FROM CANDLES TO CLOTHES
LOVED EVERYDAY KARMAKAMET’S DEBUT AT ELLE FASHION WEEK LAST NIGHT? THERE’S STILL MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM
There is no denying th he sensual and fanciful world of Karmakamet. Since 2001,2001 the sophisti-sophisti cated aroma brand has been mesmerising Thai (and international) noses with its first-grade candles and dreamy stores.
Over the years, their product line has steadily increased to include other household items and nostalgic knick-knacks — and always with an old-charm nod that conjures up the rustic charm of yesteryear. A step into any of their stores will always stir something in your senses. Karmakamet Diner opened in 2013 to let customers indulge in a secret world where time seemed to move slower.
Amid the setting of an old-fashioned Chinese pharmacy, visitors could revel in French cuisine with an Asian twist that is served in a fine-dining manner. For all its hits and misses, Karmakamet has always been robust when it comes to image building and their second line, Everyday Karmakamet, echoes the tradition of cluttered treasures by its main brand.
Step into this café/grocery and you’ll understand how it’s born from the same idea, but is also starkly different from the main house, which manufactures candles, diffusers, lotions and so forth. With this sister line, things are more fuss-free and mainly made to make you smile. Mugs, tote bags, notebooks, necklaces, plates and all sorts of frivolous things pack the shelves at Everyday, while another corner of the store serves coffee and pastries.
The store’s new addition is Everyday Karmakamet’s first ever clothing line, one of the labels that hit Elle Fashion Week’s runway last night. Judging from the owner’s highly successful execution of branching into other fields, it’s definitely something to get excited over and does raise eyebrows in a good way, as we speculate which direction their fashion label will head.
“He’s thought of a clothing line for years,” Sarunrat Panchiracharoen says of Karmakamet’s founder, Natthorn Rakchana. “It dates way, way back. He wanted to get into fashion too because he wants it to push the brand forward. If the aroma stuff and clothes both hit the spot, it could be really fun. If there’s clothes too, it would be a cool store where you could enter and get everything from head to toe.”
Those who know Natthorn will know that he is a visionary genius, having built a little shop selling essential oils at Chatuchak market into the compelling lifestyle behemoth that it is today.
Sarunrat was personally handpicked by Natthorn to build a clothing line for Everyday from scratch, following his previous stints as a stylist and senior designer at another whimsical and dainty house, Disaya. With over 10 years in the fashion business, the artistic director is bringing something different to the casual daywear of Everyday.
“A lot of Thai brands shout so much,” says Sarunrat. “It’s all this hey-look-at-me or extremely sexy. We don’t want to be hard-sell, nor do we want you to feel like you’ve turned into something particular when wearing our clothes. We want you to still be yourself and want to blend in with your life. We honour people who wear our clothes and we want people to see you and think, ‘Wow, he or she is so cool’, rather than ‘Wow, that top is such a masterpiece’.”
At first glance, it is easy to label the line as simple, easy-to-wear and loose fitting. The clothes are starkly basic but well-made. With a “young blood” target in mind, there are clear influences of sportswear, while more serious pieces flaunt pop details, such as the women’s jacket with a lettered sash. Hidden in nooks other producers might have chosen to ignore are smiley faces or double collars — these little details making the clothes simple but unexpected.
The smiley face is their recurring motif and clearly so for the positivity it strives to bring to the wearer. The director reveals that future seasons will also see the rainbow icon, for its symbolism of acceptance and love across all genders.
“We’re all about being positive and our tagline is ‘I love my life’,” explains the artistic director. “Love and happiness is what drives all our collections and will continue to do so in the future. There are so many different viewpoints, so there are a million things you could talk about regarding love in this world.”
For this autumn/winter collection, “This Mission Is Too Important”, Sarunrat received some of his inspiration from 2001: A Space Odyssey. Besides the colours and shapes of the 60s and 70s the movie brought forth, it is also the question the designer has that shapes the clothes: Why are we so happy when we were young, while it requires so many steps to be happy as an adult?
“We thought back to what it was like when we looked at stars and space as a child, and what it is like when we do now,” says Sarunrat. “I watched Space Odyssey and what we can conclude is that you don’t have to go all that way — sometimes the things closest to you are what make you the happiest.”
It’s clear that this new brand is in able hands, but that’s not even the best part. Besides Everyday, Sarunrat is also working on another clothing line under the Karmakamet umbrella — this one bigger, grander and headier in Karmakamet fashion. If Everyday is a little too calm, keep your eyes peeled for Classitique, which should see its launch in the first quarter next year. With its direction of reworking something antique or old into something more modern, Classitique is set to be the higher-end label that toes the line of becoming an artwork. “It could practically be an art piece in an exhibition and so much more thought processes go into it,” Sarunrat says. “It’s not just about fashion and function, but it’s also about pride and relates to your feelings when wearing it. Classitique is more about being in your own world, your secret world.”
He lets on that research has already begun. Red Guards from China, revolutions and such are in the picture and it sounds like the Indochinese grounds we’re familiar with and know this brand can thrivingly tread on. Ironically, this higher-end line was supposed to be the main deal, but Sarunrat is up to his neck with building Everyday too, which turned out to be a handful despite its more simple appeal.
Still, the director is excited about all the projects he’s working in the past year and still remembers the very words Natthorn uttered to him when he got the first phone call from the founder.
“[Classitique] was actually the first thing he wanted to do when he called me up. ‘Let’s create the most magnificent thing together’. Those were his exact words.”
The pre-collection and basic T-shirt line is now available at Everyday Karmakamet, Yada Building, off Silom Road. The autumn/winter 2017 collection will be available in October.