Tnop Wangsillapkun
Tnop Wangsillapkun is the founder and design director of Bangkok-based TNOP Design. The design studio specializes in communication design and branding for local and international companies. His work has been recognized with awards from the Red Dot Design Award, New York Type Directors Club, Tokyo Type Directors Club, and The One Show. Tnop is also a full-time lecturer at the Master of Fine Arts - Design in Rangsit University’s College of Design in Pratumthani, Thailand.
If you could recommend 3 books to anyone, what would they be?
Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz
Design students should read this book. This is one of the books that, as a designer, I never ever imagined reading because of its thickness! But while studying for my master’s degree in 1998, I had to read a substantial number of pages every week and then present my essay to the class. I never regretted that experience. I actually picked up some key points on how contemporary artists found inspiration in their lives and used available resources to create new possibilities in their works. It's exciting for a graphic designer like myself to realize that we're very similar. This really influenced my early works by finding artistic value in commercial design. Being able to compare the works of different artists and from different periods of time, I am able to pick up patterns and predict the next possible trend.
Cradle to Cradle by William McDonough & Michael Braungart
This book is for all designers. I believe that designers help contribute to the vast amount of trash every year because of our designs. Most of us have no clue when it comes to saving the environment through design. Design is part of the problem and we have to admit that first, then the next thing is to understand the fact that there's no such thing as 100% recycled material! Most of the so-called "recycled" materials aren’t 100% remade as its original object, such as plastic products using the traditional recycling process. The book makes us realize that we need technology to make that possible, and that it will happen in the near future. As a print designer, I produce paper-based designs all the time. How can we design better products to extend its usage life cycle or design its afterlife in mind?
Design as Art by Bruno Munari
Bruno Munari is one of my graphic design heroes. I’ve got many of his books and exhibition catalogues on my bookshelves. But this pocketbook is my favorite, and I finished it in a few days. It's more like a collection of short essays that anyone can enjoy reading. It's very easy to read. As he grew older, he got bitter about the designs around him — from chairs to Italian marble flooring. It's like listening to my grandpa bitching about everything! I can't wait to get old!
What are you reading now?
To be honest, I haven't picked up new books or been to a bookstore for a long time — it’s a shame! But going through items in my Amazon shopping cart, I found some books that I wanted to order but haven't yet. These are: The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and Senses by Juhani Pallasmaa; Pattern-Thinking by R.Buckminster Fuller; and Everything that Can Happen in a Day by David Horvitz.
Whose reading list are you most curious about?
“Banksy”
— Tnop Wangsillapkun
