Shone Puipia is the brand connecting with the world on a personal level, one design at a time

Bangkok’s hustle and bustle hides myriad stitching, sewing and crafting. Fashion designer Shone Puipia’s studio, showroom and atelier is based in a quiet alleyway in busy Suan Phlu, Sathorn. The purpose-built, three-storey compound is walking distance from the home that he shares with his mother, Pinaree Sanpitak, one of Thailand’s leading contemporary artists.

The pair frequently collaborate. The 32-year-old also works with his father, Chatchai Puipia, another venerable Thai painter – a crossover that he celebrated at his first showing in Paris last year during men’s fashion week. “It was eye-opening for [people at Paris fashion week] to see this level of fashion coming out of Thailand,” says Puipia. “Visitors really understood the quality and craftsmanship that we produce.”

During Monocle’s visit to the brand’s Bangkok base, three seamstresses are putting the finishing touches to several wedding gowns. “Everything is made here,” Puipia says, showing us around the atelier in an outfit featuring a knitted T-shirt and a pair of red, eel-leather ballet slippers – a signature design from 2023 and now part of every Shone Puipia collection.

Puipia’s interest in clothes began when he took a pattern-making and draping course at the Alliance Française in Bangkok. He was learning French at the time, saw a poster on the wall and kept enrolling for the same weekend short course for the next two years. “I got to love the craft from learning the making side of it,” says Puipia, who recalls being given a book on Dries Van Noten. His admiration for the iconic Belgian designer’s use of colour, ethnic patterns and collegiate style led him to study at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp. An invitation to show his pieces at the MAIIAM Contemporary Art Museum in Chiang Mai provided a platform for launching his own label in 2018.

His fun, experimental occasion clothes are on display on the showroom’s top floor, carefully catalogued and ready to try on for customers seeking inspiration for a custom design. A brand highlight is the lightweight knitwear, made from a linen-and-silk yarn, which will launch in April, the hottest time of the year in Thailand. The styles are heading to Paris later this year for a pop-up boutique in the Marais called Never Normal, featuring about half a dozen Southeast Asian brands. Puipia sees it as an opportunity to introduce his label to customers who can’t make it to the atelier in Bangkok.

For now, Puipia’s mind is on putting on his next fashion show in 2026. “I’ve gotten to know my customers,” he says, “and I know how to bring colour, craftsmanship, texture and textile to fashion that they can wear.”
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