Angkhor Buddha

There's a Slavic saying "do not take your samovar to Tula", and suggested translation for it is "do not take coal to Newcastle". Supposedly because samovars and coal are both plentiful in their respective cities.

Some people apply this saying to Thailand, aka "don't take your samovar to Thailand" meaning that one should not travel here with their girlfriend. In a way, this is exactly what I did. I brought my own samovar to Thailand. But not a girlfriend, more like a boyfriend. I have brought a Buddha to a Buddhist country.

But let's start from the very beginning. When I was thinking how I'd like to decorate my balcony in Bangkok, I wanted an artificial green wall with a bas relief Buddha. Like those I've seen in temples in India and Indonesia.

You might think that a decorative Buddha would be the easiest thing to find in a Buddhist country, but actually not. I looked, and looked, and looked... and I've found exactly what I was looking for only in USA, manufactured by a company Design Toscano. A copy of Earth Witness buddha from Angkor Wat, Cambodia.

If I wanted to see the real thing, I could hop on a bus in the morning and be there before the end of the day. But getting a copy for my balcony required traveling to USA, shipping it along with my books by sea cargo to Ukraine, and then bringing it to Bangkok in my hand luggage on a flight from Italy.

Sometimes design is as easy as ordering a cute lamp from an app on your phone, and sometimes it is like this, and you carry the weight of your perfectionism on your own shoulders. But I am happy, my Bangkok apartment is complete now.

When I was designing it, I played with the idea of colonialism. Jute, and rattan, and natural style... but I got most of my items from Ikea making it re-appropriated cultural appropriation. And I think this American-Cambodian Buddha which has traveled around the planet, is a perfect fit to the concept.