Janine Yasovant
 คลิกเพื่ออ่านบทความนี้ เป็นภาษาไทย

Pimpaween Sunthontammarat is a writer and translator who thrives in the circles of Thai artists—both younger and older generations. A graduate of Silpakorn University, she is a person who knows what to do best for life.

On 13th October 2016, the beloved King Bhumibhol of Thailand passed away. The next day, I saw her carrying sets of black shirts to give to people who came to respect the King at the Grand Palace in Bangkok. It rained all day but people came to the palace nevertheless. Pimpaween stood there working and helping people tirelessly. In the late evening of that day, she came to give some encouragement to fellow art students who painted the wall in the faculty of paintings, sculptures and graphic arts at Silpakorn University. What she did that day was so memorable and worthy of praise. She is one of a new generation of people who is knowledgeable, has high self-confidence and a highly positive attitude.

This interview is with a woman who has an important role and the responsibility to create good relationships with artists. She is also a representative who contacts artists in the circles of Thai art. In many ways, I believe that her work is very significant for Thai society.

JY: Tell me about your outlook on life as a woman who had behind-the-scene works with artists as a freelance writer, interviewer and translator.

PS: Fortunately, I have been working as a writer for ELLE Magazine Thailand since I was 19 years old, over 15 years from then till. The luck I talked about is about meeting various kinds of people including artists. It is always fun for me to go outside to learn more about life, broaden my vision and attitude. As for my personal habits, I am a quite talkative person. It is like I have shortcuts to study the world we live in because each artist has a very high sense of self. I have learned about their way of thinking and their viewpoints on various topics. Most of the artists I interviewed said they experienced many kinds of problems before they received success. I also take these experiences into consideration and apply them to myself. Because of this, sometimes I feel that I am a bit more mature than my friends who are around my age. I love all aspects of my career including doing interviews, transcribing interviews into readable words and translating foreign articles. That is fun in my daily life and never boring to me. You could say that I fell in love with my job. It is my life and personality.

JY: What about your upbringing, education and career?

PS: During my childhood, I had my own idea of my dream career and I knew what I loved to do. Luckily, my parents never forbid me from it. I went to study at Satree Wittaya, an all-girls school. There each student competed with others for the best grade. After school my friends went to "cram" schools and so did I. Basically when I was young I was a studious type. I also have quite keen foreign language skills. During high school I studied art and languages. It was a lot of fun to learn French and I speak it rather well. I also loved art so I enrolled in the Faculty of Archeology at Silpakorn University. My major subject was French which is also used in many art subjects. Every day I had chances to study with lecturers who were French native speakers. My minor subject was art history. I studied both Eastern and Western art history. It was delightful during those four years. When I was the second year student, I tried to find what I really wanted to do and I applied to be a trainee at ELLE THAILAND fashion magazine. After that I was accepted as a freelance writer. I was also interested in other branches of the fashion industry so I applied to work as a trainee in the public relations and marketing department at Christian Lacroix and Emilio Pucci Thailand and then I worked in the display department at Greyhound.

After graduation I continued for my Master's degree in Art Theory at the faculty of paintings, sculptures and graphic arts, Silpakorn. At that time, I thought that my language education was sufficient so I chose to learn more about art. Deep inside my heart, I always wanted to be an art lecturer or art academician but I am still a writer of fashion, lifestyle and beauty as well as a columnist. Occasionally, I went to do public relations for many fashion brands and was a writer for leading Thai magazines including Harper’s Bazaar, Madame Figaro, ELLE Men, Forbes, and GM Watch. At present I write for online magazines and I am also a consultant on appearance-care of “Brand” companies through social media. In some projects I work as a curator of entertaining art exhibitions.

JY: What about collaborating with artists?

PS: With interviewing artists, I have learned about their thinking processes, methods of working and experiences through stories. Actually, working as a curator who organizes art exhibitions together with artists is another kind of enjoyment. It is very rewarding time to learn new experiences because each artist has individual character and a different way of thinking. It feels like opening a new book and learning about the new world.

JY: What do you think about Thai people and reading?

PS: In my view, Thai people nowadays still do not read enough. They usually skip reading important subjects such as news. Young people prefer reading about entertainment, food and drinks, beauty and fashion. More serious topics are often neglected intentionally. Good public libraries should be established throughout important areas of Bangkok to let them read for more learning. All books should be appropriate with all -age readers and updated with latest information if possible.

JY: And, what would you like to tell 'our' readers?

PS: I would like to tell your readers to live happily in every day. I am a freelance writer and my working tool is a laptop computer. I can travel and work anywhere I please. On a particular day I worked out in nature and I saw mountains and seas. Living with a "slow-life" principle is a very good way to be joyful. People in Bangkok are highly competitive and rush to work every day. The result is that the index of happiness declines dramatically. They all experience tension, less time to rest and seek true happiness. Their quality of life decreases while problems accumulate. High stress causes people to have difficulty thinking creatively. So a little bit of rest and relaxation greatly helps them like a fully charged battery. They would have more positive energy to create something better. My wish is that Thai people live their life with happiness.