The New Adaptation of Rattan by Architect Patrick Keane
During the world-wide COVID lockdown, an Australian-born and Princeton-educated architect, Patrick Keane, founder of Enter Projects Asia, revitalized a traditional industry in Thailand and successfully emerged as an expert in combining modern technology with natural materials, such as rattan, in the architectural design.
The lockdown shut many doors to imported goods; Patrick’s firm was no exception. He then went from Australia to Thailand to look for an environmentally friendly substitute. While visiting the local craftsman shops, he immediately fell in love with the natural material of rattan. Among many of its attributes, such as flexibility and malleability, what he likes the most is its connection with nature which is good for the environment.
Since then, he started designing a local yoga studio with his new idea. After the initial success, Patrick took on a much bigger project – to enhance a new look for the Bangkok-based Spice and Barley restaurant’s interior. The three-floor (9-meter) tall columns at the international hotspot not only elevated the presence of the restaurant but also enhanced Patrick’s expertise in transforming craftsman-styled rattan making to the commercial scale and opened the door for many new projects.
The total transformation of an art collector’s gallery in Chiang Mai demonstrates Patrick’s and Enter Projects Asia’s mastery in expansively weaving rattan to fill a whole place with arched ceilings, curvaceous walls, and rolling columns. Most of the inspiration for the design came from nature – the simulation of clouds and streams in twine with mountains and hills. Combined with some modern features, such as lighting, the whole installation provides a warm and pleasing atmosphere, allowing people to immerse themselves in the natural environment while viewing the international art collection in a local context. The gallery will be opened to the public at the beginning of 2023.
With a good track record and high level of design experience with rattan, Patrick and his Enter Projects Asia team are finding it easier to convince their clients to adopt this natural alternative. As a result, they are currently busy with several overseas projects including one in the United States for Delta Airlines. Patrick is glad that he has the chance to enable a global aesthetic design with local craft and art in a way that is scalable to meet modern needs while achieving the goal of sustainability. Through Enter Projects Asia’s rattan initiative, three rattan factories have been saved during the lockdown and many experienced craftsmen (some of them of five generations) will not lose their jobs but instead will flourish in a new world.
Enter Projects Asia’s Website