O Thongthai: Bangles, Cuffs, Earrings and Other Jewelry
IN THE WEEKLY RUBRIC "NEW MARK" Wonderzine presents young designers and tells where and how you can buy their things. Our heroine this week is O Tongtai, the founder of the brand name of jewelry made of silver and gold, brass, artificial crystals and pearls.
About Tongtai was born in Bangkok, and got education, like many successful young designers, in London Central Saint Martin, where she studied animation and graphic design. It also met with stylists and directors, who are now helping in the promotion of O Thongthai. In 2013, she launched a personalized brand of jewelry that is made in Thailand. Success came immediately: in February 2014, the designer presented the collection at London Fashion Week.
In the collections of Tongtai you can find jewelry for every taste. Designer equally well succeed neat figured ornaments in the form of hearts, cuffs and clips on the nose. In addition, she creates kawai and kitsch accessories like metal chokers, massive earrings, crosses, rings on the palm, double rings and brooches, studded with colored crystals and artificial pearls. In the collections of the brand, you can trace the influence of Thai culture, which is characterized by excessive decorativeness, and youth subcultures - the style of Mexican cholas and Japanese ganguro. Work on jewelry O Tongtai helps stylist Anna Trevelyan, who herself wears accessories brand. In addition to Anna, O Thongthai jewelry can be seen on Chinese singer Jike Junyi and New Zealand Lorde.
Separately, it should be said about the cooperation of the brand with another London-based designer with Asian roots, Ryan Lo. Together they released two very girly collections. The first one includes colored rings and large earrings in the form of puppet starfish and seashells, and the second one includes rings, necklaces and brooches with baroque crystals, as well as earrings decorated with colored fluff. Today, O Thongthai accessories are sold in London Machine-A and in New York VFILES. In Moscow, jewelry stamps can be found in Kuznetsky Most 20. In addition, O Thongthai has a wide geography of sales in Asia: from Liberty Area One and Wanderlust in Thailand to GR8 in Japan.
I made my first jewelry at the age of 15, when I was studying in my native Bangkok. At school, I thought I would study jewelry in New York or London. However, life was such that I enrolled in a film and animation course. But this knowledge was useful for me to promote the brand: for each collection I make a small film in support, thus revealing the idea and associative array that stand behind each product.