Who’s zhu…

Zhu used to be an antique dealer with a shop called Ancient Times in Bangkok, using her maiden name “Somporn Trakarnboonchai (see www.junkseilon.com ) before she met her husband 15 years ago. It was at the River City that she met her husband, who, apart from working full-time as a businessman, also managed a shop there dealing in fine old prints and maps. He shared his passion in the art of cartography with Zhu and the pair, both being connoisseurs in antiques and fine art, found that they had a lot in common.

Zhu has trained her eyes by visiting the most important art & architecture treasures in Europe, including almost all important museums and art galleries in Europe and America.  Together with her travels around Burma, Cambodia, Laos, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal to source goods and deal with artisans and tradesmen (and making many fantastic friends) she acquired the experience and knowledge to design and source for clients who live and love the symbiosis of European and Asian art with modern living. 

Now Zhu, who has moved to Phuket permanently in 2007, lives and works here happily. Her office, which is on the top floor of the German Consulate, is chock full of fine Asian antique and art objects
“I discovered that I had a knack for arranging stuff in space. And because of the line of business I was in, I appreciate art and design. Interior decoration was decidedly the profession for me.”

“My design is very much human-oriented; it has to work with the human body and human psyche. For this kind of project to be successful I always have to learn a lot about my clients and what makes them tick. The reward is that I am connected with my clients on a personal level. To see them happy with the result is another big plus.”

Zhu doesn’t take her work lightly. She believes that interior design is not dissimilar to a good painting, which must have ‘a main focus, good proportion and structure, and a working colour combination’. And to design an interior is to design the function for a space by creating the relationship between human being with such space; Design for Behavior.

“I’d like to think that what I do is a mixture of business and pleasure:
financial rewards have to be countered by one’s passion, and in my case it’s design.” zhu