Urban Thai Songkran Mural

Environmental Graphic / Interior Art

Summer 2025 

Client: Thairoom Grand, Upper Canada Mall
Collaboration: RevelHouse
Project: A 12’ x 9’ environmental graphic to establish the conceptual direction and colour palette for a newly renovated restaurant.

For Thairoom Grand, a restaurant brand guided by authenticity, the challenge was to create a unique and memorable interior that avoided common, overused Thai-inspired motifs. Collaborating with RevelHouse and the client, we aimed to design an urban-style mural with a central animal focus, ensuring the final piece felt both edgy and warmly family-friendly.

The Concept
During the creative direction phase, I presented several distinct thematic routes to the client and ultimately focused the conversation around two concepts:
Theme 1: Mythology: This direction drew inspiration from the Ramakien, the cornerstone of Thai literature. It featured Hanuman, the monkey god, surrounded by Thai tribal patterns and set against a gritty, graffiti-style background with a palette of warm reds and purples.
Theme 2: Songkran: This concept celebrated Thailand's vibrant New Year festival, a time signifying renewal and purification. The mood board highlighted an elephant spraying water, traditional silver bowls filled with floating flowers, and warm golden sunlight shining through the trees.

The Process
The client loved the joyful energy of the Songkran theme. To bring this to life, I utilized a completely handcrafted digital process - no AI generation was used.
I began by arranging and composing the core vector graphic elements to establish the scale and flow. Once the composition was locked, I meticulously applied various custom brushes, layered effects, and faux wall textures to achieve a rougher, authentic urban street-art aesthetic. This technique ensured the graphic felt like a genuine, painted mural rather than a flat digital print.

The Result
The final environmental graphic is a vibrant, energetic focal point for the restaurant. At the center is a friendly, colorful elephant playfully spraying water from its trunk. Per the client's specific request, I integrated a serene Buddha statue and a traditional temple in the background, referencing the beautiful tradition of bathing the Buddha for good luck during the festival. Bowls with floating jasmine and tropical flora anchor the bottom of the composition. To act as a visual bridge for the renovation's existing white tile and earthy wood tones, I developed a vibrant palette of pinks, purples, and golden yellows. By strategically incorporating specific shades of teal and blue, the mural seamlessly tied into the restaurant's nearby painted bulkheads to create a cohesive interior environment.

Concept: Moodboard Inspiration

Final Digital Restaurant Mural

Texture Details