The Dwell 24: Sukrachand

Furniture designer Robert Sukrachand started out at New York University as a photography student. But after college, he didn’t love the work he was doing. Needing a different creative outlet, he joined a community workshop in Brooklyn and started playing around with making wood furniture. 

"I didn’t know anything about woodwork, but I was immediately addicted to the feeling of making something with my hands," the designer says. He now splits his time between Brooklyn and Chiang Mai, Thailand—as a kid growing up outside Boston, Sukrachand spent summers in Thailand with his father—and he sees his work as a conversation between the two cultures. 

To expand this dialogue, Sukrachand is starting a company that will produce collaborations between designers from the USA and Thailand and will be headquartered in a five-story live/work space in Chiang Mai. "I’m excited," he says, "about the different directions it could go."

Read the full Q&A with Robert Sukrachand below.

Hometown: Millis, Massachusetts

Describe what you make in 140 characters. I build connections between my two homes in New York and Thailand, using handcraft and design as an alternate language for communication.

What’s the last thing you designed? My new studio space in Chiang Mai. It was a gut renovation of the first floor in a shophouse that will be my new home for prototyping lighting, furniture, and other objects while I'm in Thailand.

Do you have a daily creative ritual? My creativity thrives more on chaos and random inspiration than it does on any specific daily practice.

How do you procrastinate? The New York Times Spelling Bee.

What everyday object would you like to redesign? Why? Seems to me that we could use more attractive ceiling fans. Maybe that’s just because I'm in the market for one at the moment!

Who are your heroes (in design, in life, in both)? I actually despise hero narratives. I'm much more inspired by movements and groups of people coming together to accomplish things.

What skill would you most like to learn? This year I'd like to learn how to weave 3-dimensional forms.

What is your most treasured possession? My most treasured possession(s) are old photographs of my families from long before I was born.

What’s your earliest memory of an encounter with design? Trying to eat with a fork and spoon.

What contemporary design trend do you despise? Resin waterfall tabletops.

Finish this statement: All design should... aim to do no harm.

What’s in your dream house? An airy, sunny room with a large dining table, lots of plants, a big indoor-outdoor kitchen for cooking, chatting, and sharing meals. That's all I need.

How can the design world be more inclusive? In my eye, inclusion is a low bar, and it assumes that the people left out would even want to be invited to the party. The design "world" needs "world building" from scratch. We need to think bigger—new communities, conversations, and models for what it can mean to be connected through design.

You can learn more about Sukrachand on his Instagram.    

View the 2022 Dwell 24!