A uniquely Thai perspective gives Japanese wood new potential in a modern world

On December 23 (Wed) FabCafe Bangkok held the Would Change Challenge (WCC) Ideathon at FabCafe Bangkok, located inside the Thailand Creative and Design Center. At the WCC Ideathon, sponsored by the Japan Federation of Wood-Industry Associations, the focus was to understand and create new ideas for Japanese wood and trees through the lens of unique Thai-culture and recent trends.

Ideas were gathered under three categories: #materiality (to change the way we utilize the characteristics of wood), #activity (to change the relationship between wood and people) and #storytelling (to change people’s impressions when using wood). What never before imagined situations and experiences of wood could be discovered in this short yet intense ideathon?

Would Change Challenge Ideathon at FabCafe Bangkok Video

A one-day design thinking workshop resulting Thai-inspired ideas, crossing wood with storytelling, olfactory design, material science and more..

The WCC Ideathon was organized and led by FabCafe Co-founder Samustpon Tanapant and FabCafe Bangkok team member and WCC Ideathon organizer, Fakram Buasai. Samustpon Tanapant is a Lecturer for Architecture and Planning at Thammasat University and has been the FabCafe Chief Operating Officer for just over six years. At Bangkok Design Week 2020, Samustpon and Fakram showcased their own individual prototypes, ‘Foresee’, a solar-panelled, bluetooth-integrated smart helmet, and ‘Cactus’, which uses solar power to collect solar energy to heat water for a one-stop coffee popup, so these two are not strangers to coming up with new ideas!

The participants in the WCC Ideathon came from a diverse background and included art directors, researchers, designers. University students alongside faculty members from Silapakorn University, Chulalongkorn University and Thammasat University challenged wood innovation from a product design, architecture and chemistry-based approach. After all, who better than the next generation to give a fresh and not-yet explored perspective on wood, an already long-established material?

The ideation process

At the heart of the design thinking process is ideation. In ideation, instead of starting from the solution idea, participants consider the human-centered aspects of the challenge. To kick off the ideation session, Workshop Facilitator Fakram led a three part icebreaker: first, “What is love?”, second, “What is wood?” and finally, how do we merge and summarize these very broad but deep themes. Setting the tone for the day from this romantic yet thought-provoking lens provided a refreshing and very human moment just at the start of the day’s innovation process.

In order to define the topic for each team, participants analyzed the challenge by ideating on what is unique to Thai culture and what are some of the behaviors relevant to this discussion. Crossing these Thai-specific cultural points and behaviors with current trends and emotional aspects provided a fruitful ideation session upon which to discover new ideas.

Concept sketch designing

Bridging the gap between rough ideas to producing a concept sketch requires considerable research, creativity and communication prowess. Concept sketches capture the essence of the idea, where various intentional elements, including the core design characteristics and the design’s function, can be presented in a single sketch. What crazy ideas were developed into a feasible concept at the WCC Ideathon? From a broad and inspiring selection of concept sketches, we have curated three ideathon outputs below!:

Ideas to change the way we would use wood

LUCKY AROMA

XYCOAL

Keen to eat CLEAN

Thanks to all the participants who joined the WCC Ideathon! Do you have an idea to challenge wood? Applications for the Would Change Challenge is open until February 15th. Interested to hear from the experts about Japanese wood, innovations in wood-centered design, and how designers are looking at wood from new and previously unexplored perspectives? Join us on February 2nd for the online Would Change Challenge Meetup, hosted by FabCafe Bangkok. See details below and we look forward to seeing you there!