We reported on the Bangkok architecture and design studio Onion previously for their work on the Sala Ayutthaya hotel in Pratu Chai, Ayutthaya. For Milan Design Week (April 14-19, 2015) the firm will display Bric a Brac with Ventura Lambrate at the Another Perspective 3: Space of Beauty” booth.
The designers state they “wanted to work on an ordinary system of construction that gave an innovative appearance to the Thai ways of using the lavatories.”
The firm designed bricks that function as hooks for objects such as toilet paper or towels. They said the holder was photographed outside as a reference to “the Thai ritual of defecation.”
“In the past there was no clear distinction between the public and private spaces in Siam. The Siamese took a bath in the waterways. They urinated and defecated in the exterior spaces, far away from their dwelling places, as manifested in the old idioms ‘going to the rice field’ and ‘going to the boat landing,’ meaning to defecate and to urinate.”
Public bathrooms weren’t introduced until the 19th century, they state. Private home bathrooms slowly took hold in cities such as Bangkok.
The bricks also come in white ceramic with a touch of Siladon Green color.
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Photographs by Narut Vatanopas.
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