Ministry of Culture to Set Up Creative and Interior Design Center in Chiang Rai

CHIANG RAI – Thailand’s Ministry of Culture is speeding up the establishment of “Creative and Design Centers” in various gateway cities in the country to promote artistic goods made by local artists and other indigenous products, said Permanent Secretary for Culture Apinan Poshyananda.

According to Apinan, Chiang Rai and Ratchaburi will be the first two gateway provinces where the “Creative and Design Center” will be set up under a THB7,900m budget of the ministry.

The centers are expected to be a hub for local artists, designers, developers and residents to produce and share their folk wisdom’s to tourists, leading to extra income for their communities.“The Culture Ministry will cooperate with the Ministry of Tourism and Sports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to integrate works in a form of cluster in line with cultural and tourism action plan which is led by Foreign Minister Gen Tanasak Patimapragorn,” Apinan said.

The action plan begins with the development of the center of Cultural Products of Thailand or CPOT, as part of the gateway cities. The CPOT are used as magnet to draw local and foreign tourists to the cities and encourage them to learn local cultures, natural resources, and ancient remains. The project also aims to promote mutual social and cultural exchanges between Thailand and neighboring countries.

TCDC Resource Centers aim to be a place for designers, students, entrepreneurs and enthusiasts in design and creativity to develop and expand their knowledge and skills as well as to help strengthen capability and competitiveness of Thai designers in a global market place.

Resource Access to :

• Books covering various interests in design discipline, e.g. art history, interior design, architecture, fashion, textiles, graphic design, photography, film, etc.
• Approximately 210 titles of magazines and journals
• Multimedia: films, documentaries, and TCDC’s workshops and lectures on iPod and iPad.
• Online Databases on fashion industry, marketing and digital media
  • Passport GMID (Global Market Information Database), formerly known as Euromonitor Passport, is a marketing tool that contains data for many countries on consumer market sizes, market data & forecasts, consumer lifestyles, companies and brands.
  • WGSN (World Global Style Network) is the world’s leading trend forecaster. The company enables subscribers to make better design decisions by identifying and analysing the trends that will shape commercially successful products and services in the future. WGSN’s inspiration and insight are only available through online subscriptions to a variety of state-of-the-art digital tools and through bespoke consultancy services.
  • STASH  is the online resource of visual effects and animation projects from both professional designers and design enthusiasts around the world.
• A collection of over 7,500 innovative materials in from Material Connexion® Bangkok
• Facilities and services, e.g. reading rooms, movie rooms