Eco-Innovation by Thai Visionaries
A month-long exhibition and weekend workshop at one of central Bangkok’s most hipster downtown spaces is showcasing how Thailand’s most innovative minds are reimagining a sustainable future.
The “Regenerative Commodities: Exhibition and Experiences” event takes place from January 27 to February 24 at Slowcombo’s holistic community space as part of the official programme for Bangkok Design Week 2024. The event is organised by CTRL+R, an interdisciplinary collective of eight Thai innovators united by a shared vision of regenerative futures, spanning diverse fields, from material sciences, fashion to agriculture.
“In recent years, although sustainability has been understood more widely [...], we wanted there to be talk of regenerative commodities,” said one of CTRL+R, Dharath Hoonchamlong. Regenerative commodities are products that are designed to actively restore and revitalise the ecosystem, while cultivating a sustainable and harmonious relationship with the environment. “It’s not just about being zero waste, it’s about how to generate something [that gives] back to the environment,” she said.
On the first floor of Slowcombo, there were panel discussions and workshops for participants, such as upcycled furniture from Practika, and the Regenerative Bar that served zero-waste cocktails. Local printing company, Pineapple Print Press ran printmaking activities for visitors, where pigments were made from “trash” – crushed eggshells, coffee, and so on.
The upper floors had exhibitions by CTRL+R, where each member of the collective displayed their work. The second floor with the “Future of Shopping Bags” exhibition, which had a collection of bags that each member of the collective created from waste materials – in the case of multidisciplinary designer Hutsama “Fahsai” Juntaratana, bags were made from concrete and brick dust.
The individual creations of each member were showcased on the third floor, featuring a prominent display of Fahsai’s sheets of material crafted from post-demolition construction materials blended with a protein-based polymer. Debris materials like sawdust are transformed into semi-transparent sheets suitable for interior design applications.
While Fahsai made new items by using bricks, Makhawee Sukawatano, Founder of Hemp High Hope innovatively produced bricks from mushrooms. His work features extremely hard, anti-mould bricks made from a network of fungal threads called mycelium.
Additionally, Irene Purasachit of Flower Matter embraces circularity by transforming discarded flower fibres into floral foam.
“We think flowers are so cute [and charming], but it’s an industry that produces so much waste,” Irene said. Her project is based on a sobering fact. According to Irene, more than 40% of commercially grown flowers in Thailand are discarded in landfills, due to their very short lifespan – plastic wrappings and all. Bangkok alone, in fact, discards 10,000 tons of cut flowers per year.
Exploring another type of green growth is Anya Muangkote, Founder of Spirulina Society. While researching urban farming, Anya came across spirulina, a type of photosynthesizing bacteria that produces nutritious food with minimal resources and space.
After stages of growing and filtering spirulina, you are left with “this yoghurt-like green paste, something between Greek yoghurt and cream cheese that you can add to any food,” said Anya.
Dharath Hoonchamlong’s exhibition is a public survey about food literacy, which is the capacity to make informed decisions about food that are culturally, environmentally, and politically aware. Participants are encouraged to fill out a survey, write their ideas about food literacy on Post-it notes, and stick them to the exhibition wall.
“It’s not just about eating your Omega-3s and thinking only about what’s good for you,” Dharath said. “The concept of food literacy is still very new in Thailand, so I wanted to raise it here.”
“Regenerative Commodities: Exhibition and Experiences” runs until Feb. 24 at Slowcombo, reachable by foot from MRT Samyan. While the exhibitions are open every day, check out Slowcombo’s social media for their schedule for workshops and panels held on the weekends.

I saw how concert stage decorations were literally used for one night. As soon as people left it was ripped apart. The dismantling happened so fast, unlike the creation process.
INNOVATOR SPOTLIGHT Hutsama Juntaratana
For years, Bangkok-based architectural designer Hutsama “Fahsai” Juntaratana would witness her painstakingly-crafted, months-long creations being torn down and discarded into landfill trash after one night of use in music festivals.
“I saw how concert stage decorations were literally used for one night. As soon as people left it was ripped apart. The dismantling happened so fast, unlike the creation process,” Fahsai said. “This got me started on wanting to bring about change.”
Hutsama “Fahsai” Juntaratana is one of the eight members of the CTRL+R art collective. As an architectural designer, bio-based material researcher, and a university lecturer, Fahsai leveraged her expertise to curate a personal exhibition for the “Regenerative Commodities" event at Slowcombo.
She combined post-demolition construction material, such as debris, dust of bricks, cinder blocks, concrete, and even sawdust with biomaterials to craft semi-transparent sheets in various colours. Think, translucent vegan leather available in shades of brown and grey, suitable for crafting everything from stylish handbags to modern indoor partitions.
“We’re used to seeing materials like brick and concrete as inherently permanent and rigid,” said Fahsai. “Now, in biomaterial sheets like this, they’re flexible — not just for constructing tough walls.”