‘Made by Lert’ Living without a manual, embracing the freedom to live life your way
You come to a point where you ask yourself, “how should I decorate my room?”. Most likely, you’ll most likely seek inspiration through applications like Pinterest or save a collection of your favourite Instagram Reels to curate your dream furniture collection.
This question was what prompted ‘Gres’ Navarat Techaratanaprasert, ‘James’ Lertpong Saechua, and ‘Cake’ Airin Sanguansin - long-time school friends - to come together, exchange ideas, and ignite a shared vision. Sparing their free time outside of their full-time jobs, they embarked on a furniture-making project together, starting from a place on complete uncertainty. A steep learning process for all three friends, they learned gradually, experimented with pieces, fought, failed, and tried again, repeating this cycle of trial and error.
Since none of them had the skills to build furniture themselves, their focus emphasised on concept development and seeking inspiration through research. That’s when they stumbled upon the concept of a Nomadic Lifestyle - a way of life that is detached and simple, and uncommitted to a singular place, which reflects a life of freedom. The concept aligned perfectly with Modular Furniture, which can be disassembled, easily transported, and folded into more accessible shapes - a real foreshadowing of their fate to journey from the capital to the northern cities.
In our conversation on life and furniture, we learned what we find in our furniture is not so different to living life. They can grow and evolve with us, sparking a little inspiration to try creating something of our own!
Follow EQ as we chat with Gres, James, and Cake, the three founders of Made by LERT, a design studio from Chiang Mai, about their way of thinking and living that form the foundations of their work!
01 Living the Moment
To set the scene, Made by LERT was founded by three best friends who were part of the Communication Design (CommDe) program at Chulalongkorn University. Early in their journey, they established their first “studio” in a corner of James’ house - much like how Steve Jobs started Apple from his garage.
As Made by LERT began to grow, attracting customers and gaining recognition, both the brand and their lifestyle evolved. They moved 700 kilometers from their hometown, from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, where they now live, work, and thrive.
Before Made by LERT, what did you all do?
Cake: I worked in various areas of design, offering services like photography, videography, graphic design, and branding. These were all client-based projects before I ventured into my own work. Before that, I mostly worked on brand design and brand photography, without helping them develop the overall concept. But I put a lot of value in coming up with intentional and well-considered concepts. Our brand has been thoughtfully created to convey a specific message, which is important to us, and motivates us to get up and work everyday.
James: I did freelance graphic design, but my main job at the time was managing my family’s business, which involved welding and cutting steel. It was important that I had a good understanding of the products I was dealing with, because that knowledge was core to my role in sales and technician. I handled everything. Back then, I’d wake up at 08:00, and if I had to go out, I’d be out all day, finishing work at 17:30. I was working from Monday to Saturday. I never really questioned if I liked it because I’d been told since childhood that my family was running this business for me, and I should inherit it. So, I believed that after graduation, I’d just return home to continue the family business. It’s not wrong to do so, but I didn’t think it through deeply enough.
James: It’s nearly been two years since I’ve been on my own, and I think I’ve grown in many ways. It’s not that I rebelled against my family, but I’ve come to understand their perspectives better. Their words resonate with me more now. I don’t want to miscommunicate like they do; I want to grow as an effective communicator so I can communicate clearly and reasonably. It can be daunting to go out on your own, but don’t be afraid because it truly helps you grow. It’s not about being better than someone else; it’s about being better than you were two years ago. Some of my earlier fears and anxiety have since settled.
Gres: I joined LERT as an excuse to experience new things. James and I have large, close-knit families who own businesses they want us to run, which has often dictated our paths. LERT allows me to live the life I dream of, the life I enjoy; it's very nomadic. I want freedom and to break free from limitations. This desire flows into our work. For example, if we want to relocate, it’s not a problem because our shop needs is mobile. We can disassemble our CNC (computer numerical control) machines and transport them to another country.
James: The resources we need to build - like wood and other materials - can be found anywhere.
The only question we ask ourselves is where we choose to work from. Our ideas are already in our brains. Our first move from Bangkok to Chiang Mai was incredibly challenging, but we think we have the ability to make our next move one that extends the distance between Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
How is life in Chiang Mai? How different is it from Bangkok?
Gres: Moving from the city I grew up in made me realise how accustomed I was to a certain way of life. After living there for 27 years, I was set in my routine. I would wake up, take around 5 minutes to have my coffee, and hop on the BTS to travel 10 stops to get to work. Now, so much has changed. I no longer feel pressured to keep up with everyone else. Here, everything feels easier, and we have more time to experiment. The people are friendlier, and it feels like a different time zone. There’s none of that 'Big City Mentality’ hustle.
Gres: I loved to party when I was younger, so I thought maybe I could be a DJ. But it wasn’t until I moved here - to an unfamiliar environment - where I’ve come to truly understand what music is. It’s given me a new perspective to music, caring more about a piece of music’s origins - where it comes from, its composition, the culture it represents. There’s so much variety to music - there’s southern music, folk music, spoken music, and World Music. Music inspires ideas. Looking back at LERT's first project, we created our own DJ booth. This became one of LERT’s core ideas, showing how we integrate different mediums into a design. We believe they are all interconnected; music, film, and design can all drive people, depending on the context we’re in.
Cake: Living in Bangkok, I just lived by a routine. My job needed creativity, but at the same time, being stuck in the same uninspiring loop was made everything repetitive. When I moved here, that loop disappeared. Everything changed. I even have more time to read. With LERT, we have a shared space where we can sit and talk whenever we need to. Everything here allows us to live more comfortably. For example, if I wanted to create a bag pattern, I could just go to the local vendors who are ready to help right away. Wood factories are also everywhere, so everything I need is all right here. We can easily go out and do research. There are groups and local communities who are already working on these projects.
James: When I first moved to Chaing Mai, my family didn’t fully support my decision. It was probably too far from home, but this was for me. While I was packing, I felt a mixed feelings of happiness and uncertainty because I had no idea what to expect, but I knew what I was leaving behind. Even with all those mixed emotions, I remember waking up each day and asking myself what I should do for the day. I’d ask myself, “what do you want to do?” It was terrifying, yet thrilling.
Gres: Every city has its pros and cons; it really depends on how much you connect with it. Chiang Mai has a growing creative community and a promising economy, and a hint of spirituality woven into its culture. I know many people want to move from Bangkok, and I would encourage it. It’s not as scary as it seems. There are other cities with distinct characters, so you can find one that resonates with you.
How does moving from one place to another influence the meaning of living life?
James: I feel that living is always a process of constant change. There’s no one right way to live, either now or in the future. Things change. Living is about being present in the moment.
Cake: When it comes to living life related to work, it’s important to focus less on things that have already been done. Many people say that when they grow up and settle into a job, they get stuck and become uninspired. They wish to go back to being a kid again, having the freedom and imagination to draw and create art like they did in kindergarten. I’ve just realised that we all need moments where we can reconnect with our inner child or let go of our adult selves. This can be essential to let your creativity thrive. If we practice stepping away from adulthood and embrace our childhood spirit, the world would be a lot more fun.
Gres: For me, life is all about creativity. I enjoy being creative for the fun of it. What matters most is sharing ideas, thoughts, and energy to make people want to stay a bit longer and feel like the world is a better place. Every creative job, whether it’s music, movies, or design, passes something meaningful to others. It becomes a legacy when we're gone.
02 Made by LERT, Made by Value
Many years ago, in a corner of a house on the outskirts of the capital, a group of friends came up with the idea of starting something of their own, so they came together to brainstorms ideas and bring their dreams to life. They started with what they were good at: design.
What’s the story behind Made by LERT?
Cake: I met Gres and James while studying design. I’m the type of person that likes to think things through first, while James jumps right into action. I am the planner of the group, and for me concepts come first. The idea needs to be interesting from the start. I prefer for things to be properly thought through from the get go because I’m lazy - I get things prepared and organised from the very beginning, so the later stages become easier to do and are also much cheaper. I don’t like to waste unnecessary energy and money. This is my main philosophy in life (laughs).
James: When I was a general freelancer, I barely had the means to save the money to buy the furniture I wanted. So, instead of buying furniture, I invested in tools to make it myself. To me, this was a challenge to the concept of modern furniture, which often needs to be replaced after 3-4 years. Can modern furniture it be disassembled? Sure, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to put back together. If it breaks, you usually have to buy a whole new piece. Our concept is that if just one part is broken, you only need to replace that part. There’s no need to replace the entire thing. That’s the core of our business idea.
Gres: The name LERT comes from James's first name. When we first started LERT, we hung out in James's storage room, which was attached to his welding factory. We created the logo, shirts, business cards, and CI before everything else. Then one day, I sat down and said, “Alright, today we'll make shelves.” I don’t have previous experience running a business or studio or brand. I didn’t know what steps there were. But I knew it was important to make sure our packaging was stylish. So we pooled together all the money we had, which was very little, and I told James, "let me design the packaging. The packaging will be what makes us money." We thought that we were going to be the only brand in Thailand that sold stylish flat-pack furniture. After printing them out, we needed to take photos of them. And if we knew anything, we knew photography. So we went ahead with renting a studio.
James: We shared a studio with a friend who also had their own brand, so the rent was cheaper. At that point, we needed to save as much money as possible, so we rented for half a day.
Gres: We spent all our initial budget on the first piece of our project. We were confident it would sell well because the photos were stunning—visually captivating, exactly as we had envisioned. However, when we launched it, we only sold two pieces: one to James' friend and one to mine.
James: They're supportive friends. (laughs)
After the initial hump of starting a business, what has it been like working at LERT since?
Gres: After that, we continued working on the shelves, which took nearly two more years. James and I focused on figuring out how our customers could assemble them without any screws or tools, just using their hands. It had to be beautiful, made from sustainable materials, flat-packable, strong, and timeless. We argued about whether to raise one part or lower another. We spent hours in that room, fixated on every tiny detail and wondered whether Cake would be able to assemble it without instructions. But today, James and I don’t argue anymore because LERT is focused on creating solutions for nomadic living. All of our struggles have proven worthwhile by the time we moved to Chiang Mai. Everything that happened in that room was packed up and shipped here.
What is the heart of LERT, and how challenging is it to not have a direct background in furniture design?
Gres: The core of our business is to make sure our items are easy to assemble and disassemble, focusing on simplicity and made from minimal materials. We follow a lot of guiding rules. Even though we studied design, we didn’t focus specifically on furniture, so we weren’t experts in the area. One day, I came across a book called ‘Nomadic Furniture’ by Victor Papanek. When I opened it, I thought, “Wow, I can really relate to this.” As I looked more into the concept, I discovered that there were already pioneers in this field. The concept of nomadic living, or an era when people could build their own homes and furniture, has existed for a long time. The concept of nomadic living then became a fundamental pillar for LERT. We considered what other elements were needed in defining something as “nomadic" or “modular”. Our goal is to create shelves that people can easily assemble and understand that these pieces can be moved and adapted without it needing to be complicated.
Cake: Our initial inspiration came from Ken Isaacs’ living structures. When we first saw his work, we felt a drawn to it and wanted to create something similar, something we could achieve. It was all about the idea of self-sustainability, that is, to build simple furniture instead of relying on fixed pieces. It’s like the concept of growing your own vegetables, or similar to permaculture. I wanted to bring this idea into our brand so people could experience it. In today’s world, we have to depend on many things, but if we can be as self-sufficient as possible, that’s true independence.
Gres: This led us to the ‘Plank System.’ This pillar is the result of two years of us going back and forth, disagreeing, and arguing with one another., It just came down to this.
James: Even when we were placing orders, we would still arguing. After the first batch, we had to make adjustments. It’s a never-ending process.
Gres: The height of this pillar was specifically designed to hold vinyl and other items that most people typically use. But if we lower it by half, it can accommodate cassette tapes, comic books, or amplifiers. We’ve considered everything based on various lifestyles, and we’re very confident that the product is well thought out.
James: Even in the production process, we aim to minimize waste. We maximize the amount of wood we use to ensure that there’s as little leftover as possible. We always advise our customers on the size of the product they should choose to ensure they get the best value for their money. We also prioritize pricing because it has to be affordable.
Gres: Modular or nomadic furniture should be accessible to everyone. With each step in our design process, we enable customers to assemble a piece and understand how it can be modified. This brings us a lot of joy.
How does LERT want people to feel?
Cake: I want people to feel like it is a living thing. We all need to understand what makes up our tables, chairs, or beds - how they are assembled, where they can be recycled, and how to repair them if they break. These are essential basics that everyone should know. For instance, if you buy a shelf, you shouldn’t just unthinkingly place it somewhere and forget about its value. When it breaks, you shouldn’t just resell it without considering other options.
Gres: We want users to feel a sense of freedom in how they live their lives. Our pieces are “created for you to create”, and that is exactly what we aim for. For example, we make shelves to display items, and customers can customize how they use these shelves by extending or retracting it however they see fit for their space. If one day they don’t want the shelves to be that high, they can simply lower them. We believe that what we have created allows people to live their lives without being limited by space or weight.
Cake: LERT designs furniture to inspire creativity. It may not be the sleekest table, the most comfortable chair, or the most beautiful shelf, but when we look at it, we feel inspired. It’s freeing.
Gres: Right now, our focus is on furniture. In the future, we want that feeling to extend to everything we do.
Cake: It’s like LERT wants to be a tool that empowers people to explore and feel a sense of freedom, whether through some system we create or a living cinema that can be moved anywhere. We want to enable people to live a truly nomadic lifestyle. Those items may just be objects or products, but there is a philosophy behind them.
03 Living Space, Living Cinema
Last August, during the 2024 Pakk Taii Design Week event in Songkhla, they transported a large structure by truck from the north to assemble a cinema amidst the Chinese architecture and historic buildings of Songkhla. The dark wooden structure resembled an outdoor, standalone cinema on wheels. From a different perspective, it also resembles a monk's alms bowl set up in various locations.
I heard there’s now a project called ‘Dhutanga Cinema.’ What inspired the move to a structure as large as a cinema?
Gres: It started with the question of whether it would be possible to create a larger medium while sticking to the same core concept. We considered what kind of space would work for us, one that others already understood and that is part of the community, which is quite limited. We realized that we wanted to try making a cinema that could be disassembled. This became the starting point for Dhutanga Cinema, which comes from the Pali word "Dhutanga," and our Thai name is ‘Thudong Rama.’
Cake: Many places don’t have cinemas. If we can bring the cinema with us wherever we go, that would fulfill our goal of creating something foldable. We thought it was a great idea.
Gres: I’ve heard that people from Phang Nga had to drive all the way to Phuket just to watch a movie. If a movie started in two hours, they would have already been on the road for over an hour, they would have to do the same for the drive back. Half a day was lost just to experience a cinema, which is irreplaceable. In a cinema, we get to sit with strangers, laugh together, or cry together. This kind of experience is so sacred. We want to make it portable so we can set it up anywhere for everyone.
James: Initially, we were invited to exhibit in Bangkok, but the Pakk Taii Design Week team were really eager to have us. They really placed a high value on film. It seemed challenging to transport everything from the north all the way to the south. But when we came to check out the space, the site, and the structure in the old buildings of Songkhla, we decided to set everything up right there, in front of peoples homes, instead of having them come to us. It’s easy for the local aunties and uncles to walk over because they’re already in the area; they don’t have to travel all the way to the city just to watch a movie.
Gres: From starting with just a single table and three people, we’ve grown into a setting up and managing this big cinema. Wow, what have we created? But it’s in our DNA. It’s another challenge for our team, which we don’t think is a problem at all. Since we didn’t have prior experience with this, we have the courage to take the leap.
How different is it from LERT?
Cake: Actually, it’s kind of like our Plank, but in a cinema version.
Gres: The chairs are detachable and foldable. We’ve thought about how long it takes to assemble them. How many days are needed to set up the structure. How we remove the poles so they fit in a vehicle. We’ve thought about how the wood connects. Can we remove the speakers? Everything needs to be adjustable because we don’t know what to expect. For example, our next project in Pattani might require us to downsize the project, because the site is smaller.
James: When we create something, we always start with the main idea and then expand upon it. It has to be portable, and we consider how it should look. All the designs you see are made to be easily moved.
Is disassembly and portability now part of your way of life?
Cake: These concepts (nomadic and wandering) were developed in a certain era. They aim to free everyone from reliance on systems. We can all depend on ourselves. We can create our own living spaces, make our own furniture, and have our own gardens. This embodies Eco Living, which aligns with LERT’s philosophy. We want everyone to experience the idea of “freedom.” I hope to convey this sense of freedom through our products, simple items that people can afford and incorporate into their homes. I want them to feel the freedom of living through the adaptability of their tables, cabinets, and beds. It’s as simple as that.
James: I recently came to this realization. I used to be someone who planned everything ahead, and if things didn’t go as planned, I would freeze. But now it’s different. If something doesn’t work, I just fix it. For example, if I accidentally drill a hole in the wood, I’ll just redo it. I don’t stress out because there’s a hole in the wood. I know I can no longer fix it but I can keep moving forward. Just keep doing it because it will take us to a farther place. The important thing is to keep making progress. This is our philosophy: just do it, do it, do it, do it, do it, do it—keep doing it.
Gres: We won’t be around forever, and when we leave, we can’t take anything with us. But what we leave behind might inspire others. As I mentioned, I stumbled upon a book that resonates with the thoughts I've always had. I’m referring to Victor Papanek, who has passed away, but his book changed our perspective. We may not know how far we can go or what impact we’ll make, but we want to achieve something meaningful.
Check out the products and projects by Made by LERT :
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IG : @madebylert