Now the two worlds of east and west meet and mingle like there’s no boundaries. Rush Pleansuk and Philippe Moisan combine Thai and French artistic sensibilities in their romantic and professional partnership. While Philippe mainly use his keen eyes in photography, Rush wears many hats at Sumphat gallery as a furniture, product and interior designer, a craft and design consultant as well as an architect, columnist and artist. They interconnect design philosophy, functionality and artistic values into a profound interpretation.
Before becoming an award-winning designer, Rush earned his Bachelor degree in architecture at Faculty of Architecture, Kasetsart University, Bangkok. He furthered his studies in “Timber design and construction” at School of Architecture and Landscape, Bordeaux, France.
Philippe Moisan was born in Montmartre, Paris. Living among the ambience of artists, his graphic artist parents are a mélange of bourgeois-bohemian. His maternal grandfather, Roland Moisan, was a well-known artist and political cartoonist for Canard enchaîné, a satirical French newspaper. He was exposed to the world of art via his family friends who are painters, photographers, poets, writers, and actors. After the life of bobo’s joie-de-vivre, he was schooled in Versailles with stricter social code and complexity. Philippe studied at École du Louvre with a dream to become a museum curator. He then learned commercial photography and started shooting model portfolios. Later he worked for several magazines, travelled widely in Europe, Asia, and the US, and eventually spent 12 years working in fashion and advertising photography in Brazil.
As fate would have it, Rush and Philippe met and have collaborated for many years. They have combined their talents in architecture, design and photography. Rush says, “Our designs emerge from cultures, communication, connection, vibrancy and movement. As a single piece, it may lose the sense. Within a series, the pieces build stories, spirit, soul, sense and meaning about their origin.” Philippe adds, “Each time I see his works in all the process, they remind me of the trees, the forests, and photos mixing and connecting together.”
Rush’s Midas touch has been recognised by several prominent design awards such as the first prize from La Plateforme Génome Transcriptome in France, G-Mark Design Award in Japan, the DEmark Award in Thailand, Prime Minister’s Export Award, Best Design of the Year in 2018, and Designer of the Year for Product Design in 2019. Currently, both have a sculpture and photography installation ‘Zephyr’ exhibited at One Bangkok Project. As multi-disciplinary artists, this cross-cultural couple adapts, blends, modifies, and transforms their global thinking into universal things.