FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Ploy spreads her wings

Ploy spreads her wings

The well-known lifestyle author embraces her artistic side with a painted ceramic collection for Asiatides and a new art book

 The author of more than 20 chic lifestyle books, as well as a columnist and translator, Ploy Chariyaves recently embarked on a new journey, showcasing her skills in painting on ceramics with a collection named “Envol”.
Ploy recently introduced her latest endeavour, combining the launch of her book “Envol by Ploy Chariyaves” with a painting and porcelain exhibition that’s on display view at Serindia Gallery Annex at Central Embassy until Sunday.
After more than a decade of honing her artistic skills through illustrations for magazines and book covers, as well as collaborating on designs for charity projects with various brands and organisations, among them Kiehl’s, Rimowa and the Elephant Parade Project, Ploy has decided to take the plunge and become a full-time artist writer. 
The Envol collection created for Paris-based home decor brand Asiatides, comprises eight pieces which debuted at Maison et Objet 2016, a world-class interior design fair held in Paris in September. 
“I began drawing for my own columns and books a long time ago but I only got serious about it four years ago. I started by drawing things around me – women with strong characters, my favourite dogs, my friends’ pets, a bird I found in my backyard and so on. I found that the more I drew, the better I became,” she explains.
“The social networks gave me a platform to showcase my art, and I began posting my drawings on Facebook. The page later became a gallery, an unintentional portfolio. A friend of mine in Paris is a big fan and has always supported me. She told me to present my work to Asiatides and that eventually led to a collaboration project.”
It took Ploy about two years to develop the porcelain painting pieces in the Envol collection.
 “Working with Asiatides was an unbelievable experience for me. I am the only Thai working for them and I’m in the company of such global designers as Fabienne Jouvin, Kenzo, Nathalie Lete and Christian Tortu. It was also my first big project. I did not study art, so being chosen to work alongside these designers was truly amazing. Drawing on porcelain is different from drawing on paper, because it appears on a surface with dimensions. I have to consider it from different perspectives – from the side, top, near and far. I had to learn those new skills. All of the artists and designers working for Asiatides design everything themselves. I am very proud that my eight creations in the Envol Collection were exhibited at the Asiatides booth at Maison et Objet 2016, which is one of the best home decor fairs in the world,” she says.
The Envol Collection comes from the French verb “envoler”, meaning to “fly off”. Ploy draws delicate birds that harmoniously fuse Eastern and Western art. There are two sets – blue-pigmented porcelain tea canisters, available in five sizes, and colourful three-piece sets of dishes and mug with bird patterns.
She has also put together her work over the last decade for a book titled “Envol: Collection of Drawings & Colour Celebration”, Published by Serindia Publications, the hardcover book is finely quarter-bound in beautiful fabric and its 160 pages feature a selection of Ploy’s paintings created between 2008 and 2016. 

  •   The book is available at Hardcover: The Art Book Shop on the fourth floor Central Embassy, and the third floor of BACC, and The Papersmith on the second floor of Gaysorn shopping centre.
  •  Ceramic items in the Envol Collection are available at Wit’s Collection Chiang Mai, telephone (081) 884 1466, Line witscollection, e-mail [email protected] as well as at Woo Caf้ Art Gallery-Lifestyle Shop, 80 Charoenrat Road, Chiang Mai, telephone (052) 003 717, and The Papersmith at Gaysorn. They will also be sold by the Open House Design Shop at Central Embassy from early next year. 
  •  The Envol collection exhibition is on show at Serindia Gallery Annex on the fourth floor or Central Embassy until Sunday. Go to Facebook.com/serindiagalleryannex or call |(02) 160 5977.
     
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