Best of the week

Published on October 12, 2007

The Designer Network is holding the "Bangkok Design Festival 2007" opens at 5pm today at CentralWorld. The festival features four sections - "Degree Shows", "Designs' Saturday", "Helvetica Film in Bangkok" and "Mini Mart".

The "Degree Show" features an exhibition on creative designs selected from university theses in architecture and interiors, products, graphics, fashion and jewellery design. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Helvetica font, director Gary Hustwit's documentary film, "Helvetica", will be shown at 5pm tomorrow at SF World Cinema. Three renowned architects - the Marlon Blackwell, Jamie Fobert and Kazuyasu Kochi - will have a talk in the Designers' Workshop from 1pm to 6pm on October 20.

At the "Mini Mart", veteran designers from Case Studio, VasLab, Tnop, Trytobenice will sell their innovative products at prices ranging from Bt200 to Bt2,000 at the CentralWorld's Central Court until October 21 and at Playground on Thonglor from tomorrow until October 21.

For more information visit BangkokDesignFestival.com.

Royal short films

To commemorate His Majesty the King's 80th

birthday, the Office of Contemporary Art and Culture of the Ministry of Culture will present free screenings of nine short films by Thai directors until Wednesday at Paragon Cineplex and Major Cineplex Pinklao.

The programme comprises Pen-Ek Ratanarueng's "Luminous Sound", Apichatpong Weerasethakul's "Meteorites", Wisit Sasanatieng's "Norasingha", Bhandit Rittakol's "My First Report", Araya Booncherd's "9th Gift", Pramtanee Wongprommed and Supharut Boonmayam's "The Sanctuary of Sea", Sivaroj Kongsakul's "Silencio", Pornsak Sukongkarattanakul's "The Tale" and Phuttipong Aroonpheng's "The Most Beautiful Man in the World".

For showtimes, call (02) 515 5555 or visit MajorCineplex.com.

Gifts galore

The latest products from Thai and international designers will be shown at the annual Bangkok International Gift Fair and Bangkok International Houseware Fair, or BIG+BIH, opening on Tuesday in Challenger Halls 1 to 3 at Impact Convention Centre in Muang Thong Thani. The event is being held by the Department of Export Promotion.

Under the theme "Colourful Life, Colourful Living", the fair will feature around 2,500 booths from 1,000 companies, showcasing their new collections of decorative items, household products, artificial flowers and plants, home textile, handicrafts, stationery, toys and games.

The fair is open for traders only from Tuesday until October 19 from 10am to 6pm, and for the public on October 20 and 21 from 10am to 9pm. Admission is free.

For more information,

call (02) 512 0093-104 ext. 251, 317 or visit www.thaitradefair.com.

Meet Beyonce

Pop diva Beyonce Knowles is scheduled to perform in concert in Bangkok on October 30 at Impact, Muang Thong Thani.

The suave singer-actress is on a world tour promoting her latest album "Experience". A former member of the R&B group Destiny's Child, the 26-year-old artist began her solo career with her debut "Dangerously in Love" in 2003. Her second album, "B'Day", cemented her stardom.

Weekend readers have a chance to win concert tickets and meet Beyonce by answering this question:

How many Grammy Awards has Beyonce won?

Send your answer along with your name and contact number to wkquiz@gmail.com by 3pm on Monday. Only one winner will win a pass to Beyonce's meet-and-greet session and a pair of tickets from BEC-Tero Entertainment worth Bt3,500 each.

"Beyonce Experience Tour Live In Bangkok 2007" takes place at Impact Arena Muang Thong Thani at 8.30pm on October 30. Tickets are Bt5,500 to Bt1,000 and are available from Thaiticketmajor.

For more information call (02) 262 3456.