The activities, which run through June 6 and take place daily from 4 to 9pm, include “wien thien” (triple circumambulation) at Phrathat Bangphuan Temple on May 29, and offerings of rice porridge at the sermon hall of Wat Yai Suwannaram on May 3031. Supreme Patriarch Somdet Phra Ariya Wongsa Khottayan will preside over the opening ceremony at Maha Viharn Wachiratham on June 1. Mueang Boran, as the museum is known in Thai, also invites visitors to practice dharma and the precepts at Maha Viharn Wachiratham on June 56.

Find out more at (02) 323 40949 or visit Facebook: Mueang Boran.

Beauty with a buzz

The Health & Beauty Expo 2018 is back for its second year at the Grand Hall of The Mall Bang Kapi from June 28 to July 4 and will feature several activities related to health, exhibitions by hospitals and health and beauty institutes as well as a talk by seven celebrities, who will share their tips for leading a healthier life. Participants can also test their fitness in the “Treadmill for Charity”, in which every kilometre is worth Bt100, with proceeds going to the Cardiac Children Foundation of Thailand under the patronage of HRH Princess Galyani Vadhana.

Where the carp fly

Actor and model Ratchanont “Guy” Sukprakob together with his Japanese wife Haru Yamaguchi and their children will take part in “Kodomo No Hi 2018” this afternoon at 3 at The Mall, Bang Khae. The event purports to be the biggest celebration of Japan’s Children’s Day in Thailand and is designed to respect childrens’ personalities and to celebrate their happiness. Families raise the carpshaped “koinobori” flags, with one carp for the father, one for the mother, and one carp for each child.

Screening for the little ones

Kodomo Kids Cinema at Mega Cineplex Bangna – the first cinema for kids in Thailand – is all set to screen 20 movies especially for the little ones Monday to Friday from 11am to 7pm and every Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 8pm. The cinematic menu includes “Sherlock Gnomes”, “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom”, “Incredibles 2”, “Ant Man and The Wasp”, “Teen Titans GO! to the Movies”, “Doraemon The Movie 2018”, “Cinderella”, “The Grinch”, “Bernie The Dolphin”, and “Ralph Breaks the Internet: WreckIt Ralph 2”. The 84-seat cinema also features a playland, a ball pit and a playground slider. Tickets cost from Bt200 to Bt500.

Theatre in one act

BCT – the largest and longest running English-language community theatre group in Thailand – organises “Fringe 2018: A Festival of One Act Plays” at Creative Industries of M Theatre on New Phetchaburi Road tonight and tomorrow at 7.30pm. This festival comprises seven separate short productions by seven directors, featuring first-time performers and old hands alike. This year, it has an eclectic mix of drama, music, improvisation, comedy and more.

Tickets are Bt300 available at Bangkok.OnePlace.Events or BangkokCommunityTheatre.com. For more information, email info@bangkokcommunitytheatre.com.

The airline recognises the potential growth of the club and is also working to reinforce its brand image as a leading regional airline of Asia Pacific that provides full services and focuses on developing quality and standards of excellent services along with value for money.

“Thai Smile has been one of the partners supporting Ratchaburi Mitr Phol FC since the end of 2017 and can see its potential growth in every respect. Thai Smile has planned to launch a more aggressive marketing campaign to communicate with new target groups through sponsoring sports,” said Chatchai Panyoo, the airline’s acting chief executive officer.

“We want to promote sports among youths to support and inspire the new generations to play sports and create useful activities through various kinds of sports. This year, we have chosen to support football because it is a universal sport, regardless of gender and age, and it is also a popular sport globally.”

“For more than six years, Thai Smile has served passengers with smiles and comfort throughout the journey and we continue to expand our new routes continuously as to meet the demand and accommodate the number of passengers,” he said.

Thai Smile currently operates 10 domestic routes to Chiang Mai, Phuket, Khon Kaen, Chiang Rai, Hat Yai, Ubon Ratchathani, Udon Thani, Surat Thani, Narathiwat and Krabi, and a cross-regional route from Chiang Mai – Phuket. It also offers 18 international routes to Yangon, Siem Reap, Penang, Changsha, Chongqing, Zhengzhou, Gaya, Varanasi, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mandalay, Vientiane, Phnom Penh, Kuala Lumpur, Kaohsiung, Luang Prabang, and Mumbai as well as from Phuket to Guangzhou.

Thai Smile plans to increase the frequencies of domestic routes and launch new international routes in the near future. It recently brought home the Best Airline in Thailand and the Best Airline in Asia for the second consecutive year with the award for the Best Seat for Economy Class Airline in Asia based on TripAdvisor reviews.

Bolduc shares his experiences dating back to a traumatic childhood. When he was just seven years old, his father murdered his mother. The relatives to whom young Bolduc was trusted abandoned him and by 16 he was living on the street. He ended up with a chronic stutter and was incapable of acquiring any job that involved speech.

The authorities eventually found him a job cutting grass at a golf course, during which time he stumbled on the phrase that changed his life forever: “Winners are made, not born.”

He’d always believed success either happened or it didn’t. Realising that success is a skill that can be learned proved to be earth shattering.

Bolduc read countless books about success, but the trial-and-error approach failed time and again. Then, at yet another success seminar – which he declared would be his last – he discovered the coaching path.

Already living the life of a quitter, allowing obstacles to derail him from his desired path, as well as the life of trial and error, seeking success in all the wrong corners, he saw coaching as a refreshing opportunity to give success another go. It just seemed so simple – hire somebody who already has what you want, allow them to teach you just how they got it.

Within just two months of hiring his coach, Michael had increased his income by 600 per cent. How? He listened. He heard what worked and what didn’t work, he followed instructions and he allowed it all to motivate him.

This experience kept Michael a student, and in just three years he became a millionaire, going on to build four successful companies with revenues approaching US$4 million a year. Thus far his online businesses alone have generated over $25 million.

Balduc has taught more than 1,000 individuals to increase their income an average of 41 per cent in just 60 days, bringing his proven strategies and expertise into each of his sessions. Those ready to follow his proven scientific formula set themselves up for guaranteed success, acquiring a “millionaire mentor” in process.

For more information and tickets, see http://www.TheScienceOfAchievement.com.

Tik Tok videos are usually short performances – a song, a dance, a comedy bit or a demonstration of some other skill, often including cute 3D stickers and creative editing.

Duet opens up more possibilities for user creativity. Now you can dance with a pal or show someone else mirroring your original dance.

It’s also great for couple separated by distance, while pop stars can upload videos of themselves and invite their fans to join them onscreen.

Users can also duet with an existing duet video, creating potentially infinite duets that interact with each other.

Tik Tok already had duet videos, but they were always made using separate apps. Now everything you need is in one place, streamlining the process and making it much faster and more accessible.

You create a standard Tik Tok video by first choosing a soundtrack from the app’ music list, then recording, using a phone camera (the default is the front-facing selfie cam).

Then you edit the video with jump cuts and slow- or fast-motion effects, add visual filters or AI-powered 3D stickers, trim the video down to 15 seconds, and share with the world.

Duet follows the same process, but with an extra step at the start. To begin, you browse to an existing video and click the icon to share it. The duet option appears at the bottom of the screen. Select it and you see the shared video playing as you record and edit your own, timing it to match.

Finally, the two videos are combined into one, right side and left side, ready to share.

The aim is to turn everyone’s birthday into a really special day by giving lives to millions others through purchasing birth-month souvenirs featuring works by 12 Thai artists. The proceeds from sales will be used to purchase medical equipment for Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute (CNMI), Ramathibodi Hospital.

Celebrities Taksaorn Paksukcharern, Ekkaphong Jongkesakorn and Chantavit Dhanasevi manned the foundation’s activity booths at the launch.

The project’s chairman, Prof Piyamitr Sritara, who is also the dean of the hospital’s medical faculty and serves as president of the Ramathibodi Foundation, said that the brand new Chakri Naruebodindra Medical Institute (CNMI) in Samut Prakan will go into full operation next month, with a service capacity of one million out-patients and 17,000 in-patients per year. CNMI has already opened out-patient clinics both during normal working hours and at special hours, emergency medicine, and some in-patient wards at the 460-bed Ramathibodi Chakri Naruebodindra hospital.

“We still need more than Bt14 billion to purchase such medical equipment as bronchoscopes and digital X-ray machines. This equipment is very important in providing the most effective medical service for the patients,” he said,

Punsiree Kunakornpaiboonsiri, managing director of the Ramathibodi Foundation, added that the foundation has been raising funds for the medical faculty for more than 50 years.

“This campaign takes inspiration from the Thai tradition of making a donation on their birthdays. The foundation invited 12 well-known artists to create drawings and turn them into souvenirs to be sold in their birth month on the theme ‘Giving is…Endless’ just like the kindness of Thais, which is also endless.”

This campaign opens the opportunity for everyone to be “Givers”.

Be a part of giving lives to millions others on your own birthday, or also on your family members’, friends, and loved ones.

Donations can be made to Siam Commercial Bank, Ramathibodi branch, current account no. 026-3-05216-3 or Bangkok Bank, Somdech Phra Debaratana Medical Centre branch, current account no. 090-3-50015-5. Visit http://www.RamaFoundation.or.th or call (02) 201 1111 to find out more.

The souvenirs are:

May 2018 – Happy Triangle Cap by Thanachai “Pod” Ujjin of Moderndog, Bt299

June 2018 – Encouragement Umbrella, 16–inch umbrella from Thai illustrator Yozanun “‘Suntur:, Bt149

July 2018 – Hope scarf by female illustrator Phannapast “Yuun” Taychamaythakool, Bt399

August 2018 – Digitally printed pillowcase, artwork by watercolourist Yuthaphoom Jeamtua aka Bugboom,

September 2018 – Canvas bag by Chanaradee Chatrakul Na Ayudhya (@julibakerandsummer),

October 2018 – “Give me your hug” scarf and bag by Kantapon Metheekul (@gongkan).

November 2018 Vacuum flask by Ploy Chariyaves

December 2018 – Clutch with artwork by Piyanart Tonmalee or KAPI (@kapiz)

January 2019 – Giving is Endless t-shirt with artwork by Seatapron Korwanichakul

February 2019 – Makeup bags, work of Tanawat Sakdawisarak

March 2019 – Pillow blanket, from Patcharakan Pisansupong (@Plariex)

April 2019 – Digital print satin scarf from Tatchamapan Chanchamrassaeng aka Pomme Chan

“Bricklive: Built for LEGO Fans” will be the largest brick themed event ever held in Southeast Asia, boasting more than a million Lego bricks and covering an area of some 4,000 square metres. The event will also feature various creations and collections from some of Thailand’s biggest fan builders. Bricklive will take place from July 26 to 29 at the Plenary Hall, Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre.

The Bangkok stop on the international Bricklive tour offers an interactive experience, divided into zones allowing visitors to get their hands on a huge range and variety of different Lego elements, see rare collections, as well as getting a closer look at life-size models including tuk-tuks, ninjas, and the Krunk bear.

The world’s most popular toy has been an iconic source of entertainment for people of all ages for generations. It helps to enhance children’s physical and motor skills, as well as their emotional intelligence and the ability for them to stay focused, resulting in improved patience and creativity. The beloved bricks’ popularity spreads across generations and is loved by adults and children alike. The demand for bespoke creations and rare sets has seen a booming collectors market for this popular toy brand.

The chance to play with countless Lego bricks whilst admiring rare collections under one roof is an event not to be missed. The show is divided into zones starting with the Brick Pits Zone, featuring green, red, and Duplo bricks. Visitors can use the bricks to create their own works. The red and green pits consist of standard-size system bricks (2×4) while the Duplo pit consists of larger, easier-to-handle bricks for small children from 18 months to five years old. There are also several Lego themed Bricklive build zones featuring Star Wars, Ninjago, Friends and Minecraft bricks.

Other zones help visitors to improve their construction skills and learn about engineering principles. In the Race Track zone, bricks can be used to create your own cars and race against one another. You can also take a photo with brick-made trophies.

In the Technic Zone, challenge yourself with something more complicated with the option of using cogs as well as bricks to build your own cars. The Architecture Zone offers more than 1,000 white bricks for visitors to design and create buildings. The City Zone and Map Builds Zones allow you to build houses, cars, or whatever else you need to create your own functioning metropolis which can then be placed on a giant map of Thailand as if these cities are being created from scratch. For a different type of Lego creativity, the Graffiti Wall zone allows visitors to place brick designs on a wall to producing their own Lego street art.

Another exciting feature is the Fan Zone exhibiting the Lego collections of long-time collectors and builders, including rare and unseen sets. This zone will also be home to the amazing bespoke creations that have been built by Thai Lego builders.

Tickets are priced at Bt350 and Bt500. Each ticket comes with a souvenir and a cashback coupon to the value of Bt150.

Tickets are available at all ThaiTicketMajor outlets, or by calling (02) 262 3838.

While outside experts cautioned against reading too much into the study, its authors claimed that Chinese adults who ate an egg every day had a lower risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Studying half-a-million healthy adults aged 30-79 over almost nine years, researchers concluded that “compared with non-consumers, daily egg consumption was associated with lower risk of CVD.”

Risk of haemorrhagic stroke was 26 percent lower among egg-eaters, the Chinese-British research team reported in the journal Heart.

And daily egg consumption was associated with an 18-percent lower risk of death from CVD, and a 28-percent lower risk for death from haemorrhagic stroke.

CVD, a group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, including in China.

According to the World Health Organization, about 17.7 million people die of CVDs each year, almost a third of all deaths worldwide.

Eighty percent of CVD deaths are caused by heart attacks and strokes.

Smoking, not exercising enough, and eating an unhealthy diet high in salt and low in fresh fruit and vegetables, increase the risk.

Chicken and egg

Eggs are rich in dietary cholesterol, long linked to a higher CVD risk, but also contain crucial protein and vitamins.

In the study group, 13 percent reported daily egg consumption, while nine percent said they never or hardly ever ate them.

By the end of the study period, almost 84,000 cases of CVD and 10,000 CVD deaths were recorded, and compared among the different egg-intake groups.

“The present study finds that there is an association between moderate level of egg consumption (up to 1 egg per day) and a lower cardiac event rate,” the authors concluded.

But experts not involved in the study, said the results fail to prove that eating eggs actively lowers CVD risk.

“An important limitation of this present study is that the people who consumed eggs regularly were much more affluent than those who avoided them,” University College of London nutrition specialist Tom Sanders said.

“Indeed, rates of stroke have been falling in Japan, Australia, North America and Europe for several decades for reasons that remain uncertain but may be related to increasing affluence,” he said via the Science Media Centre in London.

According to cardiology expert Gavin Sandercock of the University of Essex: “to say that eating eggs is good (or bad) for you based on a study like this would be foolish as diet is much more complicated than picking on one foodstuff like eggs.”

A second paper published in Heart found that people who commute to work by walking or cycling had a risk of heart disease and stroke 11 percent lower than those who take the car.

Their risk of dying from CVD diseases was almost a third lower, found the seven-year study of more than 350,000 people in Britain.

Lewis, who was born in London and was a longtime professor at Princeton University, was a Cold War hawk, a strong pro-Israel Jew, and influential among White House and Pentagon planners of the US-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.

His books included “The Arabs in History” (1950), “The Emergence of Modern Turkey” (1961), and “The Crisis of Islam” (2003).

Critics, however, derided what they said was his Eurocentric “clash of civilizations” view of the Middle East.

Among supporters of Lewis is America’s newly-minted top diplomat.

“Bernard Lewis was a true scholar & great man. I owe a great deal of my understanding of the Middle East to his work,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted on Sunday.

“For some, I’m the towering genius,” Lewis told the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2012, according to the Post. “For others, I’m the devil incarnate.”

One critic, the late Columbia University Middle East expert Edward Said, slammed Lewis as “active policy scientist, lobbyist and propagandist” in a 1982 reply to Lewis in the New York Review of Books.

Lewis in turn accused Said — author of the influential book “Orientalism” (1978) — of unleashing an “unsavory mixture of sneer and smear, bluster and innuendo.”

IT’S THE SIZE of a grain of rice but could hold the key to many aspects of your life.

A tiny microchip inserted under the skin can replace the need to carry keys, credit cards and train tickets.

That might sound like an Orwellian nightmare to some but in Sweden it is a welcome reality for a growing number who favours convenience over concerns of potential personal data violations.

The small implants were first used in 2015 in Sweden – initially confidentially – and several other countries.

Swedes have gone on to be very active in microchipping, with scant debate about issues surrounding its use, in a country keen on new technology and where the sharing of personal information is held up as a sign of a transparent society.

Twenty-eight year-old Ulrika Celsing is one of 3,000 Swedes to have injected a microchip into her hand to try out a new way of life.

To enter her workplace, the media agency Mindshare, she simply waves her hand on a small box and types in a code before the doors open.

“It was fun to try something new and to see what one could use it for to make life easier in the future,” she told AFP.

In the past year, the chip has turned into a kind of electronic handbag and has even replaced her gym card, she said.

If she wanted to, she could also use it to book train tickets.

Sweden’s SJ national railway company has won over some 130 users to its microchip reservation service in a year.

Conductors scan passengers’ hands after they book tickets online and register them on their chip.

A man gets a chip implant in his hand at Epicenter, a technological hub in Stockholm. / AFP 

Sweden has a track record on the sharing of personal information, which may have helped ease the microchip’s acceptance among the Nordic country’s 10 million-strong population.

Citizens have long accepted the sharing of their personal details, registered by the social security system, with other administrative bodies, while people can find out each others’ salaries through a quick phone call to the tax authority.

The implants use Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, also used in credit cards, and are “passive”, which means they hold data that can be read by other devices but cannot read information themselves.

Although still small, they have the capacity to hold train tickets, entry pass codes as well as access certain vending machines and printers, promoters say.

When Celsing’s innovatively minded media company organised an event where employees could get the implants, she followed the crowd.

She said she felt nothing but a slight sting when the syringe inserted the chip into her left hand, which she now uses on an almost daily basis and does not fear hacking or possible surveillance.

“I don’t think our current technology is enough to get chip hacked,” she says.

“But I may think about this again in the future. I could always take it out then,” she adds.

However, for Ben Libberton, a microbiologist working for MAX IV Laboratory in the southern city of Lund, which provides X-rays for research, the danger is real.

The chip implants could cause “infections or reactions of the immune system”, he warns.

But the biggest risk, he adds, concerns the data contained in the chip.

“At the moment, the data collected and shared by implants is small, but it’s likely that this will increase,” the researcher says.

The real question, he added, is what data is collected and who shares it. “If a chip can one day detect a medical problem, who finds out and when?” he asks

Libberton worried that “the more data is stored in a single place as could happen with a chip, the more risk it could be used against us.”

But Jowan Osterlund, a piercings specialist and self-proclaimed champion of chip implantation, brushes off fears of data misuse and conspiracy theories.

He advocates the opposite view, arguing that if we carried all our personal data on us, we would have better control of their use.

Despite unanswered questions however about how the technology will progress, the appeal of being part of a futuristic experience is a strong draw for some users.

“In Sweden, people are very comfortable with technology and I would say there is less resistance to new technology here than in most other places,” Libberton says.

At an “implant party” organised by Osterlund in Stockholm, 59-year-old Anders Brannfors stands out with his salt-and-pepper hair among the curious 30-something hipsters.

Delighted to have become a 2.0 version of himself, he has yet however to find a use for his chip several weeks after the implant.

ONE MAN’S junk is another man’s treasure, they say, and, sure enough, the 79 items on exhibit at the Thailand Creative and Design Centre (TCDC) – all made from household waste and other debris – are “Pure Gold”.

“Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgrade!” is the name of the show continuing through July 22. First mounted last year in Hamburg, Germany, it’s touring the world, with Bangkok as its first stop.

Germany’s ifa-Institut (the Institute of Foreign Cultural Relations) organised the exhibition for its centennial, assembling works by 65 designers, including nine Thais. Volker Albus, a professor of design, made the choices in consultation with six curators around the globe.

“Recycling is about using technical processes to return objects to their original materials, such as discarded plastic bottles being recycled as fresh new plastic,” he says. “Upcycling gives them an entirely new function and adds to their value with aesthetics and functionality.

“All the works in the show were made either entirely by hand or with the help of just simple tools.”

Matali Crasset turns those familiar check-pattern plastic bags into couch modules.

French designer Matali Crasset has seen her “Digestion No 1” – check-patterned, squared-off plastic bags filled with foam that serve as handled modules for couches and armchairs – put to commercial use by high-end Italian manufacturer Edra.

Rip the tape out of an old-fashioned movie videocassette, says Waltraud Munzhuber, and you’ve got an eye-catching handbag.

Fans of “Forrest Gump” will get a kick out of the shiny handbag made of the magnetic tape salvaged from an old videocassette of the 1994 Tom Hanks movie. German Waltraud Munzhuber wound strips of the tape with such textile-like density that it forms a stable, durable material.

Juli Foos of Finland made a “Large Donut Rug” by cutting used cardboard into donut rings, wrapping them thickly in white plastic so they’re soft, and wove the rings together with strips of blue, green, yellow and black plastic bags. The result is a dazzling geometric assemblage and cushy on the feet.

Used cardboard and plastic bags fuse into a soft, donut-shaped rug in the hands of Juli Foos. On the left, plastic untensils and the like become a three-tiered stand thanks to Brunno Jahara.

Brazilian Brunno Jahara fashioned a colourful three-tiered stand that holds snacks or fruit from cheap, mass-produced plastic utensils and discarded water-supply connectors.

Two Lebanese designers sharing the name Junk Munkez turned the rotating drums from scrapped washing machines into “Knit-Knacks” stools, with yarn fed through the perforations in geometric Arabic patterns and a comfy cushion on top. Inside you’ve got some handy storage space.

Inside this elaborately decorated stool by Junk Munkez is an old washing machine drum.

“This kind of stuff can be made in the smallest workshop or in the home,” Albus points out. “They offer lots of different perspectives on making use of waste with an eye to aesthetics. If they look outlandish, they fire curiosity, creativity and the imagination.”

Eggarat Wongcharit’s stool 

On his curator team is Thai designer Eggarat Wongcharit, who’s also showing his “Dondo Ottoman”, a footstool made from layers of cotton fibre, coated with rubber latex and moulded into shape. That’s covered in defective fabric tossed aside in the mass-production of garments. The pieces of fabric are smocked together and attached to the latex skin.

Another Thai, Jarupatcha Achavasmit, uses defective safety belts to create an elegant textile useful in home furnishings, and has in fact been used at several residential estates such as Ashton.

Detail of wall covering made from defective safety belts by Jarupatcha Achavasmit

“There’s tremendous waste in industrial production,” says Jarupatcha, who owns the Ausara textile brand. “I found tonnes of rejected safety belts at the Wongpanit recycling company and realised they could be used as wall coverings – it’s tightly woven nylon, so there’s great tensile strength, and it’s resistant to flame and bleaching from sunlight. The seatbelts are cut into strips and woven with strips cut from plastic bottles.”

Biodegradable tableware by Roongtip Luilao began as dehydrated fruit rinds.

Roongtip Luilao, who teaches agricultural science at Kasetsart University, has made biodegradable tableware from the rinds of watermelon, pomelo and other fruits. It’s a perfect zero-waste concept.

The flesh is scooped out and the rinds are dehydrated at a specific temperature and for a specific period of time so they harden, but don’t get too dry. After long and careful observation, Roongtip reckons a melon rind will be ready for upcycling after three to four hours at 100 degrees Celsius.

“The rinds’ natural fibres makes them tough enough to hold liquid foods, like soup,” she says. “I’ve attached wooden handles and bases that can be removed.”

Detail of Suwan Kongkhunthian’s “NETT Glass Jar Cover” fashioned from ribbons of pineapple paper

Suwan Kongkhunthian’s “PA.Baco Chair” is built with the leaves of pineapples discarded during the canning process. Stacks of coloured pineapple paper bound with flexible string makes the seat pliable and bouncy.

And his “NETT Glass Jar Cover” is also fashioned from ribbons of pineapple paper. The sheets are glued together in a honeycomb pattern, forming a sheath that can stretch to fit atop any size of glass container.

Saran Yen Panya satirises the social hierarchy with chairs composed of cheap plastic baskets and fancy wooden legs.

Saran Yen Panya, who was born in Bangkok but is now based in Stockholm, created a chair installation with the naughty name “Cheap Ass Elites”.

Mass-produced household objects like plastic storage bins and laundry baskets join in a satirical comment on the gap between rich and poor and between good taste and bad. The cheap, white baskets forming the backs, bases and arms of the chairs are the “low class”, while the fancy, Victorian-style wooden legs signify stereotypical upper-class preferences.

Curator Volker Albus is ready for the seaside with his cork rugby ball and volleyball.

Albus gets in on the act with a set of sports balls made of cork – the football, rugby ball, basketball and volleyball are ideal for the beach because they’ll float on the water and aren’t as easily blown away as plastic balls. He’s used wine corks, finely ground, pressed into blocks with synthetic resin and cut into the desired shapes.

“These came out of my own experience on a windy beach,” he says. “The plastic ball was always flying away, but this cork ball is solid enough to resist the wind and it can float too. That’s why I call the collection ‘www/www’, which stands for ‘we want wind/we want water’.”

Paul Cocksedge’s “Styrene” pendant lamp puts hundreds of disposable plastic coffee cups to continued use.

Albus personally admires a stunning “Styrene” pendant lamp by Briton Paul Cocksedge, its irregular surface formed by heat-shrinking hundreds of disposable plastic coffee cups.

Sawdust becomes as sturdy as concrete for these chairs made by Marjan Van Aubel and James Michael Shaw.

And the “Well Proven Chair” by London-based Marjan Van Aubel and James Michael Shaw looks so sturdy that it might be made of concrete, but it’s actually sawdust. They mixed sawdust with organic resin and water to produce wooden foam that’s shaped into smooth seats and backrests, with the rough surfaces kept between the four wooden legs.

NOTHING IS WASTED

““Pure Gold – Upcycled! Upgrade!” continues until July 22 in the Gallery Room on the first floor of the TCDC.

Admission is free.

The TCDC is in the Grand Postal Building on Charoenkrung Road and open daily except Monday from 10.30am to 9pm.

Learn more at (02) 105 7400 or http://www.TCDC.or.th.