.”

The shop’s coffee corner serves Karma Coffee blends, drip-brewed from single-origin Etiopia Yirgacheffe and Mae Gam Pong Organic, as well as top-quality teas. The prices range from Bt60 to Bt180. 

Duangrit’s Anyroom store is scheduled to open next door next month, offering curved wood furniture and “casual” home decor, plus reproductions of big sellers like Galgatta oak dining tables and honeycomb-like steel bookshelves that can double as room partitions. The concept will be urban living with functionality foremost in mind.

Meanwhile the Gallery is hosting an exhibition called “Long Long Yala” of lovely portraits that Duangrit and his friends captured. “It’s a wide-open space for temporary exhibitions that will keep changing year-round,” says Duangrit. 

And in the 50-seat restaurant Never Ending Summer, he’s proud to be serving a full range of traditional Thai dishes based on his father’s recipes. The original warehouse concrete and brick walls are offset with wooden tables, grey-fabric chairs and black-leather sofas with red pillows. The kitchen is visible through a window. 

More than 100 dishes of authentic flavours are available and monosodium glutamate is banned. Only seasonal local vegetables and the best ingredients are used. “These are mostly Duangrit’s favourite dishes,” says restaurant manager Naree Boonyakiat. “We use ingredients like fresh lemon juice, natural cane sugar, high-quality fish sauce and good shrimp paste.” 

The menu changes according to what’s being sold at the markets. Among the recommended dishes are platoo haeng tangmo, the traditional appetiser of grilled mackerel served with diced watermelon, and kao pad kang moo, which is fried rice with crisp crackling.

“We’re also opening a bar on a deck at the edge of the river soon and will serve cocktails and mocktails,” Naree says.

 

 

JAM SESSIONS

>>The Jam Factory is situated at 41/1 Charoennakorn Road next to the Klongsarn Pier and Klongsarn Market. 

>>Call (02) 861 0960-4 or visit www.Facebook.com/TheJamFactoryBangkok.