Padum
A Thai botanical inhaler, shaped and coloured like the mangosteen it sits among. Six frames from the pond to the market, one direction, and the brand’s line-work carried as light inside the scene rather than laid on top of it.
The direction.
( WRITTEN FIRST )One hour of the day per frame, and never a studio light: mist coming off a pond, the canopy of a market, raking sun on a white wall, the glow of an offering table.
Thailand named exactly rather than evoked — a lotus pond, a floating market, a household altar, a courtyard wall with frangipani. The product travels; the country is not a backdrop.
The product is always at the height of what surrounds it: flowers, fruit, hands. Never on a plinth, never looked down on.
Aubergine lacquer, copper, mangosteen, lotus. The inhaler is the shape and the colour of the fruit, so every frame is a small game of find it.
The brand’s botanical line-work appears inside the scene as light, drawn in copper, never white, and never across a face.
The set.
( SIX FRAMES )
