Charif Lona in his recent design project, Track17.
The design director of Studio Act of Kindness could easily pass for a fashion darling — with his brand of photographs that flaunt a dark and broody kind of good looks. But just as synonymous with his clouded stares and modelesque poses are a backdrop of amazing spaces with stylish furnishings — many of which are locations he has had a hand in designing. His latest creation where we meet is a welcome illusory; Track17 is a bar made to look like a Euro-riche train bogey, proper sombre in its woodwork and brimming with trinkets of a bygone Victorian era.
Charif Lona is, in fact, the man behind the interior design of the Magnum Café which made ripples back in 2013, for serving marshallow-coated Magnums and chocolate-sauced pasta in an even more rich ambience of luscious brown hues and Renaissance arch pillars. It was the 30-year-old’s first project which turned him into an architectural hotshot and since then, he has been roped in to design boutique stores, fashion houses, restaurants, dental clinics, down to celebrity homes without any idle rifts.
But this pensive designer can do more than sketch your dream joint, thanks to his interest in fine arts and branding.
“Being versatile offers opportunities to encounter new things,” the Yala native smiled.
Charif himself epitomises the name of his multidisciplinary practice which opens its doors this June: Studio Act of Kindness. Unlike his seemingly solemn character with a dressing disposition towards Scandinavian normcore, in real life, he is never out of words and will more than enthusiastically ask questions about his client’s brand. What colour is your brand? What kind of black? Is it a steely black, velvety black or marble-ish black?
Charif Lona.
Beyond spatial design, he and his branding brigade are something of an all-in-one package that makes sure everything is smooth sailing, even if outside his main field of architecture and interior design. Getting to that end product of a gorgeous space that magnificently personifies the brand, however, requires deep reflection. Yet, his clients often enjoy discovering it for themselves.
“It’s fun to explore the core depth of what the brand is really all about and in the end, the answer will reveal itself on how the design should be,” the tall designer recounted. “Sometimes they are too stunned with our questions, but they go home really thinking about what they are. For the fashion brand La Boutique we’re working on, I asked what are women who wear your brand like? What are their boyfriends like? I’m critical about why things are a certain way and if it’s reasonable to have certain concepts. You don’t just cover something up with something just because you feel like it — sometimes, we have to take a step back to see if they want something because they just want it or if it’s something that’s plausible. I guess my academic background makes me think things need to be reasonable, not just plug whatever colour’s in.”
He can’t help but dive so deep. It goes back to his days of studying creative urban practice at the Glasgow School of Art, which has ingrained in him an understanding that harsher climates and politics all contribute to a particular kind of structure and drawing style.
“Psychology, society and architecture are all connected,” he said. “As an architect, what can you do to give life back to people? Like the dental clinic, it was about bringing light into a very dark building. I put screens in so the light in there looks different as the day progresses so the people that come in can relax and their wait is less nerve-wrecking. When it does answer the needs, it doesn’t turn out to be over-exaggerated with how I’m being so critical.”
Fortunately, for Charif, he has never had to hustle to pitching yet, with all of his clients reaching out to him first. Kiatnakin Bank is one of them, as well as Laemgate Seafood Restaurant — both in search not only for a revamped, high-end image, but a complete makeover in the actual operations and services that are offered by the brand.
For Laemgate, he reveals how he has gone to the extent of redesigning uniforms for the staff, as well as planning the operations in such a way that customers see a new uniform every time they visit and that the buffet becomes more than a buffet.
On his current work in progress with the bank, Charif explains his reasoning behind making this Thong Lor branch a “boutique bank”, with a space that looks more like a hotel reception and a business centre so customers no longer have to talk about their million-baht transactions in Au Bon Pain.
“It brings about the question of what other roles can this bank play,” he explained. “This is an area alive at night, so this branch needs to transform itself. Why be conservative when the local context here is different to everywhere else?” It’s not every day that he gets a client who knows exactly what they are, but sometimes they do, like Sretsis. The fashion superbrand’s vision of “whatever makes women feel like children again” was perfectly transferred into a whimsical flagship store at Central Embassy — evoking a feel of little ladies who fall asleep and wake up to discover that the sky has turned upside down.
Continuing the brand’s sisterly charm and playful aesthetics, he is also working on a Sretsis concept store and bar that will soon open in SeenSpace Hua Hin.
To quench his thirst and keep things lively, the fine arts and literature enthusiast enjoys travelling and reading books, but mostly it’s talking to people, when it comes to seeking inspiration.
“It’s talking to friends who work in the same industry who have similar ideas but sometimes see things in a different way,” he said. “But inspiration for architecture or interior design doesn’t have to come from its own disciples, it can be from any artist.
“In the end, architecture or interior design is about a space, but if you neglect the things within that space, it affects you and can bring you down. I used to think that I was just an architect and interior designer concerned with the space, but when my customer bought stuff to put in that space and it looked wrong, you realise it’s also about the small details, like a woman that wears an earring that doesn’t go with her shirt.”
His work on Sdental Clinic.
His work at Eatdustry, left, and Sdental Clinic.
This source first appeared on Bangkok Post Lifestyle.